Quartet (Pat Metheny album)

Last updated
Quartet
PatMethenyGroup Quartet.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedNovember 1996
RecordedMay 1996
Studio Right Track, New York City
Genre Jazz, jazz fusion
Length66:01
Label Geffen
Producer Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny chronology
We Live Here
(1995)
Quartet
(1996)
Beyond the Missouri Sky (Short Stories)
(1997)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Quartet (1996) is the eighth studio album by the Pat Metheny Group. The album features Pat Metheny on guitar, Lyle Mays on keyboards, Steve Rodby on bass, and Paul Wertico on drums. The approach for the album was to not write lengthy compositions before recording but instead use merely sketches and rely mostly on improvisation in a setting with just acoustic instruments, a departure from the usual thoroughly orchestrated sound using synthesizers and sequencing the Group is usually known for. The result is experimental, moody, and loose, even dark in some moments. The instrumentation relies mostly on acoustic instruments including various keyboard instruments such as the spinet piano, Harmonium, Fender Rhodes, autoharp and various guitars including the 42-string Pikasso guitar. The Roland GR-300 guitar synthesizer makes appearances on "Oceania" and "Language of Time".

Contents

With the exception of "When We Were Free" on the Group's final Songbook Tour, the Group itself never played these songs live. "When We Were Free" however has been played in various other trios and groups centered around Metheny including a version recorded on Day Trip . Michael Brecker recorded versions of "As I Am" (on Time Is of the Essence), "Seven Days" and "Sometimes I See" (on Nearness of You: The Ballad Book).

Track listing

All tracks are written by Pat Metheny except where noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Introduction" 0:56
2."When We Were Free" 5:39
3."Montevideo"Metheny, Mays, Rodby, Wertico2:55
4."Take Me There"Metheny, Mays3:39
5."Seven Days" 4:04
6."Oceania"Mays3:47
7."Dismantling Utopia"Metheny, Mays, Rodby, Wertico6:52
8."Double Blind"Mays4:15
9."Second Thought" 2:50
10."Mojave" 3:37
11."Badland"Metheny, Mays, Rodby, Wertico7:31
12."Glacier"Mays1:25
13."Language of Time"Metheny, Mays7:33
14."Sometimes I See" 6:01
15."As I Am" 5:04

Personnel

Technical personnel

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References

  1. Yanow, Scott (2011). "Quartet - Pat Metheny | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  2. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 995. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.