As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls

Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays, Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 29, 2000)
• Original Release Date: September 1980
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ecm Records
• ASIN: B000026255
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (89 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,343 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #28 in	Music > Jazz > Jazz Fusion
  #30 in	Music > Jazz > Smooth Jazz
  #32 in	Music > Jazz > Modern Postbebop

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
Guitarist Pat Metheny and his longtime keyboard collaborator/alter ego Lyle Mays saw in their rural American roots a mystical connection to an entire world of sounds, and with As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, they began the process of fashioning an idiomatic folk expression all their own. With the help of master percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, they create a whistlestop tour of musical outposts on the extended title track that is at once gothic and atmospheric in the manner of Weather Report, bucolic and harmonious like the Byrds--with echoes of small towns, strip malls, and lonely railyards, over expanses of wide-open space that reflect their familial origins and countless miles wandering the interstate on a string of college-town one-nighters. In the four square major modes of "Ozark" and "It's for You" you can hear the beige tinge of the American experience that melded with African American music to give the U.S. its musical depth and breadth, while "September Fifteenth" is a prayerful, ruminative reflection on the spirit of their romantic forebear, pianist Bill Evans. --Chip Stern

Product Description
Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Universal. 2008. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars whaddya mean "too long"?, December 21, 2004

By	Christopher Osburn (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Several reviewers here have stated the title track is too long. Perhaps. But is a train trip across the Great Plains too long? Is a Beethoven symphony too long? Is Tarkovsky's "Solaris" too long? Perhaps. I'm not buying it, though. I think sometimes you just need to take a little time for beauty, if beauty has a lot to show you.

These same reviewers gush over the side-two songs, though, and I certainly agree. "September Fifteenth" makes me tear up almost every time. But these reviewers leave me wondering what their hurry is. Go to the station, look for the longest train trip leaving and step on! Listen closely as you pass the backsides of a dozen small bits of America, all different, all special. Listen to the scenery in between.

When I was a kid growing up between two mountain ranges, I was taught that the plains states were terribly flat, and because flat they were boring. As a grown man, I finally had the chance to see for myself. Flat? Perhaps. But vast. And terribly beautiful. How wrong my teachers were! When this album came out, I too was stirred more by the second side. Well, I was just 16, and hadn't seen the Great Plains yet.

I digress. If you can pick the power and beauty out of the plains, or out of the high desert, you certainly will appreciate the title track as I do. It's the journey that matters with this album, not the destination.

38, 42, 55, 3

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Metheny - Mays Masterpiece, March 6, 2002

By	Mark D Burgh "Music, Writing, Art, Film, Hist... (Fort Smith, AR United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls is filed under Jazz for commercial reasons, but this music so far outclasses what passes for Jazz in most venues that it deserves a category all its own. What makes AFWSGWF so good is the blend of Americana with longer form songs that develop and flow freely at the same time.

The first time I heard the opening track "Ozark" I fell in love with this album. Combining Metheny's mastery of guitar with Mays' understated, but explosive playing, the song is nostalgic without sentimentality, is virtuositic without excess.

The entire album presents a high standard of writing and playing that Metheny and Mays were able to meet with the Pat Metheny Group while on ECM.

Check out Lyle May's self-titled solo album too.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Estupenda CD, February 10, 2000

By A Customer

As a musician and fan there is so much I could say about this wonderful CD. But I want to tell you about it from another angle. I have a condition that causes me to wake up every morning feeling as if I've been thrown off a ten story building. Beaten to a pulp, stiff, sore, and, because of the discovery that if I can wake up to this album, and in particular the last three cuts (starting with September 15 and ending with Estupenda Graca), I receive such warmth and consolation that I start feeling much better very quickly. Tension releases and by the time I hear the native American sound of Estupenda Graca I have myself been the recipient of amazing grace; grace which came in the form of music. When I'm up and going, and in my normal music listening state, I very much enjoy hearing the CD from beginning to end, allowing it take me on its dramatic journey. But when my body's engulfed in pain, my face is flushed, and my blood pressure is up, I know what to do. I can literally feel those terrible symptoms draining away if I just listen to the last three songs. There is so much love and sheer beauty there, and the sound is amazing like an angelic visit. I understand that a new release of this CD is coming in late February, 2000. It's probably been re-mastered or something, I don't know. I can't imagine it being any better. But even though I already have it, I'm sure I'll get the new release. That way I can take two and thank them in the morning. For anyone who needs comfort and consolation, this well is ever flowing. Speaking from a musical perspective, I believe this is a true American classic, and is easily one of the best CDs ever recorded (actually my first version was a phonograph LP). The album came out very close to the time that CDs had their debut. The interaction between Metheny's classical guitar and Mays' piano sounds like a mixture of classical and jazz. If you listen to music with your gut, welcome to paradise.