Song X is a free jazz

Free jazz

Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...

 album by Pat Metheny

Pat Metheny

Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...

 and Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....

. It was recorded in three days in December 1985 and released in March 1986. The album also features mutual Metheny/Coleman collaborator Charlie Haden

Charlie Haden

Charles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...

 on bass, Jack DeJohnette

Jack DeJohnette

Jack DeJohnette is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. He is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, due to extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians like Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett and Sonny...

 on drums, and Coleman's son Denardo

Denardo Coleman

Denardo Ornette Coleman is an American jazz drummer. He is the son of Ornette Coleman and Jayne Cortez.Denardo Coleman began playing drums at age six; his first appearance on record was on his father's 1966 album The Empty Foxhole; Ornette later featured Denardo on many of his releases, and he...

 on various percussion instruments.

An extended version was issued on CD in 2005, titled Song X: Twentieth Anniversary.

Original 1986 release

1. "Song X" – 5:38
2. "Mob Job" – 4:13
3. "Endangered Species" (Coleman, Metheny) – 13:19
4. "Video Games" – 5:21
5. "Kathelin Gray" (Coleman, Metheny) – 4:15
6. "Trigonometry" (Coleman, Metheny) – 5:09
7. "Song X Duo" (Coleman, Metheny) – 3:08
8. "Long Time No See" – 7:36

Additional tracks on 2005 release

1. "Police People" - 4:57
2. "All of Us" - 0:15
3. "The Good Life" - 3:25
4. "Word From Bird" - 3:48
5. "Compute" - 2:03
6. "The Veil" - 3:42

All compositions by Ornette Coleman except as indicated

Personnel

• Pat Metheny
  Pat Metheny
  Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
  
   – Guitar, Roland Guitar Synthesizer, Synclavier Guitar, Producer
• Ornette Coleman
  Ornette Coleman
  Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
  
   – Alto Saxophone, Violin
• Jack DeJohnette
  Jack DeJohnette
  Jack DeJohnette is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. He is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, due to extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians like Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett and Sonny...
  
   – Drums
• Charlie Haden
  Charlie Haden
  Charles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...
  
   – Acoustic Bass
• Denardo Coleman
  Denardo Coleman
  Denardo Ornette Coleman is an American jazz drummer. He is the son of Ornette Coleman and Jayne Cortez.Denardo Coleman began playing drums at age six; his first appearance on record was on his father's 1966 album The Empty Foxhole; Ornette later featured Denardo on many of his releases, and he...
  
  – Electronic Drums, Percussion
• Jan Erik Kongshaug – Recording Engineer