JACO PASTORIUS - Truth, Liberty And Soul– Live In NYC, The Complete 1982 NPR Jazz Alive! Recording
Resonance Records
Jaco Pastorius: bass; with collective personnel including Randy Brecker: trumpet; Bob Mintzer: tenor saxophone, electric bass clarinet; Othello Molineaux: steel drums; Don Alias: percussion; Toots Thielemans: harmonica; Peter Erskine: drums plus many others
Thirty years ago, Jaco Pastorius tragically left this planet. His innovations to the bass have been so ingrained into the fabric of music that it can be hard to imagine just how unbelievable he was when his self titled debut dropped on Epic in 1976, with a star studded cast including Herbie Hancock, Sam and Dave, Hubert Laws and Lenny White. Simply put, when Charlie Parker’s “Donna Lee” opened the album in a brief two and half minute duet with the congas of Don Alias, what Pastorius was doing for the bass, had never been heard in jazz, much less than music in general. In a sense parallels could be made to when organist Jimmy Smith came onto the scene twenty years earlier, the Hammond organ had never been a modern jazz instrument before then, and his lines on the instrument were more like a horn player. Pastorius had taken the electric bass out of it’s background foundation that had been heard in rock and R&B, made the bass a lead instrument, and by virtue of using a fretless bass, he was able to apply the phrasing of an acoustic bassist or a cellist, lending a natural, voice like quality. Certainly, contemporaries like Stanley Clarke had also made innovations with the electric bass, his slap technique as well as guitar like musings on tenor bass, in Return To Forever and his own projects were things seldom heard in the jazz orbit up until that time, but Pastorius was in an entirely different category.
Following “Jaco Pastorius” (Epic, 1976) the bassist joined jazz-rock juggernaut Weather Report, first playing on two tracks of “Black Market” (Columbia, 1976) before becoming an integral part on the band’s best known, million selling smash hit “Heavy Weather” (Columbia, 1977) and remaining with the band through 1982. Jaco and keyboardist Joe Zawinul had been experiencing well documented tensions, not only in personality, but in musical direction, where the bassist’s own playing was increasingly subsumed by Zawinul doubling on synth bass and various keyboards to which Pastorius famously quipped about “technological overkill”. What added fuel to the fire was Zawinul’s put down of Pastorius’ ambitious large scale “Word of Mouth” (Warner Bros, 1981) project that boldly announced his growth as writer, orchestrator and bandleader since his unforgettable debut. The Word of Mouth big band was an unapologetically modern look at the genre, a configuration out of vogue since the swing era. Though big bands did exist during the early eighties like the Count Basie Orchestra and Duke Ellington ghost band, big bands were much rarer, much less ones playing very contemporary music. Pastorius examined this group with the albums “Invitation” (Warner Bros, 1983) and Japan only “Twins”, of which the former album was a truncated version of those concerts. By 1982 and the resultant Japan tour, the bassist’s erratic behavior, exacerbated by his struggle with bipolar disorder was becoming more apparent, taking a toll not just musically but in his personal life. Resonance’s new release “Truth, Liberty And Soul: The Complete 1982 NPR Jazz Alive Recording” marking the first official release of a famous radio broadcast of when Jaco and the Word Of Mouth big band were at peak form, is perhaps not only one of the finest releases in the bassist’s discography, but one of the best jazz releases of the year thus far.
