Song X

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Song X is a collaborative studio album by jazz guitarist Pat Metheny and saxophonist Ornette Coleman. It is a free jazz record that was produced in a three-day recording session in 1985.[1] The album was released in 1986 by Geffen Records.[2][3]

Background

Metheny was a longtime admirer of the saxophonist, recording Coleman compositions on Bright Size Life (1976), 80/81 (1980), and Rejoicing (1984) (which features Coleman alumni Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins). During the three weeks leading up to the recording, Coleman and Metheny spent "between 6 and 12 hours a day every day, playing, hanging out and talking, trying to come up with a vocabulary for this particular session ... that would be different."[4]

Coleman's saxophone tone, when combined with a saxophone preset on Metheny's Synclavier guitar synthesizer, created an "ensemble blend [that] was surprising to both of us."[4]

The album features bassist Charlie Haden (a frequent Coleman collaborator who'd also played on 80/81), Jack DeJohnette on drums, and Coleman's son Denardo on drums and various percussion instruments. It was recorded at The Power Station in New York City between December 12 and December 14, 1985. A remixed and remastered version was issued on CD in August 2005, titled Song X: Twentieth Anniversary. Six unreleased tracks were added prior to the original eight songs.[5]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarHalf star[6]
BlenderStarStarStarStar[7]
DownBeatStarStarStarStarStar[8]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[9]
The GuardianStarStarStarStar[10]
MojoStarStarStarStar
The Penguin Guide to JazzStarStarStarStar[11]
The Rolling Stone Album GuideStarStarStarStarStar[12]
The Village VoiceA[13]
Tom HullA−[14]

Reviewing Song X in 1986 for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau deemed it Coleman's best album of unadulterated jazz since the early 1970s and believed Metheny's mild mannered style of jazz kept the music uncluttered compared to some of Coleman's recent work. "No rock moves, and no funk, harmolodic or otherwise", Christgau added. "It's all sweet lyricism, sonic comedy, and headlong invention."[13] DownBeat magazine hailed the album as "a remarkable union of the true and the new, a fusion of the bedrock human sound of Ornette's alto with the sometimes jarring, mostly bracing electronic capabilities of Pat's guitar-synth".[8] Jon Pareles wrote in The New York Times that the experiment succeeded because both artists were masterful melodists, finding the record "less tangled and more directly songful than Mr. Coleman's recent albums with Prime Time".[15] Song X was voted the nineteenth best album of 1986 in The Village VoiceTemplate:'s annual Pazz & Jop critics poll.[16]

In The Penguin Guide to Jazz (2004), Richard Cook and Brian Morton said the more adventurous recordings on Song X showcased the jubilant playing between Coleman and Metheny, who not only "powered his way through Coleman's itinerary with utter conviction, he set up opportunities for the saxophonist to resolve and created a fusion with which Coleman's often impenetrable Prime Time bands had failed to come to terms."[11] In a review of the album's 2005 reissue, Christgau wrote in Blender that all six bonus tracks were "strong enough to justify kicking off with them, and the perfect warm-up to an album Metheny was right to construct exactly as he did."[7] In his list for 2005 Pazz & Jop poll, he named its twentieth anniversary edition the sixteenth best album of the year.[17]

Track listing

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  • Tracks 1–6 are unreleased new tracks.

Personnel

Technical

  • Pat Metheny – producer
  • David Oakes, Niki Gatos – assistant producer (original release)
  • Jan-Erik Kongshaug – recording (original release)
  • Jan-Erik Kongshaug, Rob Eaton – mixing (original release)
  • Jon Goldberger – assistant engineer (original release)
  • Peter Karam – remixing 2005 (CD reissue)
  • Bob Ludwig – mastering at Masterdisk, NYC, USA (original release)
  • Ted Jensen – remastering 2005 at Sterling Sound, NYC, USA (CD reissue)
  • David A. Cantor – photography (original release)
  • Norman Moore – design (original release)
  • Doyle Partners – redesign 2005 (CD reissue)

Charts

Year Chart[18] Position
1986 Billboard Top Jazz Albums 9

References

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  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jackson, Grant (April 26, 2013). "Pat Metheny On Piano Jazz". NPR. Retrieved November 28, 2013.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content. Written at New Haven. [[[:Template:GBurl]] "Convention Falls As Metheny, Coleman Team Up"]. Portsmouth Daily Times. Portsmouth, Ohio: Portsmouth Times Publishing Company. Associated Press. June 20, 1986. pp. TV4. Retrieved March 6, 2025 – via Google Books. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help)
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.[[[:Template:GBurl]] "Top Jazz Albums"]. Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 18. New York: Billboard Publications, Inc. May 10, 1986. p. 43. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved March 6, 2025 – via Google Books. {{cite magazine}}: Check |url= value (help)
  4. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Warner Brothers Music Show 137 (WMBS 137); Lyle Mays: The Interview with music from the Lyle Mays LP (GHS 24097) / Pat Metheny: The Interview with music from the Pat Metheny/Ornette Coleman LP Song X (GHS 24096) (Vinyl LP). USA: Geffen Records. 1986.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jurek, Thom. "Song X [Twentieth Anniversary Edition] - Ornette Coleman, Pat Metheny | Release Info". AllMusic. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Olewnick, Brian. "Pat Metheny, Ornette Coleman - Song X Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
  7. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Christgau, Robert (September 2005). "Pat Metheny/Ornette Coleman: 'Song X'". Blender. New York. Retrieved November 28, 2013.
  8. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Review: Song X". DownBeat. Chicago. August 1986.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Blumenfeld, Larry (August 12, 2005). "Jazz 101". Entertainment Weekly. New York. p. 833. Archived from the original on July 6, 2007. Retrieved November 28, 2013.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Fordham, John (September 22, 2005). "CD: Ornette Coleman/ Pat Metheny, Song X". The Guardian. London. Retrieved November 28, 2013.
  11. ^ a b Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 7th ed. (Penguin, 2004), p. 1114.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly (1992). The Rolling Stone Album Guide (3rd ed.). Random House. p. 152. ISBN 0679737294.
  13. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Christgau, Robert (September 2, 1986). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved November 28, 2013.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Tom Hull: Grade List: Pat Metheny". Tom Hull. Retrieved October 16, 2025.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Pareles, Jon (April 20, 1986). "Jazz's Odd Couple Join Forces to Make Splendid Melody". The New York Times. Retrieved November 28, 2013.
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The 1986 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. New York. March 3, 1987.
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Christgau, Robert (February 7, 2006). "Pazz & Jop 2005: Dean's List". The Village Voice. Retrieved November 28, 2013.
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Song X – Pat Metheny – Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved November 28, 2013.

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