Jaco Pastorius Truth, Liberty & Soul 200g 45rpm 3LP

Michael Fremer Rated 9/10 Music, 10/10 Sound!

There have been many guitar gods, but there's never been an electric bassist as deified as Jaco Pastorius. – Michael J. Agovino

This live album by Jaco Pastorius and the Word-of-Mouth Big Band, featuring harmonica virtuoso Toots Thielemans as special guest, was recorded in analog 24 tracks by the Record Plant mobile truck at Avery Fisher Hall in NYC on June 27, 1982, as part of George Wein's Kool Jazz Festival. This Deluxe 45rpm 200g edition is the first one to be mastered from the original 2 track master tapes that were found some 30 years later (the previous digital download versions were released from a digital remix of the 24 tracks). What we have here is the direct copy of the original pure analog 2 track mix.

The brightest star in the electric bass firmament, Jaco Pastorius burst onto the national scene in 1976 with his audacious self-titled album on Columbia Records, featuring a lineup of top jazz musicians. With his extraordinary fretless electric bass playing as the centerpiece, Jaco Pastorius created an immediate sensation with the public and the media. His signature approach employed Latin-influenced funk, lyrical solos on fretless bass, bass chords, and innovative use of harmonics. In Jaco's work with Weather Report and beyond, the self-described "greatest bass player in the world" (an assessment shared with virtually the entire music world) established a new identity and role for his instrument and became the torchbearer for a new way of playing both technically and conceptually. But behind it all was an ever present R&B and Latin-influenced groove and a screaming rock-'n'-roll attitude that he refined and incorporated into sophisticated jazz harmonic structures.

In addition to his extraordinary virtuosity, Jaco was also developing into an accomplished and sophisticated composer and arranger and those talents are gloriously on display on this album. The 3-time Grammy Award nominee was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1988, one of only seven bassists so honored (and the only electric bassist). His legacy as a bass innovator continues to this day, more than 30 years after his untimely death in 1987.

Sonically, Truth, Liberty & Soul is also, hands down, the best-sounding Word of Mouth recording ever. So, Truth Liberty & Soul is not only a reminder of how much ground Pastorius broke in such a relatively short time on earth; it's also a reminder of how talented and broad-minded each and every member of his Word of Mouth Big Band was.

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.

The hall sound behind and around the band is very present and Jaco's amplified bass effectively growls and purrs in great focus. The horn sound is addictive and the steel drums sound vibrant with well-focused transient attack. The Word of Mouth Big band features eight members: Pastorius, Mintzer, Brecker, Molineaux, Alias and Erskine augmented by seventeen additional players including five saxophones, five trumpets, three trombones two french horns and a cartridge in a pear tree. Plus tube and Toots. When the horns go full-tilt you'll perk up!

Note: The order of songs varies from the original concert to permit all the songs to fit on 3 vinyl discs.