Punk Jazz: The Jaco Pastorius Anthology

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Over two dozen tracks and two hours of jazz bass brilliance from Jaco Pastorius, his first career-spanning collection! This collection captures his work with Weather Report ( Birdland ), Pat Metheny, Airto, Flora Purim and Joni Mitchell ( The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines ), plus rare solo sides like his 1968 home demo The Chicken and 1982's Good Morning Annya from the never-finished, oft-bootlegged studio album Holiday for Paris . Larger than life! .com ---- Bassist Jaco Pastorius was the Jimi Hendrix ( /exec/obidos/ts/artist-glance/12907/%24%7B0%7D ) of jazz. Before he left this world in 1987, he virtually created the fretless bass with an unorthodox playing style that turned that instrument into a highly tuned, electrified African talking drum. This long-overdue, two-CD compilation details the incredible, but incomplete arc of this artist's genius that encompassed the R&B, Caribbean, fusion, and jazz-rock idioms. Jaco-heads will revel in these legendary sides that made Pastorius famous. There's his solo rendition of Bach's "Chromatic Fantasy," his dreamy improvisations on "Midwestern Nights" with Pat Metheny ( /exec/obidos/ts/artist-glance/45226/%24%7B0%7D ), and, of course, the 1976 Weather Report ( /exec/obidos/ts/artist-glance/60035/%24%7B0%7D ) megahit, "Birdland." There are also a few unreleased tracks including an early home of "The Chicken" and a live version of "Okonkole Y Trompa." Pastorius's sideman work with Joni Mitchell ( /exec/obidos/ts/artist-glance/34218/%24%7B0%7D ), which features a wicked take on Charles Mingus ( /exec/obidos/ts/artist-glance/22544/%24%7B0%7D )'s "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," is also included. But Pastorius's own compositions steal the show: the West Indian-riffed big band number "Liberty City," and his expansive and exotic tone poem "John and Mary." This set will blow your mind and break your heart. --Eugene Holley, Jr.