Jaco Pastorius (album)
| Jaco Pastorius | ||||
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| Studio album by Jaco Pastorius | ||||
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Publication |
1976 |
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| Label (s) | Epic Records | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
42:07 |
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| occupation | Amongst other things:
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Studio (s) |
Camp Colomby Studios, Columbia Recording Studios |
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Jaco Pastorius is the debut - solo album of American electric bassist Jaco Pastorius . The album was released in August 1976 on Epic with nine tracks. In August 2000 it was re-released with two bonus tracks after a remastering on Sony Music . The album marks a milestone in the development of the electric bass style, with which Pastorius succeeded in emancipating his instrument from a mere accompaniment function to a fully fledged lead voice. For Pat Metheny , Pastorius, who made his impressive musical calling card with this album, was even one of the last jazz musicians of the 20th century who had a decisive influence on the music world as a whole.
Emergence
In 1976 Jaco Pastorius became internationally known when he toured with the jazz rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears . He met the group's drummer, Bobby Colomby , who worked as a producer for Epic Records , at a concert in Fort Lauderdale . There he inspired Colomby, among other things, with his dexterity on his instrument and his way of using flageolet tones . After studying Jaco's compositions, Colomby offered him a recording deal, which he accepted. During the recording, Pastorius lived in Bobby Colomby's New York home. At this time, most of the songs that should be heard on the album were written - but many pieces initially had other titles. About his work on the album, Colomby says:
"I did what most producers try to do and make sure that his artistry, and in Jaco's case, his diverse musical vocabulary, was well represented on this, his first disc. I wanted to bring to light two of the aforementioned unique aspects of his playing. The harmonics and fluid dexterity. "
“I did what most producers try: make sure his art, and in Jaco's case, his extensive musical vocabulary, is well represented on this, his first disc. I wanted to bring to light two of the above unique aspects of his game. The flageolet tones and the flowing skill. "
In order for him to do this, he asked Pastorius to play some of the bass lines he knew from the concert in Fort Lauderdale with harmonics. Together with sound engineer Dave Palmer, he recorded some titles without Jacos knowledge, edited them and showed them to the artist. After some persuasion, he agreed with his idea. This is how the famous piece Portrait of Tracy came about .
Jaco Pastorius chose the pieces that were to appear on the album himself, but gave the producer a free hand in the order. He decided to open the album with Donna Lee to introduce the bassist and his enormous technical skills. In order to show the audience that the album is something special, he decided on the "mainstream sounding song" Come On, Come Over in second place. As the last track he chose Forgotten Love , because in his opinion an album should end with certain emotions, similar to a film.
Cover
The cover image of the album shows a black and white photo of Jaco Pastorius, in which he is wearing a dark turtleneck and has his arms crossed over his chest. "Jaco Pastorius" is written in white over his disheveled hair.
Bobby Colomby chose a portrait for the cover because he felt it was the best way to introduce a new artist and because he thought Pastorius' unusual looks matched his unusual bass playing.
The photo was taken by CBS Records photographer Don Hunstein.
The album and its pieces
Track list
-
Donna Lee - 2:27
( Parker / Davis ) -
Come On, Come Over - 3:54
(Herzog / Pastorius) -
Continuum - 4:33
(Pastorius) -
Kuru / Speak Like a Child - 7:43
( Hancock / Pastorius) -
Portrait of Tracy - 2:22
(Pastorius) -
Opus pocus - 5:30
(Pastorius) -
Okonkole y Trompa - 4:25
( Alias / Pastorius) -
(Used to Be a) Cha-Cha - 8:57
(Pastorius) -
Forgotten Love - 2:14
(Pastorius)
New releases from 2000:
-
(Used to Be a) Cha-Cha (Alternate Take) - 8:49
(Pastorius) -
6/4 Jam - 7:45 am
(Pastorius)
Donna Lee
The jazz standard was originally written by Charlie Parker with the assistance of Miles Davis . Pastorius transferred the lead voice, originally played by Charlie Parker on the saxophone, to the fretless electric bass and was only accompanied by Don Alias on the congas . His interpretation of the piece caused a sensation, because until then it would hardly have been thought possible to transfer this piece - which poses the highest technical demands even to every saxophonist - to the fretless electric bass. Pat Metheny , on whose debut album " Bright Size Life " Pastorius bass played, said of his interpretation of Donna Lee that this was one of the most refreshing examples in recent jazz history of how to play over a well-known sequence of chord changes.
