Jaco's best album(s)

beelzelboss · #1 04-28-2010, 06:58 PM

My dad, who up until a few years ago, used to be a die hard Jaco fan! (I had no idea!) He literally has every album up until about the 2000s, which he also just bought the rest of them because he was getting back into listening to music. My question to you, now that I have this goldmine is music..... Which Jaco albums should I listen to first? What is his best? His worst? Whats your favorite of all time? Please help me because this is a lot of music to sift though and I would like to go straight to the best!
Thanks!

DrewinHouston · #2 04-28-2010, 07:02 PM

His debut album is my favorite bass performance, but Heavy Weather is my favorite music. Start with those two IMHO. Those are two of the earliest as well, you can go chronologically.

chicago_mike · #3 04-28-2010, 07:05 PM

The live concert with Alphonse Mulon(sp) and Albert Manglesdorff. His playing is VERY good there.

Kyler_Welsch · #4 04-28-2010, 07:12 PM

I personally think his work with Joni Mitchell is OUTSTANDING!

benc · #5 04-28-2010, 07:16 PM

I'm ashamed to admit I don't own any Jaco solo records but I love his playing on Joni Mitchell's Don Juan's Reckless Daughter and Weather Report's Heavy Weather.

fokof · #6 04-28-2010, 09:12 PM

+1 on Joni Mitchell work

I really like Bright Size Life.

kdel · #7 04-28-2010, 09:29 PM

He had a ridiculous year in 1976; his solo debut, Joni Mitchell's Hejira, Metheny's Bright Size Life, and then shared part of Weather Report's Black Market album with Alphonso Johnson. I would say listen to them all, though his work on Weather Report's Heavy Weather (recorded in 76 I believe but released in 77) is amazing. He plays some nice stuff on Mitchell's Don Juan and Mingus albums, and her live album Shadows and Light is epic. My favorites of his WP work are Heavy Weather and Night Passage (both of which have some of his greatest compositions), and Weather Report, though you have to check out Teen Town on the live WP album 8:30. I don't like listening to his solo albums front to back, though there are incredible compositions/performances in those (and i shed many of them). If you really get to know his first album you can recognize a lot of his licks and motifs in his subsequent work. Happy listening...

beelzelboss · #8 04-28-2010, 09:57 PM

woo. thanks guys! Keep it coming!

billy ayers · #9 04-28-2010, 11:42 PM

yeah man.. all of '76 is liquid gold, jaco in his total prime. chicago mike's trio suggestion is fantastic (called TRILOGUE), as it has jaco in a very sparse setting (T-bonist playing multiphonics, bass, drums), at berlin jazztage festival, playing really interesting, "free but direction'd" jazz.. jaco was the last-minute sub on that gig, for upright bass legend dave holland, and he handles it staggeringly well (in fact, from the audience reactions, it's as if a whole "who the heck is THIS amazing new cat?" cult started that night!).. youtube has GREAT footage of that night, god bless it!, search "jaco trilogue"..
also get a 1974 disc called JACO (it's not his brilliant CBS/Columbia debut cd of the same name).. very groove-oriented nyc free-jazz playing on carla bley and annette peacock tunes, sometimes harsh-sounding quartet of paul bley on a rather nasty rhodes, pat metheny, and bob moses on drums... jaco is really tearing it up, his grooves are a catalogue of the stuff he would bust out all over, during the next 2 years.. there are also GEMS among the dozen or so badly-recorded (cassette walkman recorder sitting on a table) "PUNK JAZZ" cds, which were boots that got legitimized after the "producer" struck a deal with jaco's estate. they're rough sonically, and jaco was on the down curve of his time with us, but i was at many of these shows ringside and i can attest (as do the cds) to long chunks of sheer brilliance, amidst all the goofs and onstage shenanigans.. happy hunting!

COBRARI · #10 04-28-2010, 11:56 PM

I enjoy Joni Mitchell's "Shadows and Light" LP. There is even a DVD. You got to see it.
Pat Metheny's "Bright Size Life" to me is on the other end of the spectrum.
I think the best stuff is his self titled cd from 1976.

smeet · #11 04-29-2010, 01:24 AM

Personally, I like his self-titled album, and The Birthday Concert is pretty amazing.

Schlyder · #12 04-29-2010, 01:58 AM

So much good stuff to choose from. Invitation is the first Jaco album I ever got. What a great band the Word of Mouth band was.
I love the version of Continuum on that album.

Mojo-Man · #13 04-30-2010, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeet

Personally, I like his self-titled album, and The Birthday Concert is pretty amazing.

One of my favorites.

MixBass · #14 04-30-2010, 05:20 PM

Go chronological and +1 for Shadows and light. It's great to see him so vital and on the rise.
Also, Weather Report/Jaco fans, if you've never seen this you got to watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOAcS8sMiG4
I laughed until I cried watching this.

KJung · #15 04-30-2010, 05:25 PM

My favorites, in order

Joni Mitchell... Hejira
Joni Mitchell.... Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
Pat Metheny... Bright Size Life
Weather Report.... Black Market (Jaco on most tracks)
Joni Mitchell... Mingus
Jaco.... Birthday Concert
Weather Report... Heavy Weather
Jaco... Jaco

micahturner · #16 04-30-2010, 06:32 PM

HOLIDAY FOR PANS

1kinal · #17 04-30-2010, 08:15 PM

My favorites in order:

-The birthday concert: bass playing is superb, his compositions and arranging skills are showcased, the big band is smoking and you have Mintzer and Brecker on the same gig! This one showcase Jaco as a complete musician, composer, arranger and bass player.

-WR 8:30: I basically learned playing bass with this album.
The playing of the whole band is at another level, so much more free and open compared to a studio album.

-Metheny Bright size life: Jaco in a more intimate format playing more straight ahead jazz.

-Joni Mitchell Hejira: shows how good he was in the studio on a more pop record.

-Self-titled: For what it means to the bass world, how groundbreaking that record was. Killer playing, just genius.

Honorable mentions: Invitation, Word of Mouth

The worst stuff:

-PDB (Pastorius, Dennard, Bullock): While I love and respect the three players, not a really good record.

-A good Stitch for Golden Roads (rare import, done during his last years and released by someone who obviously just wanted to make money out of it. No bass playing, just a jam on keyboard with a drum machine...sad)

jerry · #18 04-30-2010, 09:51 PM

Not my favorite Jaco album, but I think the song Crisis off of Word Of Mouth might come close to what was going on in Jaco's head.

JimK · #19 05-01-2010, 11:05 AM

Jerry-
I agree. "Crisis" is a disturbing piece...especially considering everything that went down (a musical representation of schizophrenia?)
That said, it is a brilliant example of sound...those that like The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" should dig it.

JimK · #20 05-01-2010, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by micahturner

HOLIDAY FOR PANS

OK, good one.
I was just re-reading an old early '80s Guitar Player (Jaco is on the cover). Jaco is asked about his latest project & he mentions Holiday For Pans...and how it's a big departure from his previous releases & how he will NOT even play bass on the record (he did mention he would play some pans/steel drums). When asked about its release...he said "that is up to the powers that be".