Details
Track Listing
1. Song X
2. Trigonometry
3. Kathelin Gray
4. Mob Job
5. Endangered Species
6. Long Time No See
7. Song X Duo
8. Video Games
Album Notes
Personnel: Pat Metheny (guitar, guitar synthesizer); Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone, violin); Charlie Haden (acoustic bass); Jack De Johnette (drums); Denardo Coleman (drums, percussion).
Recorded at the Power Station, New York, New York between December 12 & 14, 1985.
The combination of the popular mainstream jazz guitarist Pat Metheny and pioneering free jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman may seem an odd one. However, their collaboration SONG X reflects their mutual admiration and shared sense of adventure. Fans of Metheny's contemporary jazz may find some aspects of this session hard to swallow. Coleman's followers, however, will feel right at home with the jarring dissonance and dense textures. Joining the pair are the equally adventurous drummer Jack DeJohnette, along with Coleman's drumming son Denardo, and the bassist from his original quartet, Charlie Haden.
Things are blazing right from the start as the frenetic title track explodes with a miasma of lightning-speed ensemble free improvisation. The music gets even more chaotic with the bizarre "Endangered Species," a 13-minute collage of churning freedom with dense thrashes of noise and a hurricane of percussion. However, all works are not so brash; the delicate ballad "Kathelin Gray" displays a softer side with deeply emotive work by Coleman and Metheny. Shades of bebop are also present in the swinging "Trigonometry." In all, listeners will find a new side to both of these astounding artists who obviously have many dimensions to their art.
Industry Reviews
5 Stars - Excellent - ...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...
Down Beat (08/01/1986)
4 stars out of 5 - [A] rollicking fusion of Ornette's waywardly elegant melodies, Metheny's polite clarity and a cultured collective anarchy.
Metheny's rich, complex guitar sonorities provide new textures and dimensions to a Coleman ensemble.
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