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Artist
Pastorius/Metheny/Ditmas/Bley
5+ albums
jazzbassjazz fusion
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Pastorius/Metheny/Ditmas/Bley - Jaco Easily the most maligned item in Jaco Pastorius' catalog, and for no good reason. This is one of the jewels in his crown and should be included in any serious discussion of his work, along with his eponymous debut and Weather Report's "heavy weather." Here, Jaco got together with guitarist Pat Metheny (so young at age 20 that the snot is barely dry in his nose), canadian Paul Bley on electric piano, and drummer Bruce Ditmas (about whom i don't know the first thing) for what basically amounts to a jam. As a result, this album feels more impressionistic and meandering than most fusion of the time and several of the cuts, including the blistering "Vampira," are heavily influenced by Miles' mid-70s "wall of sound" (c.f., Agartha, Pangaea). and that's what jacophiles hate about this record. If there's not a version of "teen town" or "continuum," they aren't interested. But don't worry, Jaco plays plenty fast on many of the cuts here, though the pyrotechnics feel much more communal in spirit as a result of the environment. It's also cool to hear Metheny play with a murky, distorted tone, the antithesis of the crystalline sound into which he would later mature. And the louder the record is cranked, the better it sounds. Alas, this mothersucker is out of print and amazon.com wants $60 for a copy, so you're screwed. key tracks: "Vashkar," "Vampira." (After a post by Brian Triplett at http://bjtripnuts3.blogspot.com/2007/11) User-contributed te