The Word of Mouth Big Band has been previously documented on the Warner Bros recordings mentioned above, and also on “The Birthday Concert” first released in 1996; but as good as album was, meticulously restored from cassettes owned by Peter Erskine, the music and level of inspiration on “Truth, Liberty, And Soul” is on another level. The reasons for that are many– Resonance founder Zev Feldman was introduced by record producer extraordinaire Michael Cuscuna to Tim Owens in 2011, producer of NPR’s Jazz Alive program from which a portion of the set was broadcast, setting a long six year negotiating process to get the music released officially. The second reason is the sterling audio quality of the original 24 track tapes recorded by Paul Blakemore in the Record Plant’s famous remote truck. Blakemore initially unhappy with the quality of his original mixes, was afforded the rare opportunity to once again have access to his original masters deemed lost, and for this project did a remarkable job remixing the audio with astounding clarity. Each instrument was individually miked, and is heard rich and powerfully, very present in the mix. The work from the incredible rhythm section of Pastorius, steel drummer Othello Molineaux, the late Don Alias on percussion and Peter Erskine, plus the fantastic trumpet section headed by Randy Brecker, also featuring Jon Faddis and Ron Tooley is incredibly potent. This is as the liners state, the only recorded performances of the New York edition of the band, incredibly tight and well oiled playing with a joy, grit and abandon from note one. “Invitation”, the classic standard opens the album with a considerably different complexion than the version heard on “The Birthday Concert” that featured a thrilling duel between Bob Mintzer and Michael Brecker. Here, high octane solos are shared by Mintzer and Randy Brecker, who utilizes electric trumpet, and wah wah effects. Mintzer and Brecker once again steal the show on a nearly 11 minute full band rendition of “Donna Lee”. Dave Bargeron’s tuba multiphonics on the intro are an intriguing textural element, and his bebop dexterity on the unwieldy horn is remarkable. Mintzer’s electric bass clarinet slices the air with uncanny fluidity foreshadowing his work in later decades on the EWI, and Randy Brecker alternates between electric effects and straight trumpet in his solo.
Toots Thielemans six cameos on harmonica starting with the classic “Three Views Of A Secret” are especially poignant since the late maestro’s passing last year, his own ripping “Bluesette” and duet with Pastorius on Ellington’s timeless “Sophisticated Lady” are wonderful. For all the criticisms by some of the bassist’s penchant for flows of notes, his support of Thielemans really frames what he plays beautifully.
Among the other gems in the collection are the lengthy reading of the African leaning “Okonkele Y Trompa”, featuring a extended conga and bongo intro by Don Alias that also reiterates how much the late percussion master is missed. Weaving effortlessly in and out of the triple meter that is a backbone of the piece, his signature muscular rhythms masterfully set the stage for Pastorius’ popping circular maze of harmonics underneath John Clark’s mournful French horn. Unlike the studio version, the French horn gets space to improvise a bit prior to launching into it’s unforgettable melody. The use of the classic bembe rhythm is retained on the medley of “Reza-Giant Steps” where Othello Molineaux’s lithe steel pans get a chance to work on the swinging matrix of Coltrane’s behemoth harmonic endurance test. The fourteen minute “Bass and Drum Improvisation” is another look at Pastorius’ use of rudimentary looping devices to set up a backdrop to solo upon, and like his famous “Slang” solo that was his nightly feature in Weather Report documented on “8:30” (Columbia, 1979) he works in references to other pieces. He quotes his own “River People”, and nod to Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” over a looped pedal point, not surprisingly his favorite Hendrix quote of “Third Stone From The Sun” appears earlier in the set. A flurry of fuzz distortion and brief rendition of “America The Beautiful” segues to Peter Erskine’s drum solo incorporating tympani as an added color for dramatic effect as a intro of sorts for the stunning full big band free improvisation of “Twins”.
“Truth, Liberty And Soul” is the most definitive document to date of the Word Of Mouth Big Band, and bears serious consideration as the year’s best archival release. To take it a step further, this release is the definitive posthumous Pastorius document; the cheap poorly recorded bootlegs that have appeared from the bassist’s last years, sometimes presented as a multi volume “Live in New York” series are not even worthy of consideration or discussion. The deluxe package contains a whopping 100 page booklet featuring essays and interviews that continue to demonstrate Resonance’s commitment to thorough documentation and for those that continue to be collectors in the changing digital distributed age of music. A perfect companion to 2015’s engaging, harrowing documentary “Jaco”.
