Mar 30, 2026 10:30 PM
Flea Finds His Jazz Thing
In the relatively small pantheon of certifiable rock stars venturing into the intersection of pop music and jazz, the…
Hi-resolution versions of the albums Pat Metheny recorded for the ECM label are being made available online.
(Photo: Rolf Frison)Guitarist Pat Metheny forged a singular and instantly recognizable sound during his relationship with the ECM label.
Hi-resolution versions of his albums for the label—like American Garage, which featured late keyboardist Lyle Mays, and Bright Size Life—were made available Friday on digital platforms for the first time.
“The main premise in digitizing the Pat Metheny tapes was not to change the sound of the recordings, but to realize them in the original form, in the best possible quality,” ECM mastering engineer Christoph Stickel said in a note to press.
“The work was based on the original, analog stereo master tapes. The masters are in very good condition and can be played without problems,” he continued. “All tapes were played by a Studer A820, which was meticulously calibrated to the respective tape. The analog signal was digitized in 96kHz/24-bit, which covers the complete spectrum of the original bands. In each case, a decision was made between a PrismSound ADA-8XR, an Antelope Eclipse Mastering AD and a Mythek Brooklyn ADC, depending on which one suited the respective recording best. No denoising and no other restoration affecting the sound was carried out.”
The music is slated to be available on Acoustic Sounds (download), Amazon (streaming), Apple Music (download and streaming), HDtracks (download), Prostudiomaster (download), Qobuz (download and streaming) and Tidal (MQA Master streaming). DB
“Cerebral and academic thought is a different way to approach music,” Flea says of his continuing dive into jazz. “I’ve always relied on emotion and intuition and physicality.”
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