Pat Metheny

The Pat Metheny Group reached an early, joyous peak on American Garage, one of the most popular and immediately appealing records in the entire ECM catalogue. Recorded in 1979 by the band's classic lineup, Pat Metheny on guitars, his essential musical partner Lyle Mays on keyboards, Mark Egan on bass and Dan Gottlieb on drums, it captures a young group bursting with optimism and melodic energy. The album opens with the soaring "(Cross the) Heartland," an instant anthem whose wide-open, road-trip exuberance set the tone for everything that followed, all sunlit chords, singing guitar lines and a uniquely American sense of horizon and possibility. Inspired in part by the band's grueling early touring life and the rock and roll dreams of garage bands across the Midwest, the music blends jazz sophistication with the directness and uplift of pop and rock, without ever sounding calculated. Mays's lush keyboard textures and Metheny's bright, vocal guitar tone intertwine throughout, supported by a rhythm section that is both tight and buoyant.

Accessible yet musically rich, melodic yet full of subtle craft, American Garage helped define the Group's signature sound and won them an enormous and devoted audience. Warm, anthemic and irresistibly tuneful, it remains a fan favorite and a perfect introduction to one of jazz's most beloved bands. It topped the jazz charts on release and has remained a perennial favorite ever since, beloved by longtime fans and newcomers alike. This vinyl edition brings back the bright, expansive sound of the original, the perfect way to experience the Group's sunlit, anthemic peak.