John Scofield/Pat Metheny: I Can See Your House From Here (2LP, 180g) [BLUE NOTE]

Why you'll love it

This Blue Note reissue spreads the album across a 2LP set on 180g vinyl, with LP supervision by Joe Harley. Two of jazz's great guitarists split the writing, with Steve Swallow on bass and Bill Stewart on drums.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 180g vinyl
• LP supervision by Joe Harley
• Stereo mix

About the album

Put two famous guitarists in one room and you'd expect a duel. John Scofield and Pat Metheny had other ideas. When they finally made a record together in December 1993, at the Power Station in New York, it sounded far more like a conversation than a contest. Both had led their own bands for years, and the respect runs all the way through.

Producer Lee Townsend kept things simple: a quartet with Steve Swallow on electric and acoustic bass and Bill Stewart on drums, recorded and mixed by James Farber and mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound. Scofield wrote the title song, "No Matter What" and "Everybody's Party," and Metheny brought "The Red One," a gleeful blues rocker, plus "Message To My Friend" and "Say The Brother's Name." Metheny adds nylon-string guitar and guitar synth, and "Quiet Rising" and "You Speak My Language" show how gracefully they share the space.

Scofield sits in the left channel and Metheny in the right, so for once your balance knob gets a real say in a jazz record.

Also at Kops: more John Scofield on vinyl · browse Modern Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Blue Note (cat# B0032260-01), a reissue of the 1994 album.