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Letter from Home

Studio album by

Pat Metheny Group

Released

June 29, 1989

Recorded

Spring 1989

Studio

Power Station, New York City

Genre

Jazz fusion, Latin jazz, crossover jazz

Length

61:39

Pat Metheny chronology

Still Life (Talking)
(1987)

Letter from Home
(1989)

Question and Answer
(1990)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]

Letter from Home is the sixth studio album by the Pat Metheny Group. It was released in 1989 by Geffen Records. In 1990, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance. It was certified gold by the RIAA on July 23, 1998.^[2]

The album marked the return of Pedro Aznar, who became a member of the Group on the album First Circle. It also featured a reemphasis on increased instrumental diversity and was a huge commercial success, comfortably making the Top 200 album chart at Billboard magazine. "Slip Away" was, as Metheny put it, "extraordinarily successful, one of the most successful individual tunes that we've ever made." He said that it contains an ideal melodic durability.

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Transcription

Track listing

All tracks are written by Pat Metheny except where noted

Side one:
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Have You Heard"		6:25
2.	"Every Summer Night"		7:13
3.	"Better Days Ahead"		3:02
4.	"Spring Ain't Here"		6:55
5.	"45/8"	Metheny, Mays	0:56
6.	"5-5-7"	Metheny, Mays	7:54

Side two:
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Beat 70"	Metheny, Mays	4:53
2.	"Dream of the Return"	Spanish lyrics by Pedro Aznar	5:25
3.	"Are We There Yet"	Mays	7:55
4.	"Vidala"	Aznar	3:04
5.	"Slip Away"		5:24
6.	"Letter from Home"		2:33

Personnel

Pat Metheny – acoustic and electric guitars, guitar synthesizer, 12-string guitar, soprano guitar, tiple, Synclavier
Lyle Mays – piano, organ, accordion, trumpet, Synclavier
Steve Rodby – acoustic and electric bass
Paul Wertico – drums, caja, percussion
Pedro Aznar – vocals, guitar, marimba, vibraphone, tenor saxophone, charango, melodica, pan pipe, percussion
Armando Marçal – percussion

Technical personnel

Pat Metheny – producer
Steve Rodby and Lyle Mays – co-producer
David Sholemson – project coordinator
Rob Eaton – recording
Rob Eaton and Alexander Haas – mixing
Bob Ludwig – mastering at Masterdisk, NYC, USA
Diamond Art Studio and Shed (8) – artwork and design

Charts

Chart (1989)	Peak position
US Billboard 200^[3]	66
US Top Contemporary Jazz Albums (Billboard)^[4]	1

Awards

Grammy Awards

Year	Category
1990	Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance

References

^ Henderson, Alex (2011). "Letter from Home - Pat Metheny Group | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
^ "Gold & Platinum - RIAA". RIAA. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
^ "Pat Metheny Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
^ "Pat Metheny Chart History (Top Contemporary Jazz Albums)". Billboard.

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)