''As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls'' is an album by jazz guitarist

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was the leader of the Pat Metheny Group (1977–2010) and continues to work in various small-combo, duet, and solo settings, as well as other side pr ...

and jazz pianist

Lyle Mays Lyle David Mays (November 27, 1953 – February 10, 2020) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and member of the Pat Metheny Group. Metheny and Mays composed and arranged nearly all of the group's music, for which Mays won eleven Grammy Awar ...

recorded in September 1980 and released on ECM April the following year. The trio features percussionist Naná Vasconcelos.

Background

The title of the album was suggested by a friend of Metheny, who thought that it was the only title that fit the "vagueness of the music". ''As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls'' comprises a 20 minute title track and four additional shorter compositions. Over the span of five years, Metheny and Mays had pieced together remnants of compositions that they deemed unsuitable for the

Pat Metheny Group The Pat Metheny Group was an American jazz band founded in 1977 by guitarist and composer Pat Metheny, along with his core collaborating member, keyboardist and composer Lyle Mays. Other long-standing members included bassist and producer Steve ...

. After three years, they had settled on enough material to warrant the creation of an album. Metheny commented that ''As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls'' marked the first time that synthesizers were used extensively on one of his albums. Throughout the album, Metheny acts as the lead guitarist, accompanying guitarist, and bassist using the

overdubbing Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio Music track, tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto o ...

technique. The track "September Fifteenth" is in reference to September 15, 1980, the day the American jazz pianist

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, block chords, innovative chord voicings, a ...

died. Metheny and Mays cite Evans as a main influence. Both "September Fifteenth" "Farmers' Trust" and "It's for You" appear in the score for the 1985 film ''

Fandango Fandango is a lively partner dance originating in Portugal and Spain, usually in triple metre, triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, tambourine or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is u ...

''. "It's for You" was later covered by

Akiko Yano is a Japanese pop and jazz musician and singer born in Tokyo and raised in Aomori and later began her singing career in the mid-1970s. She has been called "one of the major musical talents of the Japanese popular music world", and her vocals an ...

, with Metheny on guitar, for her 1989 album, ''Welcome Back''. A section of the title track (starting at 14:56) has been used by

Christian Dior Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer and founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Dior, Christian Dior SE. His fashion house is known all around the world, having gained promi ...

for the Fahrenheit perfume and cologne ads since 1988.

Track listing

Personnel

– electric and acoustic 6- and 12-string guitars, bass guitar *

– piano, Prophet 5 & Oberheim FVS synthesizers, electric organ,

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of t ...

* Naná Vasconcelos –

berimbau The berimbau (, borrowed from Kimbundu ''mbirimbau'') is a traditional Angolan musical bow that is commonly used in Brazil. It is also known as ''sekitulege'' among the Baganda and Busoga. It consists of a single-stringed bow attached to a gourd ...

, percussion, drums, vocals

Charts

References

Pat Metheny albums 1981 albums 1981 collaborative albums Albums produced by Manfred Eicher ECM Records albums {{1980s-jazz-album-stub