"Jaco's solo on 'Donna Lee' ... is even more notable for being one of the freshest looks at how to play on a well traveled set of chord changes in recent jazz history"
Come on, come over
The only track on the album that contains vocals belongs to the funk genre. Accordingly, the first title that Pastorius provided for the song was Funk . The soul duo Sam & Dave took over the vocals .
In the chorus , a typical aspect is to hear the bass playing of Pastorius: the melodic use of so-called dead-Notes . To produce such a note, the strings are muted with the grasping hand while they are plucked with the playing hand. This creates a percussive click.
Continuum
In Continuum , the bass is once again the focus. Jaco Pastorius plays the lead vocal and is supported by Herbie Hancock on Fender Rhodes , Lenny White on drums and Don Alias on congas. Along with Portrait of Tracy and Donna Lee, the piece is considered one of the album's most formative examples of the development of the modern electric bass style.
Portrait of Tracy
The track Portrait of Tracy was initially to be called Harmonics . Harmonics is the English term for Harmonics , which form a further aspect of typical Pastorius bass lines. These tones are created by placing a finger of the gripping hand on the string at a certain point. In contrast to normal play, the string is not pressed onto the fingerboard, but only touched. The tone that then arises when you strike it belongs to the overtone series . Because Portrait of Tracy consists almost exclusively of harmonics, it is considered revolutionary among bassists.
The piece has been covered several times, including by Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten . The current title refers to Tracy Sexton, Jaco's first wife. For Pastorius it became a kind of musical identification mark, which he always alluded to in his great solo ( slang ), for which he mostly received a standing ovation on the world tours of Weather Report .
Others
- Kuru / Speak Like a Child were originally two pieces that Pastorius combined for this album.
- From (Used to be a) Cha-Cha two recordings were made. The initially discarded, alternative version appeared on the remastering of the album in 2000.
- 6/4 Jam only appeared on the remastering.
- Okonkole Y Trompa was a jam between Pastorius and Don Alias, neither of whom probably knew that it was being recorded.
Awards
The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by a Group. However, the award went to Chick Corea . He received another Grammy nomination for Donna Lee for Best Jazz Performance by a Soloist . Count Basie received this award .
criticism
The e-zine Allmusic gave the album five stars out of five. Rick Anderson writes there:
"[...] each track [is] heading off in a different direction - each one [is] a masterpiece that would have been a proud achievement for any musician."
"[...] each title leads in a different direction - each is a masterpiece that would be a proud achievement for any musician."
Richard Cook and Brian Morton gave the album the second highest rating in The Penguin Guide to Jazz and said that despite mistakes like the Sam & Dave commitment, the album impressively shows the different facets of Pastorius' musical personality and as the best album to remember stand by the deceased bassist. Even if it is ultimately not a great album (due to the too many ambitions), the authors highlight his achievements in the pieces Portrait of Tracy and Donna Lee .
Individual references / comments
- ↑ a b album on the official homepage of Jaco Pastorius. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 15, 2010 ; Retrieved September 19, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Album on Answers.com. Retrieved September 19, 2010 (English).
- ↑ Album on CDUniverse.com. Retrieved September 19, 2010 (English).
- ↑ Before the recordings for this album, Pastorius' album Jaco was created in June 1974 , which was later released on DIW Records , as well as the album Pastorius-Metheny-Ditmas-Bley , which was released on the small label Improvising Artists. Contributing musicians were Pastorius Paul Bley , Pat Metheny and Bruce Ditmas respectively .
- ↑ In addition to the original pieces, the album now contained another track 6/4 Jam and an alternative version of the song (Used to be a) Cha-Cha .
- ↑ Metheny in the text accompanying the re-release of Jaco Pastorius' debut album in 2000 ( memento of the original from January 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c Handwritten list of songs by Pastorius. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 15, 2010 ; Retrieved September 19, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d Bobby Colomby talks about the album. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 8, 2016 ; accessed on September 29, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Donna Lee at JazzStandards.com. Retrieved September 19, 2010 (English).
- ↑ Grayson Currin: Continuum. Jaco Pastorius is remembered by the music and muses he left behind. INDYWEEK.COM, accessed September 29, 2010 .
- ↑ Grammy nominations. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 26, 2009 ; Retrieved September 19, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Jaco Pastorius at Allmusic (English)
- ^ Cook & Morton, Penguin Guide to Jazz, 2002, p. 1165.
Web links
- Official Website of Jaco Pastorius (English)
- Jaco Pastorius at Allmusic (English)