Released 45 years ago today: “As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls” by jazz guitarist Pat Metheny (26) & keyboardist Lyle Mays (27). Nine months after Metheny’s challenging “80/81” post-bop project, this relatively accessible trio LP (with Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos, 36) finds Mays leaning into synthesizer work, prominent on the atmospheric, hypnotic 21-minute title track. Metheny deploys electric & acoustic guitars, plus, atypically for him, bass guitar. Th
