"Nothing Personal" is a Don Grolnick composition from Michael Brecker's 1987 self-titled debut on Impulse! Records, featuring a rare meeting of Brecker and Pat Metheny in an up-tempo swing setting. Metheny opens with three spirited choruses over a 24-bar minor blues in G minor, his electric guitar tone bright and singing as he navigates the changes with fluid melodic invention. Brecker follows with five choruses that build from exploratory beginnings to a climactic conclusion, his massive tenor sound and relentless rhythmic drive creating an overwhelming sense of forward momentum. Grolnick, a brilliant pianist-composer who served as musical director for the album, crafted a blues form sophisticated enough to challenge these two virtuosos while retaining the earthy directness that great blues playing demands. The extended solo sequence over this minor blues demonstrates both players' deep roots in the jazz tradition, even as their vocabularies push into contemporary harmonic and rhythmic territory. Charlie Haden and Jack DeJohnette supply a swinging rhythm section that responds to every nuance of the soloists' improvisations.
