Watercolors is the second ECM album by guitarist Pat Metheny, recorded in February 1977, a year after the release of his debut Bright Size Life. It is the first of his records with pianist Lyle Mays, who would be an important partner for the work ahead. With Danny Gottlieb on drums, three quarters of the future Pat Metheny Group is already here. The sound points clearly towards that band.
Metheny plays guitar, 12-string guitar and a 15-string harp guitar, with Mays on piano, Eberhard Weber on bass and Gottlieb on drums. On Bright Size Life the bassist had been Jaco Pastorius, while here it is Weber, whose instrument since 1974 had been a five-string electric upright. Metheny and Weber already knew each other from Gary Burton's band, in which both had played. The session took place at Talent Studio in Oslo with Jan Erik Kongshaug as engineer and Manfred Eicher as producer. All compositions are Metheny's, and the album was released in May 1977.
The title track sets the tone, with Mays's piano buoying the music from the first bars. On Icefire Metheny solos on a specially tuned 12-string, moving between chords and high melody, and the piece turns midway to a second section built on harmonics. Oasis brings in the harp guitar, with electric guitar singing over acoustic textures. The ten-minute Sea Song closes the album, bringing the harp guitar back. In between, Mays widens the frame around the guitar on the quietly glowing Lakes and takes a fluent solo on River Quay. A short two-part Suite pairs Florida Greeting Song with Legend Of The Fountain.
The American press was warm. The Valley Advocate in Massachusetts called it "an astoundingly tasteful and free flowing record" and praised the "breathtaking ensemble work". Looking back, Down Beat heard the group "reaching toward the sound that would burst forth a year later on the Pat Metheny Group album". Weber had recorded his own The Following Morning in the same Oslo studio six months earlier.
This CD (ECM 1097) is part of the 2019 Touchstones series, 50 classic ECM albums reissued in cardboard gatefold sleeves for the label's 50th anniversary. The album was first released in 1977.
