Bright Size Life

Pat Metheny

EN / DE
New vinyl edtition as part of the "Luminessence" Series, presented as a tip-on gatefold including new photos from the archive.
 
“I personally feel this is a great record and recommend it to everyone. It’s positive and hot and simply excellent.” – Gary Burton, in the liner notes.
 
Pat Metheny had debuted at ECM as a member of Gary Burton’s band on the album Ring in 1974, but Bright Size Life, his first studio recording as a leader, was the album that decisively put him on the map as a bright new force, with something fresh to say in the context of contemporary jazz.  Recorded in Ludwigsburg in December 1975, and produced by Manfred Eicher, the album featured Metheny’s regular touring band of the day, with Bob Moses on drums and the virtuosic but then largely unknown Jaco Pastorius on bass guitar.     
 
“I could happily play all the music from Bright Size Life right now,” said Pat Metheny in an interview for the Library of Congress in 2021. “It still seems viable; the arguments there still seem valid and worth thinking about…. My sense at the time was that I wanted to make a record that might be the only record I would ever make. I hoped to make a statement on things that were important to me in terms of melody, harmony, trio playing, and even kind of life in general.”
Diese Luminessence Vinyl Edition des Albums erscheint in einem Tip-on Klappcover und enthält Fotos aus dem Archiv.
 
“I personally feel this is a great record and recommend it to everyone. It’s positive and hot and simply excellent.” – Gary Burton, in the liner notes.
 
Pat Metheny hatte sein Debüt bei ECM als Mitglied von Gary Burtons Band auf dem Album Ring im Jahr 1974 gegeben, aber Bright Size Life, seine erste Studioaufnahme als Leader überhaupt, war das Album, das ihn letztlich als neue kreative Kraft mit einem frischen Ansatz im Kontext des zeitgenössischen Jazz profilierte. Das im Dezember 1975 in Ludwigsburg aufgenommene und von Manfred Eicher produzierte Album wurde von Methenys damaliger Stammband mit Bob Moses am Schlagzeug und dem virtuosen, aber damals weitgehend unbekannten Jaco Pastorius am Bass eingespielt.     
 
"Ich könnte die gesamte Musik von Bright Size Life auch jetzt noch spielen", sagte Pat Metheny in einem Interview für die Library of Congress im Jahr 2021. "Es fühlt sich immer noch relevant an; die Argumente darin erscheinen mir immer noch gültig und sie sind es wert, darüber zu reflektieren…. Damals hatte ich das Gefühl, dass ich eine Platte machen wollte, die vielleicht die einzige sein würde, die ich je machen würde. Ich hoffte, ein Statement zu Dingen abzugeben, die mir in Bezug auf Melodie, Harmonie, Triospiel und sogar das Leben im Allgemeinen wichtig waren."
 
Featured Artists Recorded

December 1975, Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg

Original Release Date

01.03.1976

  • 1Bright Size Life
    (Pat Metheny)
    04:45
  • 2Sirabhorn
    (Pat Metheny)
    05:27
  • 3Unity Village
    (Pat Metheny)
    03:38
  • 4Missouri Uncompromised
    (Pat Metheny)
    04:13
  • 5Midwestern Nights Dream
    (Pat Metheny)
    06:00
  • 6Unquity Road
    (Pat Metheny)
    03:36
  • 7Omaha Celebration
    (Pat Metheny)
    04:17
  • 8Round Trip/Broadway Blues
    (Ornette Coleman)
    04:58
The first thing that strikes you on a vinyl reacquaintance with Metheny’s 1975 debut is how wonderfully bright and transparent it sounds, and how fully imagined a work of art it remains. The widescreen separation of the stereo image, with Metheny in one speaker and the electric bass of Jaco Pastorius in the other, with drummer Bob Moses hovering around behind them both, is devastatingly simple and effective. Everything sounds clear as a bell, with the tone of the electric guitar still relatively natural-seeming, and Jaco content to play the role of a rhythmic and melodic foil to Metheny as leader, who composes all the tunes bar the closing selection of Ornette’s ‘Round Trip/Broadway Blues’. Their symbiotic interplay is still mind-boggling. […] The rest is history.
Phil Johnson, UK Jazz News