Retro Reviews: Jaco Pastorius: Jaco Pastorius

      I decided to launch a new series to imagine myself as a critic at the end of the 60s and start of the 70s, and to rectify certain reviews from Rolling Stone magazine and Creem. This not meant to be contrarian, but to offer a more balanced perspective. This is a lesser-known album.

Paco Pastorius – Jaco Pastorius (1976)

****1/2

Producer: Bobby Colomby

Musicians: Jaco Pastorius, Don Alias, Herbie Hancock, Narada Michael Walden, Sam Moore, Dave Prater, Randy Brecker, Roon Tooley, Peter Graves, David Sanborn, Michael Brecker, Howard Johnson, Alex Darqui, Lenny White, Bobby Economou, Wayne Shorter, Othello Molineaux, Leroy Williams, Peter Gordon, Hubert Laws, Richard Davis, Horner Mensch.

Music and Songs: Donna Lee, Come On Come Over, Continuum, Kuru / Speak Like A Child, Portrait of Tracy, Opus Pocus, Okonkole Y Trompa, (Use To Be A) Cha Cha, Forgotten Love

Reviewed by Matthew Anthony Allair

    Weather Report’s Jaco Pastorius has released a new solo album that blends a number of approaches with the occasional pop number. The fact that Bobby Colomby from Blood, Sweat & Tears is the producer is revealing as to where the priorities lie and that balance within this work. The album features a number of supporting star players, namely Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, as well as a number of steady players like Don Alias on percussion. This runs the gambit of traditional fusion jazz to more introspective numbers, and a gateway vocal from Sam and Dave. But the focus is on Jaco’s bass work, he also fills in the role of a typical guitarist at times. His range as a traditional and fretless player gives Jaco a flexibility as to what a Bass player can, in the same fashion as to how rock players like John Entwhisle and Jack Bruce demonstrated what has been possible.

    Jaco wrote or co-wrote the bulk of the material. As a rite of passage, Jaco opens by tackling Miles Davis’s “Donna Lee”, the central focus is on Jaco and percussion on the number. The ambition of the album is on display on the one vocal “Come On Come Over”, Jaco sets up the hook before the iconic Sam And Dave provide the vocal, a driving pop funk number that channels the best of James Brown’s sensibility, Much of Hancock’s occasional pop leanings work well with this. The sturdier and melodic “Continuum” offers a contrast had harkens back to Miles’ sound from several years before, Jaco’s fretless makes this compelling. The ambition get’s larger with the string section infused “Kuru / Speak Like A Child”, which is thrusted in with an intricate string passage, Jaco matches the mood while Hancock opens it up. The mood shifts with “Speak Like A Child” as the strings and piano trade off one another. 

    The solo “Portrait of Tracy” is a fine, melodic composition that shows the depth of Jaco’s writing, the playing nearly accents an Electric Piano at times. The Steal drums of “Opus Pocus” is anchored by Jaco’s bass riffs, Wayne Shorter is more than welcome on the piece, it’s always difficult to escape the shadow of Davis as traces of him emerge. With “Okonkole Y Trompa” Jaco acts percussively as a French Horn offers a pensive quality. “(Use To be A) Cha Cha” is probably the most swing like number on the whole album, the flute and piccolo harkens back the most to mis sixties jazz, Jaco takes a traditional lead before the flute takes over.  Yet this manages to go more outside as it evolves. Hancock’s work will remind people of his time with the Davis Quartet. “Forgotten Love” manages to bring things down with Jaco’s bass, piano and large string section, pensive yet full of abstract voicings, it reveals Jaco’s inward thinking as a composer. The accumulative effect of the album is overall impressive, and it takes you on an interesting journey worth your time.