Reviewed by C J Shearn
Resonance Records
Jaco Pastorius: bass; with collective personnel including Randy Brecker: trumpet; Bob Mintzer: tenor saxophone, electric bass clarinet; Othello Molineaux: steel drums; Don Alias: percussion; Toots Thielemans: harmonica; Peter Erskine: drums plus many others
Thirty years ago, Jaco Pastorius tragically left this planet. His innovations to the bass have been so ingrained into the fabric of music that it can be hard to imagine just how unbelievable he was when his self titled debut dropped on Epic in 1976, with a star studded cast including Herbie Hancock, Sam and Dave, Hubert Laws and Lenny White. Simply put, when Charlie Parker’s “Donna Lee” opened the album in a brief two and half minute duet with the congas of Don Alias, what Pastorius was doing for the bass, had never been heard in jazz, much less than music in general. In a sense parallels could be made to when organist Jimmy Smith came onto the scene twenty years earlier, the Hammond organ had never been a modern jazz instrument before then, and his lines on the instrument were more like a horn player. Pastorius had taken the electric bass out of it’s background foundation that had been heard in rock and R&B, made the bass a lead instrument, and by virtue of using a fretless bass, he was able to apply the phrasing of an acoustic bassist or a cellist, lending a natural, voice like quality. Certainly, contemporaries like Stanley Clarke had also made innovations with the electric bass, his slap technique as well as guitar like musings on tenor bass, in Return To Forever and his own projects were things seldom heard in the jazz orbit up until that time, but Pastorius was in an entirely different category.
Following “Jaco Pastorius” (Epic, 1976) the bassist joined jazz-rock juggernaut Weather Report, first playing on two tracks of “Black Market” (Columbia, 1976) before becoming an integral part on the band’s best known, million selling smash hit “Heavy Weather” (Columbia, 1977) and remaining with the band through 1982. Jaco and keyboardist Joe Zawinul had been experiencing well documented tensions, not only in personality, but in musical direction, where the bassist’s own playing was increasingly subsumed by Zawinul doubling on synth bass and various keyboards to which Pastorius famously quipped about “technological overkill”. What added fuel to the fire was Zawinul’s put down of Pastorius’ ambitious large scale “Word of Mouth” (Warner Bros, 1981) project that boldly announced his growth as writer, orchestrator and bandleader since his unforgettable debut. The Word of Mouth big band was an unapologetically modern look at the genre, a configuration out of vogue since the swing era. Though big bands did exist during the early eighties like the Count Basie Orchestra and Duke Ellington ghost band, big bands were much rarer, much less ones playing very contemporary music. Pastorius examined this group with the albums “Invitation” (Warner Bros, 1983) and Japan only “Twins”, of which the former album was a truncated version of those concerts. By 1982 and the resultant Japan tour, the bassist’s erratic behavior, exacerbated by his struggle with bipolar disorder was becoming more apparent, taking a toll not just musically but in his personal life. Resonance’s new release “Truth, Liberty And Soul: The Complete 1982 NPR Jazz Alive Recording” marking the first official release of a famous radio broadcast of when Jaco and the Word Of Mouth big band were at peak form, is perhaps not only one of the finest releases in the bassist’s discography, but one of the best jazz releases of the year thus far.
