JACO PASTORIUS

Punk Jazz: The Jaco Pastorius Anthology

$31.98 CD

Two discs spanning the incendiary career of the jazz bass virtuoso. The most comprehensive Jaco retrospective ever released, Punk Jazz features the all-time classic “Birdland” from his stint with Weather Report, plus several of his guest spots (Joni Mitchell, Pat Metheny) and three rare tracks never commercially released.  From the early ’70s through the mid-’80s, bassist Jaco Pastorius was a white-hot presence in the jazz world, whose colorful persona and towering talent also reached rock fans. Jaco was often compared to Jimi Hendrix -- both artists got their start in R&B bands, revolutionized their instruments, released stunning debuts, and had meteoric rises followed by untimely ends.   Jaco’s 1976 self-entitled debut on Epic was hailed as a masterpiece. That same year, he joined jazz supergroup Weather Report, ultimately becoming third lead alongside Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul before exiting in 1981.  Also during that time, Pastorius was a prolific session player, lending his genius to many artists’ grooves, some of which are featured here. From 1980 on, he toured and recorded with his own outfit, Word Of Mouth, also the title of his 1981 Warner Bros. album. Warner put out several live discs as well, but never released Holiday For Pans, his second studio effort (a cut from it appears here, marking its first commercial release).  By 1987 Jaco was gone, victim to a violent death. Larger than life in his short stay with us, he will forever remain so via his extraordinary artistry.

Selection # 73779