Jaco Pastorius – Truth, Liberty & Soul (3LP, 45RPM, 200g)
Bass, vocals - Jaco Pastorius [click here to see more products featuring Jaco Pastorius]
Tenor sax, soprano sax, bass clarinet - Bob Mintzer
Trumpet - Randy Brecker
Steel drums - Othello Molineaux
Percussion - Don Alias
Drums - Peter Erskine
Alto saxophone - Bob Stein
Tenor saxophone - Lou Marini, Frank Wess
Baritone saxophone - Howard Johnson, Randy Emerick
Trumpet - Alan Rubin, Lou Soloff, Jon Faddis, Ron Tooley, Kenny Faulk
Trombone - David Taylor, Jim Pugh, Wayne Andre
French Horn -John Clark, Peter Gordon
Tuba - David Bargeron
Harmonica - Toots Thielemans
Written by B. Kaper (A1), D. Ellington (B1), I. Mills (B1), M. Parish (B1), B. Brown (B2), C. Lewis (B2), B. Robinson (B2), D. Alias (C1), J. Pastorius (C1), J. Pastorius (D1), J. Coltrane (D1), R. Mintzer (E1), J.Pastorius (F1), A.J. Ellis (F1)
3LPs, Gatefold Jacket
Original analog Master tape : YES
Heavy Press : 200g
Record color : black
Speed : 45RPM
Size : 12'’
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : unspecified
Label : Fidelio 2xHD
Original Label : 2xHD
Recorded June 27, 1982
Recorded and mixed by Paul Blakemore
Sound restoration by Fran Gala, George Klabin
Produced by Zev Feldman
Executive Producer - André Perry
Remastered by Bernie Grundman
Art Direction, Design by Burton Yount
Photography by Don Hunstein, Tom Copi
Originally release in May 2017
Released in 2024
Tracks:
Side A:
- Invitation
Side B:
- Sophisticated Lady
- Fannie Mae
Side C:
- Okonkole Y Trompa
Side D:
- Reza/Giant Steps (Medley)
Side E:
- Mr. Fonebone
Side F:
- Soul Intro/The Chicken
Reviews :
"Resonance Records goes out of its way again to unearth yet another significant chapter in jazz history, and once again, it's one that relatively few fans have ever heard. This performance of Jaco Pastorius' Word of Mouth Big Band was captured during George Wein's Kool Jazz Festival at Avery Fisher Hall. It was broadcast on NPR's Jazz Alive program, but this double disc contains the entire performance, with more than 40 minutes of additional music.
As his time with Weather Report wound down, Pastorius threw himself into Word of Mouth. A studio album was issued a year earlier, and versions of this outfit had played in Florida, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Pastorius assembled a who's who for this date. The core band featured Bob Mintzer, Randy Brecker, Peter Erskine, Don Alias, and Othello Molineux (on steel drums). That said, the 16-piece horn section included Frank Wess, Lou Marini, Lew Soloff, Jon Faddis, John Clark, and David Bargeron (on tuba), to name a few. What's more, the grandest harmonicat of all, Toots Thielemans, was a featured soloist.
Jaco's charts are exquisite, full of energy, sophistication, and humor. Check the tuba intro and burning break in the 13-minute workout on Charlie Parker's "Donna Lee," amid the fiery interplay of the steel drums, Mintzer's electric bass clarinet, and the drums and bass.
This space-age bebop is contrasted beautifully as Thielemans joins in for Pastorius' elegant "Three Views of a Secret," the hard-swinging Latin and Caribbean rhythms in "Liberty City" (with gorgeous contrapuntal improvising by the whole band), and a sparsely adorned, romantic read of Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady." Disc one closes with a bumping Caribbean take on the harmonicist's standard "Bluesette."
The second disc opens with an absolutely cooking read of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff," before a series of lengthy tunes bookended by heavy percussion workouts. "Okonkolé y Tompa" spends ten of its 15 minutes as an Alias solo before Jaco's bass and Clark's French horn join him, adding intimacy and tenderness. The glorious medley of "Reza/Giant Steps" -- a true set highlight -- displays Pastorius' canny arrangements, even as his lead guitar-like playing gets to shine. "Mr. Fonebone" brings back Toots with a joyous carnival-esque intro that leads into knotty post-bop. The extreme length of the "Bass and Drum Improvisation" will make hardcore fans of Erskine and Pastorius salivate, but for most, once or twice through will suffice.
The finale is a Jaco evergreen: "Fannie Mae" is a hard-swinging blues shuffle that features his vocals and bass playing in call and response with Thielemans and Mintzer as the band wails.
Sure, Truth, Liberty & Soul is for the Pastorius fanatics, but it's much more: this fantastically recorded document is a treasure trove of modern progressive jazz. The brilliant music found on it serves to underscore that Jaco was more than a brilliant, singular bassist (though that would have been enough); he was a great composer, arranger, and charismatic bandleader -- a true jazz renaissance man." AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek.
"In his short life, Jaco Pastorius revolutionised the bass guitar, and lifted the music of key jazz-fusioneers Pat Metheny and Weather Report in the 1970s – but his ambition was to form a big band. This previously unreleased live set captures a blistering two-hour gig from Pastorius’s soulful, swinging and very full-on Word of Mouth orchestra in 1982, with saxophonist Bob Mintzer, trumpeter Randy Brecker and harmonica maestro Toots Thielemans in the ranks.
The riff-shouting, soul-jazzy Pastorius standby The Chicken is constantly stung by the leader’s springy, ever-changing basslines, the fast Charlie Parker bebop classic Donna Lee is implausibly and audaciously unfolded as a unison bass and tuba theme, Three Views of a Secret sets a lyrical Thielemans free over floating Gil Evans-like harmonies, the world-music of the slithery, simmering Reza turns into Coltrane’s Giant Steps, and three drummers including Peter Erskine and Don Alias are explosive and remarkably melodic by turns. This exhilarating set is a real find, for Jaco fans and left-field big-band followers alike." The Guardian Reviews by John Fordham.
Ratings :
AllMusic : 4 / 5 ; Discogs : 5 / 5