Offramp (album)

Offramp
Studio album by Pat Metheny Group
Released 1982
Recorded October 1981
Genre Jazz fusion
Length 42:22
Label ECM
Producer Manfred Eicher
Pat Metheny chronology
As Falls Wichita, so Falls Wichita Falls
(1981)As Falls Wichita, so Falls Wichita Falls1981		 Offramp
(1982)		 Travels
(1983)Travels1983
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[2]

Offramp is the third album by the Pat Metheny Group, released in 1982. It won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance.[3] It contains the popular ballad "Are You Going With Me?".

Offramp is the first studio album on which Metheny used a guitar synthesizer, a Roland GR-300[4] controlled with a Roland G-303 guitar synthesiser controller.[5] The guitar synthesizer became one of Metheny's most frequently used instruments.

Offramp is also the first Group album to feature vocals, which became a fundamental component of the band's sound. When Metheny and Lyle Mays partnered with Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos on the album, As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, they sought to expand the potential of the recording studio as an ensemble instrument and experiment with sounds they hadn't previously utilized. Some of the innovations introduced on Wichita carried over into Offramp, namely Vasconcelos's vocals and percussion stylings.

Bassist Mark Egan was replaced by Steve Rodby, who remained with the Group well into the 2000s and became an important partner in the compositional and production processes between Metheny and Mays.

The Group pays tribute to one of Metheny's biggest influences, pioneering free jazz instrumentalist Ornette Coleman, on the title track, and singer-songwriter James Taylor served as the inspiration for the sixth track, "James."

Reception

Offramp was critically and commercially acclaimed at the time of its release. It won the Playboy Readers Poll for Best Jazz Album and the 1982 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance,[6] the Group's first of 10 Grammys.

The album continues to be acclaimed by fans and critics of the Group for its compositional maturity, technological progressiveness, especially for the time it was recorded, and for firmly establishing key hallmarks of the Group's overall sound, namely the guitar synthesizer and vocals.

Track listing

All music composed by Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays, except where noted.

Side I
No.TitleLength
1."Barcarole" (Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, Naná Vasconcelos)3:17
2."Are You Going With Me?"8:47
3."Au Lait"8:32
Side II
No.TitleLength
1."Eighteen" (Metheny, Mays, Vasconcelos)5:08
2."Offramp"5:59
3."James"6:47
4."The Bat Part II"3:50

"The Bat Part II" is a composition originally recorded by Metheny in the collaborative jazz album 80/81, in 1980.

Personnel

Charts

According to Billboard, Offramp reached No. 1 on the Jazz Album chart—a position it held for 16 weeks[7]—and #50 on the Pop Album chart.

Awards

Grammy Awards

Year Winner Category
1982 Pat Metheny Group Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance

References

  1. ↑ Henderson, Alex (2011). "Offramp – Pat Metheny Group | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  2. ↑ Swenson, J. (Editor) (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 139. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  3. ↑ Brink, Bob (November 23, 1984). "Metheny Over Miami". The Miami News. pp. C1. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  4. ↑ Birosik, Patti Jean (1989). The New Age music guide: profiles and recordings of 500 top New Age musicians. Collier Books. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-02-041640-1.
  5. ↑ http://www.joness.com/gr300/G-303.htm
  6. ↑ Brink, Bob (November 23, 1984). "Metheny Over Miami". The Miami News. pp. C1. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Asia Not Minor on Debut; Metheny: U.S. Stands Pat". Billboard. July 17, 1982. p. 5. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
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