Offramp (album)

Offramp is the third studio album by the Pat Metheny Group, recorded in October 1981 and released on ECM May the following year. The performers are Pat Metheny; Lyle Mays, Steve Rodby and Danny Gottlieb in the rhythm section; and percussionist and singer Naná Vasconcelos.

Background
Offramp is the first studio album on which Metheny used a guitar synthesizer—the Roland GR-300—which would become one of his signature instruments.

Offramp is also the first Pat Metheny Group album to include vocals, which became a fundamental component of the band's sound. When Metheny and Lyle Mays partnered with Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos on the album As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, they sought to expand the potential of the recording studio as an ensemble instrument and experiment with sounds they hadn't previously utilized. Some of the innovations introduced on Wichita carried over into Offramp, namely Vasconcelos's vocals and percussion.

Bassist Mark Egan was replaced by Steve Rodby, who remained with the Group well into the 2000s and became an important partner in the compositional and production processes between Metheny and Mays.

The Group pays tribute to one of Metheny's biggest influences, pioneering free jazz instrumentalist Ornette Coleman, on the title track, and singer-songwriter James Taylor served as the inspiration for the sixth track, "James."

Reception
Offramp was critically acclaimed and commercially successful at the time of its release.

It won the Playboy Readers Poll for Best Jazz Album and the 1983 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance, the Group's first of ten Grammys.

The album continues to be acclaimed by critics and fans for its compositional maturity, technological progressiveness, especially for the time it was recorded, and for introducing key hallmarks of the Group's overall sound, namely the guitar synthesizer and vocals.

It was voted number 669 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).

Note

 * "The Bat Part II" is a reworking of "The Bat", from Metheny's 80/81 (1980)

Pat Metheny Group

 * Pat Metheny – electric and acoustic guitar, guitar synthesizer, Synclavier
 * Lyle Mays – piano, synthesizers, autoharp, electric organ, Synclavier
 * Steve Rodby – electric and acoustic bass
 * Danny Gottlieb – drums
 * Naná Vasconcelos – percussion, voice, berimbau