Barre Phillips’s Mountainscapes brings together strongly contrasting elements, the furious high-energy playing of the Surman/Phillips/Martin trio juxtaposed with spacious impressionistic pieces originally created for Carolyn Carlson’s ballet dancers. The integration of acoustic instruments and electronics (with three of the musicians playing synthesizers) is beautifully balanced in the production. John Abercrombie dropped by the studio to jam on the last track, raising the energy level still higher. Recorded in March 1976, Mountainscapes was described by Melody Maker as “vast, awesome and glorious” and “a starting point for the shape of jazz to come.”

ECM Records continues its series of Hi-Res reissues from its early analog era. This summer’s batch of digitalized Hi-Res releases includes seminal albums by Jan Garbarek, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Thomasz Stanko, Jack DeJohnette, Eberhard Weber, Paul Motian, Ralph Towner, Egberto Gismonti and many more. As with all Hi-Res releases from ECM’s vast catalogue to date, the underlying premise in digitizing the analogue tapes is not to change the sound of the recordings, but to realize them in their original form, in the most detailed and best possible quality.

Technical Specs:

In the capable hands of mastering engineer Christoph Stickel, the process begins with the original, analogue stereo master tapes. The masters are in excellent condition and can be played without problems. All tapes are played by a Studer A820, which is meticulously calibrated to the respective tape. The analog signal is then digitized in 96kHz/24-bit, which covers the complete spectrum of the original tapes. In each case, a decision is made between a PrismSound ADA-8XR, an Antelope Eclipse Mastering AD, and a Mytek Brooklyn ADC, depending on which one is suited best for the respective recording. No de-noising and no other restoration affecting the sound is applied.”