i PAT METHENY THE ECM YEARS, 1975–1984 ii OXFORD STUDIES IN RECORDED JAZZ Series Editor Jeremy Barham Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings Brian Harker The Studio Recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet, 1963– 68 Keith Waters Benny Goodman’s Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert Catherine Tackley Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert Peter Elsdon Thelonious Monk Quartet Featuring John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall Gabriel Solis Pat Metheny: The ECM Years, 1975– 1984 Mervyn Cooke iii PAT METHENY THE ECM YEARS, 1975– 1984 MERVYN COOKE 1 iv 1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2017 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Cooke, Mervyn, author. Title: Pat Metheny : the ECM years, 1975–1984 / Mervyn Cooke. Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2017. | Series: Oxford studies in recorded jazz | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016028859| ISBN 9780199897674 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780199897667 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Metheny, Pat—Criticism and interpretation. | Jazz—1971–1980—History and criticism. | Jazz—1981–1990—History and criticism. Classification: LCC ML419.M477 C66 2017 | DDC 787.87/165092—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016028859 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Paperback printed by WebCom, Inc., Canada Hardback printed by Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc., United States of America v FOR SALLY— AND OSLO 2005 vi vii SERIES PREFACE the oxford studies in Recorded Jazz series offers detailed historical, cultural, and technical analysis of jazz recordings across a broad spectrum of styles, periods, performing media, and nationalities. Each volume, authored by a leading scholar in the field, addresses either a single jazz album or a set of related recordings by one artist/ group, placing the recordings fully in their historical and musical context, and thereby enriching our understanding of their cultural and creative significance. With access to the latest scholarship and with an innovative and balanced approach to its subject matter, the series offers fresh perspectives on both well- known and neglected jazz repertoire. It sets out to renew musical debate in jazz scholarship, and to develop the subtle critical languages and vocabularies necessary to do full justice to the complex expressive, structural, and cultural dimensions of recorded jazz performance. Jeremy Barham University of Surrey Series Editor viii ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS thanks are due first and foremost to the series editor of the Oxford Studies in Recorded Jazz, Jeremy Barham, not only for the initial invitation to contribute a volume to the series, but for his constant support and encouragement along the way, and to the stalwart staff of Oxford University Press in New York— principally Suzanne Ryan, Adam Cohen, Andrew Maillet, and Jamie Kim— for their constant enthusiasm and undiminished patience during a number of those inevitable and unavoidable delays in meeting deadlines which must be the bane of a publisher’s existence. During the production process, the text has benefited enormously from the expertise of both copy- editor Patterson Lamb and project manager Damian Penfold. I should also like to acknowledge the valuable input of the anonymous readers who commented in detail on the work as it took shape. Researching and writing about the work of a living musician can uncover all sorts of unexpected twists and turns, and in the present instance it has been a particular delight to discover the still undimmed sense of sheer excitement in the creative process— and in life on the road as a crucial part of the jazz musician’s formative experiences— shared by those who worked closely with Pat Metheny during the period with which this book is concerned. Band members Mark Egan, Danny Gottlieb, and Paul Wertico have all been exceptionally generous with their time and shared many fascinating reminiscences about those years with me, and I am also grateful to others closely connected with the ECM recordings under consideration here for taking the time to answer my many queries: these include William Clift, Deborah Feingold,