First Circle (album)

Infobox Album | Name = First Circle
Type = Album
Artist = Pat Metheny Group


Released = 1984
Recorded = 15-19 February 1984
Length = 49:54
Genre = Jazz, Fusion
Label = ECM
Producer = Vance Anderson
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:n9kzu3tgan2k~T0 link]
Last album = "Travels"
(1983)
This album = "First Circle"
(1984)
Next album = "The Falcon and the Snowman"
(1985)

"First Circle" is a Grammy Award winning album by the Pat Metheny Group released in 1984. On the album Pat Metheny is joined by Lyle Mays on piano and keyboards, Steve Rodby on bass guitar, drummer Paul Wertico and vocalist and percussionist Pedro Aznar. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance in 1985.

Of note is the peculiar opener "Forward March". Sounding like a middle school concert band's first practice together, the piece, which features keyboardist Lyle Mays on trumpet, uses many dissonant, out-of-tune chords and notes, along with shifting time signatures.

Track listing

# "Forward March" (Metheny) – 2:49
# "Yolanda, You Learn" (Mays w/additional material by Metheny) – 4:49
# "The First Circle" (Metheny, Mays) – 9:16
# "If I Could" (Metheny; in memory of Wes Montgomery) – 7:01
# "Tell It All" (Metheny, Mays; based on an idea by Metheny & Wertico) – 7:59
# "End of the Game" (Metheny, Mays) – 8:02
# "Más Allá (Beyond)" (Metheny; Spanish lyrics by Aznar) – 5:40
# "Praise" (Metheny, Mays) – 4:18

Personnel

* Pat Metheny - Guitar, Sitar, 12 String Guitar, Guitar Synth, Classical Guitar, Synthesizer, Synclavier
* Lyle Mays - Piano, Organ, Synclavier, keyboards, Trumpet, Synthesizer, Bells, Oberheim, Agogo
* Steve Rodby - Bass Guitar
* Paul Wertico - drums
* Pedro Aznar - Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Percussion, Glockenspiel, vocals, Whistle, Bells

Charts

Album - Billboard

Awards

Grammy Awards