Four Days That Changed Everything
Metheny's credibility with the jazz community went way up with the release of this package.
In May 1980, Pat Metheny walked into a studio with four musicians he'd admired for years and four days to capture something he'd been hearing in his head. Charlie Haden on bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums, and two saxophonists—Dewey Redman and Michael Brecker—rotating through the front line. That alternation between Redman and Brecker mattered. It gave the quartet different colors without losing coherence, and it forced everyone to stay alert, listening hard to whoever was blowing.
At 26, Metheny had already made his name with fusion electricity and commercial success, but 80/81 was uncompromising in a way that moved him. There's no overdubbing, no studio tricks. The rhythm section—Haden and DeJohnette together—sets a foundation that's loose and swinging but never casual. Metheny's guitar moves through spaces rather than filling them, and the two saxophonists take turns threading through the same conversations, sometimes agreeing, sometimes pushing in different directions. The album spans two discs because they simply played that much good material across those four days. Reviewer Richard S. Ginell noted that Metheny had "successfully translated the sound in his head" with these four musicians, and JazzTimes later named it among the decade's ten best. It's the record where Metheny proved he could sit inside the jazz tradition without apology, and where four serious players refused to play it safe.
Who's playing
Charlie Hadenbass
Pat Methenyguitar
Michael Breckertenor saxophone
Dewey Redmantenor saxophone
Jack DeJohnettedrums
Where next?
More by Pat Metheny
All 26 albums →
The musicians on this record
Folk Songs 1981
Charlie Haden
plays bass here
plays bass here
Cityscape 1982
Michael Brecker
plays tenor saxophone here
plays tenor saxophone here
♫
Soundsigns 1981
Dewey Redman
plays tenor saxophone here
plays tenor saxophone here
Parallel Realities 1978
Jack DeJohnette
plays drums (drum set) here
plays drums (drum set) here
