As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	^[5]
Rolling Stone	^[1]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	^[3]

As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls is an album by jazz guitarist Pat Metheny and jazz pianist Lyle Mays recorded in September 1980 and released on ECM April the following year. The trio features percussionist Naná Vasconcelos.

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Transcription

Background

The title makes reference to Wichita, Kansas, and Wichita Falls, Texas. The title track is just under 21 minutes.

Throughout the album, Metheny acts as the lead guitarist, accompanying guitarist, and bassist using the overdubbing technique. The track "September Fifteenth" is in reference to September 15, 1980, the day the American jazz pianist Bill Evans died. Metheny and Mays cite Evans as a main influence. Both "September Fifteenth" and "It's for You" appear in the score for the 1985 film Fandango. "It's for You" was later covered by Akiko Yano, with Metheny on guitar, for her 1989 album, Welcome Back.

A section of the title track (starting at 14:56) has been used by Christian Dior for the Fahrenheit perfume and cologne ads since 1988.

Track listing

All music is composed by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays

Side one:
No.	Title	Length
1.	"As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls"	20:44

Side two:
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Ozark"	4:03
2.	"September Fifteenth" (dedicated to Bill Evans)	7:45
3.	"'It's for You'"	8:20
4.	"Estupenda Graça"	2:40

Personnel

Pat Metheny – electric and acoustic 6- and 12-string guitars, bass guitar
Lyle Mays – piano, Prophet 5 & Oberheim FVS synthesizers, electric organ, autoharp
Naná Vasconcelos – berimbau, percussion, drums, vocals

Charts

Year	Chart	Position
1981	Billboard Jazz Albums	1
1981	Billboard Pop Albums^[6]	50

References

^ Shewey, Don (2011). "Pat Metheny: As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 1 March 2009. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ Cook, Stephen (2011). "As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls – Lyle Mays | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 139. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 995. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
^ "Pat Metheny Billboard 200 Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved December 4, 2023.

Pat Metheny

Group albums

As leader

Pat Metheny Group	Pat Metheny Group (1978) American Garage (1979) Offramp (1982) Travels (1983) First Circle (1984) The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) Still Life (Talking) (1987) Letter from Home (1989) The Road to You (1993) We Live Here (1995) Quartet (1996) Imaginary Day (1997) Speaking of Now (2002) The Way Up (2005)
Others	Bright Size Life (1976) Watercolors (1977) 80/81 (1980) Rejoicing (1984) Question and Answer (1990) Secret Story (1992) Flower Hour (1992) Trio 99 → 00 (2000) Trio → Live (2000) Day Trip (2008) Tokyo Day Trip (2008) Unity Band (2012) Kin (←→) (2014) The Unity Sessions (2016) From This Place (2020)