Jaco Pastorius – Truth, Liberty & Soul
Sound Restoration by George Klabin & Fran Gala
2xHD Label
Cut All Analogue at Bernie Grundman Mastering on Tube Cutting Equipment
There have been many guitar gods, but there’s never been an electric bassist as deified as Jaco Pastorius. – Michael J. Agovino
This live album by Jaco Pastorius and the Word-of-Mouth Big Band, featuring harmonica virtuoso Toots Thielemans as special guest, was recorded in analog 24 tracks by the Record Plant mobile truck at Avery Fisher Hall in NYC on June 27, 1982, as part of George Wein’s Kool Jazz Festival.
This Deluxe 45rpm 200g edition is the first one to be mastered from the original 2 track master tapes that were found some 30 years later (the previous digital download versions were released from a digital remix of the 24 tracks). What we have here is the direct copy of the original pure analogue 2 track mix.
The brightest star in the electric bass firmament, Jaco Pastorius burst onto the national scene in 1976 with his audacious self-titled album on Columbia Records, featuring a line-up of top jazz musicians.
With his extraordinary fretless electric bass playing as the centerpiece, Jaco Pastorius created an immediate sensation with the public and the media.
His signature approach employed Latin-influenced funk, lyrical solos on fretless bass, bass chords, and innovative use of harmonics.
In Jaco’s work with Weather Report and beyond, the self-described “greatest bass player in the world” (an assessment shared with virtually the entire music world) established a new identity and role for his instrument and became the torch-bearer for a new way of playing both technically and conceptually.
But behind it all was an ever present R&B and Latin-influenced groove and a screaming rock-‘n’-roll attitude that he refined and incorporated into sophisticated jazz harmonic structures.
In addition to his extraordinary virtuosity, Jaco was also developing into an accomplished and sophisticated composer and arranger and those talents are gloriously on display on this album.
The 3-time Grammy Award nominee was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1988, one of only seven bassists so honoured (and the only electric bassist).
His legacy as a bass innovator continues to this day, more than 30 years after his untimely death in 1987.
Musicians
Jaco Pastorius – bass, vocals
Bob Mintzer – tenor sax, soprano sax, bass clarinet
Randy Brecker – trumpet
Othello Molineaux – steel drums
Don Alias – percussion
Peter Erskine – drums
Bob Stein – alto saxophone
Lou Marini – tenor saxophone
Frank Wess – tenor saxophone
Howard Johnson – baritone saxophone
Randy Emerick – baritone saxophone
Alan Rubin – trumpet
Lou Soloff – trumpet
Jon Faddis – trumpet
Ron Tooley – trumpet
Kenny Faulk – trumpet
David Taylor – trombone
Jim Pugh – trombone
Wayne Andre – trombone
John Clark – French horn
Peter Gordon – French horn
David Bargeron – tuba
Toots Thielemans – harmonica
Track List; Jaco Pastorius – Truth, Liberty & Soul
Side A:
Invitation
Side B:
Sophisticated Lady
Fannie May
Side C:
Okonkolé Y Trompa
Side D:
Reza / Giant Steps
Side E:
Mr. Fonebone
Side F:
Soul Intro / The Chicken