The Word of Mouth Big Band has been previously documented on the Warner Bros recordings mentioned above, and also on “The Birthday Concert” first released in 1996; but as good as album was, meticulously restored from cassettes owned by Peter Erskine, the music and level of inspiration on “Truth, Liberty, And Soul” is on another level. The reasons for that are many– Resonance founder Zev Feldman was introduced by record producer extraordinaire Michael Cuscuna to Tim Owens in 2011, producer of NPR’s Jazz Alive program from which a portion of the set was broadcast, setting a long six year negotiating process to get the music released officially. The second reason is the sterling audio quality of the original 24 track tapes recorded by Paul Blakemore in the Record Plant’s famous remote truck. Blakemore initially unhappy with the quality of his original mixes, was afforded the rare opportunity to once again have access to his original masters deemed lost, and for this project did a remarkable job remixing the audio with astounding clarity. Each instrument was individually miked, and is heard rich and powerfully, very present in the mix. The work from the incredible rhythm section of Pastorius, steel drummer Othello Molineaux, the late Don Alias on percussion and Peter Erskine, plus the fantastic trumpet section headed by Randy Brecker, also featuring Jon Faddis and Ron Tooley is incredibly potent. This is as the liners state, the only recorded performances of the New York edition of the band, incredibly tight and well oiled playing with a joy, grit and abandon from note one. “Invitation”, the classic standard opens the album with a considerably different complexion than the version heard on “The Birthday Concert” that featured a thrilling duel between Bob Mintzer and Michael Brecker. Here, high octane solos are shared by Mintzer and Randy Brecker, who utilizes electric trumpet, and wah wah effects. Mintzer and Brecker once again steal the show on a nearly 11 minute full band rendition of “Donna Lee”. Dave Bargeron’s tuba multiphonics on the intro are an intriguing textural element, and his bebop dexterity on the unwieldy horn is remarkable. Mintzer’s electric bass clarinet slices the air with uncanny fluidity foreshadowing his work in later decades on the EWI, and Randy Brecker alternates between electric effects and straight trumpet in his solo.
Toots Thielemans six cameos on harmonica starting with the classic “Three Views Of A Secret” are especially poignant since the late maestro’s passing last year, his own ripping “Bluesette” and duet with Pastorius on Ellington’s timeless “Sophisticated Lady” are wonderful. For all the criticisms by some of the bassist’s penchant for flows of notes, his support of Thielemans really frames what he plays beautifully.
Among the other gems in the collection are the lengthy reading of the African leaning “Okonkele Y Trompa”, featuring a extended conga and bongo intro by Don Alias that also reiterates how much the late percussion master is missed. Weaving effortlessly in and out of the triple meter that is a backbone of the piece, his signature muscular rhythms masterfully set the stage for Pastorius’ popping circular maze of harmonics underneath John Clark’s mournful French horn. Unlike the studio version, the French horn gets space to improvise a bit prior to launching into it’s unforgettable melody. The use of the classic bembe rhythm is retained on the medley of “Reza-Giant Steps” where Othello Molineaux’s lithe steel pans get a chance to work on the swinging matrix of Coltrane’s behemoth harmonic endurance test. The fourteen minute “Bass and Drum Improvisation” is another look at Pastorius’ use of rudimentary looping devices to set up a backdrop to solo upon, and like his famous “Slang” solo that was his nightly feature in Weather Report documented on “8:30” (Columbia, 1979) he works in references to other pieces. He quotes his own “River People”, and nod to Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” over a looped pedal point, not surprisingly his favorite Hendrix quote of “Third Stone From The Sun” appears earlier in the set. A flurry of fuzz distortion and brief rendition of “America The Beautiful” segues to Peter Erskine’s drum solo incorporating tympani as an added color for dramatic effect as a intro of sorts for the stunning full big band free improvisation of “Twins”.
“Truth, Liberty And Soul” is the most definitive document to date of the Word Of Mouth Big Band, and bears serious consideration as the year’s best archival release. To take it a step further, this release is the definitive posthumous Pastorius document; the cheap poorly recorded bootlegs that have appeared from the bassist’s last years, sometimes presented as a multi volume “Live in New York” series are not even worthy of consideration or discussion. The deluxe package contains a whopping 100 page booklet featuring essays and interviews that continue to demonstrate Resonance’s commitment to thorough documentation and for those that continue to be collectors in the changing digital distributed age of music. A perfect companion to 2015’s engaging, harrowing documentary “Jaco”.
Reviewed by C J Shearn
