Jaco: The Early Years Series?

[Lobster11]

The February issue of BPMag contains an article by Chris Jisi discussing two new Jaco "Early Years" discs, described as the first two installments of an "Early Years Series" of CD-length recordings of Jaco with his various pre-Weather Report bands. It's a little ambiguous from the article as to whether these are two distinct releases or a single 2-disc set (under the single title of "Woodchuck and Tommy Strand & the Upper Hand") but, in any case, the article says that these "have officially arrived" and are available at jacotheearlyyears.com and cdbaby.com.

However, I can find no mention of this (or these) release(s) at either site. Both offer only the single-disc "Jaco Pastorius: The Early Years Recordings," which I understand to be a music-only version of the much earlier 2-disc "Portrait of Jaco: The Early Years" compilation. On the other hand, abstractlogix.com is offering two different cd's -- one titled "Woodchuck" and one "Tommy Strand & the Upper Hand" -- as Japanese imports (with price tags of $35.99 and $42.99 respectively).

Given the history of this project, it certainly wouldn't surprise me if American releases of these discs might be tied up by some kind of legal wrangling, but apparently they were available when Jisi wrote the article -- or at least their release appeared imminent at the time. Does anybody know what's going on, and whether we will eventually see American (i.e., more reasonably priced) releases of these? (Chris, are you out there?) I'm dying to get these, which I'd much rather have than the compilation, but those import prices are a little too rich for my blood (and one of them is out of stock to boot).

[JimK]

After that issue arrived, I checked www.cdbaby.com & www.jacotheearlyyears.com. Nothing.
Finally, I e-mailed cdbaby...after a week or two, they came back & said they were unaware of such releases.
I did see the IMPORT versions at Abstract Logix...over the years, I have learned this lesson: Whenever I jump on something with the IMPORT price tag, it soon thereafter becomes a domestic release for about $10-$15.

[Lobster11]

Right, same for me. That issue arrived in early January (or maybe even late December), though, so I decided to wait and just check back at cdbaby from time to time: I was thinking that maybe the discs hadn't actually been released yet when the article was written, but was expected soon thereafter (i.e., by the time the issue actually hit the newsstands). Now that it's March, I figured it was about time to see if anybody else knew what was going on. I've scoured the internet and haven't been able to find a word about it. I keep expecting some kind of announcement on the jacotheearlyyears site, but nothin' there either....

[jerry]

The last time Bassplayer did a story on Bobbing's Jaco recordings it was quite awhile before the CD came out.

[Eublet]

Not sure why they aren't there, but I've had these discs for a few years now. It's called "Portrait of Jaco". Not sure how you guys are missing it, but when I go to the websites above, it's easy to find. I ordered mine from CDbaby a few years back. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jacopastorius

By the way, the album plays very much like a multi-track interview, with lots of talking (mostly people other than Jaco) with some musical recordins mixed in. It's "cool" if you are a big Jaco fan, but not the kind of thing you just stick in and listen to like a regular CD.

[jerry]

Originally Posted by Eublet

Not sure why they aren't there, but I've had these discs for a few years now. It's called "Portrait of Jaco". Not sure how you guys are missing it, but when I go to the websites above, it's easy to find. I ordered mine from CDbaby a few years back. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jacopastorius

By the way, the album plays very much like a multi-track interview, with lots of talking (mostly people other than Jaco) with some musical recordins mixed in. It's "cool" if you are a big Jaco fan, but not the kind of thing you just stick in and listen to like a regular CD.

I don't have the new Bassplayer yet, but I'm pretty sure these are different recordings than the 'Portrait Of Jaco' set.

[Eublet]

Originally Posted by jerry

I don't have the new Bassplayer yet, but I'm pretty sure these are different recordings than the 'Portrait Of Jaco' set.

As always, I could be wrong, but I don't think so. The discs are called "Portrait of Jaco...the Early Years." It's a two disk volume of recordings and interviews. Much of it is pre-Weather Report, or even before his debut CD for that matter. There's one version of "The Chicken" that Jaco recorded in his teenage years using overdubs. He plays all the instruments on the recordings. There's a track with "Continuum" before Jaco had even named it.

[Lobster11]

Originally Posted by Eublet

As always, I could be wrong, but I don't think so. The discs are called "Portrait of Jaco...the Early Years." It's a two disk volume of recordings and interviews. Much of it is pre-Weather Report, or even before his debut CD for that matter. There's one version of "The Chicken" that Jaco recorded in his teenage years using overdubs. He plays all the instruments on the recordings. There's a track with "Continuum" before Jaco had even named it.

Well, since I'm never wrong, and you are sometimes, it must be you!

Seriously, if you look at my original post again you'll see that I acknowledged the 2-disc Portrait compilation, which has been out for many years, as well as a newer release that (from what I've read about it) contains all the music from Portrait on one disc (and omits the interviews, etc.). The Early-Years SERIES that Jisi wrote about is entirely different: The plan evidently is to release an entire disc of Woodchuck stuff, an entire disc of Tommy Strand stuff, and so forth. These are the ones that Jisi said were now available at cdbaby -- but they aren't.

[JimK]

These are "new"' Jaco albums...a full cd of Jaco w/ Tommy Strand & The Upper Hand + a full cd of Jaco w/ Woodchuck.
Most of us have had POJ for awhile now. Portrait only had a track or two from those early pre-Weather Report bands.
In the February Bass Player feature, Bobbing said he was planning on various full-cd releases of Jaco with Wayne Cochran, Peter Graves, etc.

Tommy Strand cd at abstract logix-
http://www.abstractlogix.com/xcart/p...2&cat=0&page=1

Woodchuck cd at abstract logix-
http://www.abstractlogix.com/xcart/p...7&cat=0&page=1

Totally different from anything else out there.

[Lobster11]

I managed to contact Chris Jisi and ask him about this, and he's not sure himself. He promised to look into it and get back to me, and gave me his blessing to post the results here. So if you're interested, stay tuned....

[JimK]

...standing by.

[funkometer]

Same

[Lobster11]

I finally heard back from Chris Jisi, who had contacted Bob Bobbing to find out what was going on with these releases. Evidently Bob had put this project on hold while dealing with legal wrangling in the Bass of Doom court case, but says he "will have the production materials in the hands of the manufacturer within a week. Both CDs will be out in May."

So, it appears that U.S. releases of "Woodchuck" and "Tommy Strand & the Upper Hand" will be available soon, presumably at much more reasonable prices than the Japanese imports currently sold at abstractlogix. I'm guessing that, as originally planned, they will be available at cdbaby.com and/or Bobbing's site, jacotheearlyyears.com.

Thanks much to Chris Jisi for going to the trouble of tracking down the info for me (us), and for giving me permission to post the info here.

[funkometer]

Tanks for the update, hope to hear this stuff in the near future!

[middlebit]

Any news?

[middlebit]

Okay, BUMP?!

[JimK]

...still standing by.

We ain't gettin' any younger!