I'm not familiar with the mentioned Metheny discs. But being "earlier" works, as you say, is it possible these records are just lacking the ultimate bass?
You may want to try running some sort of a reference cd, may be even stereophile test cd 1 or 2 with bass frequency test tones.
Or may be get a cd with plenty of bass. I recommend Brian Bromberg "Wood II" cd that I often use for bass test and actually enjoy listening. In case you are not familiar with Bromberg, he plays acoustic double-bass and the recording quality on "Wood II" is very good.
You may want to try running some sort of a reference cd, may be even stereophile test cd 1 or 2 with bass frequency test tones.
Or may be get a cd with plenty of bass. I recommend Brian Bromberg "Wood II" cd that I often use for bass test and actually enjoy listening. In case you are not familiar with Bromberg, he plays acoustic double-bass and the recording quality on "Wood II" is very good.