80/81

80/81
Studio album by Pat Metheny
Released	1980
Recorded	May 26–29, 1980
Studios	Talent, Oslo, Norway
Genres	Jazz, folk jazz
Length	80:25
Label	ECM
Producer	Manfred 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

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

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
DownBeat
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide

Writing for High Fidelity, Don Heckman characterized the album as decidedly more jazz-oriented than Metheny's previous work, which he believed was attributed to a different slate of session musicians. He labeled Michael Brecker's saxophone playing on "Two Folk Songs: 1st" as "one of his finest recorded moments" and also thought his performance on "Every Day (I Thank You)" was of high quality. Heckman was complimentary of Metheny's approach to the material, particularly for his varied use of guitar tones and the restraint exercised in his playing, although Heckman felt that some of Metheny's guitar licks lacked cohesion.

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."

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."

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."

Track listing

Personnel

• Pat Metheny – acoustic and electric guitars
• Charlie Haden – double bass
• Jack DeJohnette – drums
• Dewey Redman – tenor saxophone (tracks B1, B2, C1 & C2)
• Michael Brecker – tenor saxophone (tracks A1, A2, B2, C1, C2 & D1)

References