Over the years, the Pat Metheny Group’s Grammy-winning double live-album Travels has gained a unique reputation among jazz aficionados as one of the most unique and best recorded live albums in jazz – even upon its release it landed on many year’s end lists and The Wire called it simply “remarkable” and “superbly recorded”. The album captures the Pat Metheny Group on tour through the US in autumn 1982. Ever since Wichita Falls, Nana Vasconcelos had not only been a part of the classic Pat Metheny Group line-up, he was the transforming element that added new shades and depth to Metheny’s concepts and sound, using voice, percussion and the berimbau. Looking back at the influential album in 1995 Gramophone magazine said “Travels has it all. By this stage, Metheny’s partnership with keyboardist and composer Mays was several albums old, and the magic they weave was at its peak. Of special note are the contributions of the extraordinary Brazilian percussionist and berimbau specialist Vasconcelos, who brings a rhythmic vitality and textural earthiness to the group’s sound that helps make this album unique in the guitarist’s entire canon.”
“Die traumhafte Sicherheit, mit der die Pat Metheny Group selbst die verstiegenste Passagen ihrer ungewöhnlichen Jazz-Klangwelt zaubert, ist keine studio-technische Illusion. Die Band lebt für Live-Musik vor Publikum – eine fast vergessene Tugend“ schwärmte der Spiegel im Jahr 1980 nach einem Konzert der Pat Metheny Group. Diese Tugend ist auf Travels, aufgenommen im Herbst 1982, dokumentiert. Wie bereits auf Offramp im Vorjahr, haben Nana Vasconcelos fließenden perkussiven Beiträge großen Einfluss auf das Zusammenspiel der Gruppe und waren ausschlaggebend für Metheny’s Klangwelt fortan. Im Jahr des Erscheinens landete Travels auf vielen Jahresbestenlisten. The Wire nannte das Album „exquisit – bemerkenswert und phänomenal produziert.“
Over the years, the Pat Metheny Group’s Grammy-winning double live-album Travels has gained a unique reputation among jazz aficionados as one of the most unique and best recorded live albums in jazz – even upon its release it landed on many year’s end lists and The Wire called it simply “remarkable” and “superbly recorded”. The album captures the Pat Metheny Group on tour through the US in autumn 1982. Ever since Wichita Falls, Nana Vasconcelos had not only been a part of the classic Pat Metheny Group line-up, he was the transforming element that added new shades and depth to Metheny’s concepts and sound, using voice, percussion and the berimbau. Looking back at the influential album in 1995 Gramophone magazine said “Travels has it all. By this stage, Metheny’s partnership with keyboardist and composer Mays was several albums old, and the magic they weave was at its peak. Of special note are the contributions of the extraordinary Brazilian percussionist and berimbau specialist Vasconcelos, who brings a rhythmic vitality and textural earthiness to the group’s sound that helps make this album unique in the guitarist’s entire canon.”
