Jaco Pastorius Big Band: Word Of Mouth Revisited

Jaco Pastorius Big Band

Word Of Mouth Revisited

Heads Up HUCD 3978

Jaco Pastorius Big Band and guests

Of the clutch of Pastorius recordings on my racks, "Word of Mouth", first issued in 1980 is missing. We read that the eighties recording offered a small ensemble sound, which has now been given over to the big band led by Peter Graves. The tunes are mostly from the pen of Pastorius and several of the arrangements are also credited to him. Pastorius is to be heard only once, on track 11, "Wiggle Waggle", and the master reasserts his position as the boss. Moroever, we hear the man commenting on that particular performance (he dug it) and we realize that Jaco knew exactly what Jaco wanted. This CD contains big-band Jazz of a high quality and although the bass chair is filled by a guest on each occasion (the likes of Marcus Miller, Christian McBride and Victor Bailey, among others), nothing is lost of the Pastorius writing. The accustomed funkiness of a Pastorius performance (it is virtually impossible for an electric bass not to sound funky) is largely maintained, with the added joy of the great ensemble playing, the unflagging rhythm sections and the bass and general horn solos in general. A beautiful CD. Recommended to everyone with ears.

by Lawrence Brazier

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