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80/81

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80/81
Studio album by
Released1980
RecordedMay 26–29, 1980
StudioTalent Studio, Oslo, Norway
GenreJazz, folk jazz
Length80:25
LabelECM 1180/81
ProducerManfred Eicher
Pat Metheny chronology
American Garage
(1979)
80/81
(1980)
As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls
(1981)

80/81 is a double album by jazz guitarist Pat Metheny recorded over four days in May 1980 and released on ECM later that year. Metheny leads a quartet consisting of the rhythm section of Charlie Haden and Jack DeJohnette, with saxophone duties alternating between Dewey Redman and Michael Brecker.

Background

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Metheny toured in the U.S. in fall 1980 with a quartet including Redman, Haden and drummer Paul Motian.[1] In the summer of 1981, he toured Europe with the full 80/81 lineup featured on the album.[2]

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
DownBeat[6]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings[5]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[4]

In a review for AllMusic, Richard S. Ginell wrote that "Metheny's credibility with the jazz community went way up with the release of this package", and called the album "a superb two-CD collaboration with a quartet of outstanding jazz musicians that dared to be uncompromising at a time when most artists would have merely continued pursuing their electric commercial successes."[3]

In an article at Between Sound and Space, Tyran Grillo called the album a "still-fresh sonic concoction", and noted that "With 80/81, Pat Metheny took one step closer to his dream of working with The Prophet of Freedom (Ornette Coleman) (a dream he finally achieved with 1985's Song X)". He concluded: "Like much of what Metheny produces, 80/81 is wide open in two ways. First in its far-reaching vision, and second it its willingness to embrace the listener. Like a dolly zoom, he enacts an illusion of simultaneous recession and approach, lit like a fuse that leads not to an explosion, but to more fuse."[7]

JazzTimes included the album in an article titled "10 Best Jazz Albums of the 1980s: Critics' Picks", in which Philip Booth stated: "Enlisting four of the musicians he most admired... the 26-year-old guitarist successfully translated the sound in his head to beautifully open, airy, sometimes urgent recordings."[8]

Track listing

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Original release

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All music is composed by Pat Metheny except as noted

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Two Folk Songs: 1st" 13:17
2."Two Folk Songs: 2nd"Charlie Haden7:31
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."80/81" 7:28
2."The Bat" 5:58
3."Turnaround"Ornette Coleman7:05
Side three
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Open"
  • Metheny
  • DeJohnette
  • Redman
  • Haden
  • Brecker
14:25
2."Pretty Scattered" 6:56
Side four
No.TitleLength
1."Every Day (I Thank You)"13:16
2."Goin' Ahead"3:56

Single CD edition

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No.TitleLength
1."Two Folk Songs: One / Two"20:52
2."Every Day (I Thank You)"13:21
3."Goin' Ahead"3:51
4."80/81"7:34
5."The Bat"6:05
6."Turnaround"7:04

Personnel

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Technical personnel

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References

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  1. ^ Cooke, Mervyn (2017). Pat Metheny: The ECM Years, 1975–1984. Oxford University Press. pp. 213–214.
  2. ^ Cooke, Mervyn (2017). Pat Metheny: The ECM Years, 1975–1984. Oxford University Press. p. 153.
  3. ^ a b Ginell, Richard S.. Pat Metheny: 80/81 > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
  4. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 139. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  5. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 994. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  6. ^ DownBeat review, January 1981, pp. 31-32
  7. ^ Grillo, Tyran (October 14, 2011). "Pat Metheny: 80-81 (ECM 1180/81)". Between Sound and Space. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  8. ^ Booth, Philip (November 23, 2020). "10 Best Jazz Albums of the 1980s: Critics' Picks". JazzTimes. Retrieved March 19, 2021.