Tag: Jaco Pastorius Big Band

Title: Jaco Pastorius – Jaco Pastorius (1976) [Japanese SACD 1999]
Genre: Jazz, Fusion
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Jaco Pastorius was a meteor who blazed on to the scene in the 1970s, only to flame out tragically in the 1980s. With a brilliantly fleet technique and fertile melodic imagination, Pastorius made his fretless electric bass leap out from the depths of the rhythm section into the front line with fluid machine-gun-like passages that demanded attention. He also sported a strutting, dancing, flamboyant performing style and posed a further triple-threat as a talented composer, arranger and producer. He and Stanley Clarke were the towering influences on their instrument in the 1970s.

It’s impossible to hear Jaco Pastorious’ debut album today as it sounded when it was first released in 1976. The opening track — his transcription for fretless electric bass of the bebop standard “Donna Lee” — was a manifesto of virtuosity; the next track, the funk-soul celebration “Come On, Come Over” was a poke in the eye to jazz snobs and a love letter to the R&B greats of the previous decade (two of whom, Sam & Dave, sing on that track); “Continuum” was a spacey, chorus-drenched look forward to the years he was about to spend playing with Weather Report. The program continues like that for three-quarters of an hour, each track heading off in a different direction — each one a masterpiece that would have been a proud achievement for any musician. What made Jaco so exceptional was that he was responsible for all of them, and this was his debut album. Beyond his phenomenal bass technique and his surprisingly mature compositional chops (he was 24 when this album was released), there was the breathtaking audacity of his arrangements: “Okonkole Y Trompa” is scored for electric bass, French horn, and percussion, and “Speak Like a Child,” which Pastorious composed in collaboration with pianist Herbie Hancock, features a string arrangement by Pastorious that merits serious attention in its own right. For a man with this sort of kaleidoscopic creativity to remain sane was perhaps too much to ask; his gradual descent into madness and eventual tragic death are now a familiar story, one which makes the bright promise of this glorious debut album all the more bittersweet.

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Title: Jaco Pastorius Big Band – Word Of Mouth Revisited (2003)
Genre: Jazz, Jazz Rock
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

It’s a grand gathering of the Lords of the Lower Frequencies: bassists Marcus Miller, Victor Bailey, Victor Wooten, Jimmy Haslip, Christian McBride, Gerald Veasley, and Richard Bona are united under a groove to celebrate their hero, Jaco Pastorius. Jaco’s homeboy Peter Graves (who employed the bassist in his south Florida big band before he hit it big with Weather Report in 1975) was the mastermind behind this awesome assembly. Under Graves’s direction these Jaco gems, mostly from his Weather Report days and his first solo recording, highlight Pastorius’ powerful influence.

Back before he turned everyone’s idea of bass playing inside out, Jaco Pastorius spent five years on the bandstand with the Peter Graves Orchestra at Bachelors III, a swanky spot in his hometown of Ft. Lauderdale. Nearly three decades after the future star’s departure in 1975, and 16 years after his brutal murder, Graves got the guys back together, christened them in their former colleague’s name, and invited the most prominent bass guitarists of the early 21st century down to join them in a project dedicated to Pastorius’ legacy. Throughout these polished performances, the bass parts testify to how profoundly Pastorius altered that instrument’s role. Bottom line (so to speak): he gave them the option of playing from a soloist mentality and blowing all over the beat, as fast and free as any saxophonist, as long as he or she had chops and didn’t subvert the groove. The guest bassists on this collection absorbed this lesson long ago. Each can scatter quick licks, some of them even faster than Pastorius himself. So why does a vague disenchantment haunt these performances? Perhaps it’s because these players, great as they are, are still emulating more than discovering. Some imitate even the nuances of the Pastorius tone and phrasing, as does Richard Bona on “Punk Jazz” – which, of course, may be a form of tribute in this context. On an opposite extreme, the light-speed, staccato hailstorm unleashed by Victor Wooten on “Teen Town” is fundamentally unmusical, focusing on the player more than the material being played – which is, come to think of it, the real revelation here. Pastorius’ tunes reflect a compositional maturity that wasn’t always evident in the more improvisational context of Weather Report, and his arrangements – notably an idiosyncratic treatment of “Killing Me Softly” and the marimba-flavored exotica of “Opus Pocus” – suggest that had he had more time, he would have written history with his pen as much as his performance. One complaint: the samples of Pastorius’ voice, chopped into microbits that carry no meaningful content and seem intended to function as objects of postmodern reflection, if not reverence. All these interruptions accomplish is to remind you that some artists speak most eloquently without words.

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Title: Jaco Pastorius Big Band – The Word Is Out! (2006)
Genre: Jazz, Fusion
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Following the success of Word of Mouth Revisited, the critically acclaimed and award winning 2003 release on Heads Up International, the Jaco Pastorius Big Band has crafted a second chapter in their ongoing tribute to the brilliant legacy of the bassist/composer/arranger from whom they’ve taken their name. The Word Is Out!, an album that features an array of guest artists-not only on bass, but on a variety of other instruments.

Jazz fusion bass freaks and fans of the late great Weather Report innovator first got the message that his richly textured compositions were ripe for spirited big-band arrangements on 2003’s critically acclaimed Word of Mouth, whose all-star band was led by Peter Graves (whose orchestra Pastorius launched his career with) and included sharp melodic and rhythmic contributions by bassmen who have proudly carried on the tradition – Victor Wooten, Gerald Veasley, Richard Bona, Victor Bailey, Marcus Miller, and Jimmy Haslip. On the funky, energetic, yet frequently poignant follow-up – which reminds listeners even more of the bass legend’s genius for composition – these monsters return, complemented by band newcomers like Israel “Cachao” Lopez, Jr., Mark Egan, Oteil Burbridge, and Will Lee. What’s exciting is that even though the set is joyfully plastered with grand solos by these rhythm masters as well as Randy Brecker, Hiram Bullock, Ed Calle, Bob Mintzer, Arturo Sandoval, Peter Erskine, and Mike Stern, everyone’s truly dedicated to making this a buoyant team effort. So while Mintzer and Brecker blaze amidst the madness on “Dania,” there’s an eager sense of anticipation waiting for the sizzle of the whole ensemble to re-emerge. That same vibe extends to the midtempo cool yet simmering Latin arrangement of “Las Olas,” which was arranged by Randy Bernsen and features a lush harmonica solo by Toots Thielemans. Pastorius’ own compositions dominate, but classics from his famous collaborators Pat Metheny (“Sirabhorn”) and Joe Zawinul (the low-key, soulful, and whimsical “Cannonball”) are equally engaging. Another extra-Jaco treat is a speedy reading of the Beatles’ “Blackbird,” featuring a percussive soprano melody line by Calle over a subtle Bona-Erskine groove. Jaco Pastorius fans will flip with ecstasy, but even lovers of less progressive contemporary jazz will enjoy it for its spirit and lyrical melodies.

hraudio | allmusic | discogs

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