Pat Metheny - Watercolors (1977)

In early 1977, the 22-year-old Pat Metheny had a lot riding on his forthcoming second album: he'd produced a stunning trio debut with Jaco Pastorius and Bob Moses, making him the rising star to watch on Europe's premier jazz label.  The follow-up would expand his sonic palette by adding keyboards, courtesy of a musician of similar age who he'd met a couple of years back, and would spent the following decades coming back to as part of the evolving Pat Metheny Group.  That group's initial drummer, Danny Gottlieb, came into the picture here too.  With Metheny still lacking his own bassist, one of ECM's established ones sat in, bringing his unique sound: the great Eberhard Weber.

If, as some regard it, Watercolors was the first PMG album in all but name, it was a low-key start.  I've always felt it works just fine in Pat's name only, sitting better with his more intimate solo records like New Chautauqua (check some of the gorgeous 12 & 15-string sounds here) than the more immediate smash hit of the PMG debut.  The music here is mostly quiet and impressionistic, suiting its becalmed, watery art and track titles.  The more upbeat material however does ensure variety in the programme, and Lakes and River Quay in particular do arguably point the way forward to the early PMG sound.  Either way, just another stunningly beautiful early Pat Metheny record among several.

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