Rare Jaco with John McLaughlin + Tony Williams tapes due for release...

[Mike Flynn]

In the latest issue of Jazzwise magazine there's a great interview with John McLaughlin and he confirms that he's overseeing a project to get the complete sessions and gig he did as the Trio of Doom released this year. He says he's long since forgiven Jaco for freaking out and f***ing up their gig at Montreux. They will comprise of the set at the Havana Jam from 1979 and some sessions they cut in New York around the same time. McLaughlin also says that he's done a deal with Sony to make sure both Jaco and Tony's families get royalities from this project. I've heard one lot of tunes form this trio and they were great - but I never knew there were some studio recordings as well - should be very interesting indeed

Just thought some of you would like to know.

Cheers

Mike

[RobertUI]

Wow, I am anxiously awaiting... I've seen mclaughlin live and having listened to Jaco and Tony Williams for years, I can only imagine how sick this is going to be!

[DaveBeny]

The "Trio of Doom" only played live once, at the Havana Jam festival.

I have a recording of the Trio of Doom (four tunes) and it doesn't match what was described in the Jaco biography (i.e. a trainwreck, sabotaged by Jaco's behaviour). These tracks come from the 'Havana Jam' live compilations that were put out at the time. The Trio of Doom tracks certainly sound live, but I suspect (given John McLaughlin's comments below) that what I have are re-recorded studio takes.

The below is extracted from a 2004 interview with Johnny Mac over at Abstractlogix:

"...Yes indeed, the Trio of Doom. That trio was unbelievable. It was amazing. When they were on it was unbelievable to play with those guys. Anyway, rehearsals were phenomenal. We had only three tunes that we were going to play (at the historic Havana Jam in Cuba). So we went down to Havana and we had a tune each. We started off with my tune, "The Dark Prince," which was a kind of blues in Cminor with some altered changes. But the thing is, Jaco altered everything. He turned his amp up to 11 and started to play A major, which is like a little far away from C minor...and unbelievably loud! So we start to play the tune, Tony's looking at me, I'm looking at Tony and it's like, "What the ****'" And in the meantime Jaco's upfront with the bass between his legs, doing his thing...it was almost like Jimi Hendrix. And the whole set went like that. When we finished the set, I was so angry at Jaco. Tony too. And we walked off stage and Tony was already up and running to the bathroom...he was about to throw up. Anyway, Jaco came down and said, "Oh, man, you bad mother!" And I said, "What' You have the nerve to speak to me after this travesty on stage. I don't even want to see your face, I don't want to hear you, I don't want to see you." And it all came out, and in about 15 minutes later it was fine. But Tony couldn't get it out, right' And it was such a farce.

Anyway, CBS called me about two weeks later and said, "So, we're going to put it out." And I said, "You're going to put what out' You're not going to put that out. You put it out over my dead body. That's terrible." So they asked if we wanted to re-record it over at Columbia Studios on 52nd Street. So we all went into the great CBS Studio on 52nd Street where we did all those great things with Miles -- In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew and all of that. So we start re-recording the tunes and in the meantime, Tony's not looking at Jaco. I mean, forget about speaking, he's not even looking at him. And Jaco's already very nervous. So we start playing and we did my tune again. So we do one take and we go in the control room to listen back and Jaco says, "Well, I think we can do it better." And all of a sudden Tony jumps in front of Jaco and says, "Better' Better, mother****er'!!" He pushed Jaco up against the wall. I had never seen Tony angry but that was like a little volcano action, man, I tell you. And Jaco's like..."Hey man, I'm sorry, man, I'm sorry." Tony didn't hit 'em or anything, but when Tony got mad you just get out of the way. He had Jaco up against the wall and Jaco was like apologizing profusely. He knew he ****ed up bigtime. So after 10 minutes of Tony blasting him with both barrels, Tony went into the studio and destroyed his drumkit. (laughter). And I said, "You gotta record with this!" He destroyed his kit and walked out of the studio and that was it. What a shame. But hey, who's perfect in this world' But I told Jaco off right away back in Havana. I got rid of all the rats and snakes right off the stage, but Tony had it balling up, stewing around there for a while for he finally exploded. He always had difficulty with getting it right out. So yeah...Jaco was crazy, but what a player! He was too much. Boy I miss him. I miss Tony too. What a tragedy."

[tkozal]

wow, thanks for posting that, a great story...

[The Owl]

I can't wait to hear this!!! 3 genius level musicians creating an unrepeatable magic!

[Mojo-Man]

I've heard tapes of Havana Jam.
Poor quality?
Also read that the rehersals for the Trio Of Doom were great.
Can't wait for some studio stuff.

[DaveBeny]

Originally Posted by Mike Flynn

In the latest issue of Jazzwise magazine there's a great interview with John McLaughlin

Forgot to say that that was a great interview and a really interesting read. JM fans will like it: he talks a lot about his work with Lifetime and the Trio of Doom.

[DaveBeny]

I dug out the Trio of Doom tracks I have this morning to listen to.

Can't tell whether they're live or the studio retakes. There's applause at the end of every track. The performances and sound are quite dry and sterile. There's none of the dissonance that you expect after reading the Jaco biography.

[Larry99]

Appearently Milkowski used that interview for his revision of the Jaco Biography. The above is almost verbatim what is written in the revised book.

Based on that, it sounds like all they have is the live recording from Cuba and the one studio tune. Still, it'd probably be worth a listen. But man, too bad about all the BS, that trio could have been somthing.

[Bruce Lindfield]

From reading this thread it doesn't sound like much that would be worth having - I'm not sure I understand this obsession with having every last scrap - why not just be happy with the great legacy of completed music we have from Jaco and accept that we're not going to get any more?

[Larry99]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

From reading this thread it doesn't sound like much that would be worth having - I'm not sure I understand this obsession with having every last scrap - why not just be happy with the great legacy of completed music we have from Jaco and accept that we're not going to get any more?

I think there are different levels of appreciation with any art form, from casual observance to fanatical obsession. Given Jaco's brilliance as a musician and bassist, not to mention his colorful and tragic legacy, the tendancy is for more of us bassists to lean toward the fanatical side.

[dougjwray]

What I want to hear are the Hendrix/McLaughlin jams, which McLaughlin has supposedly kept hidden for nearly 40 years!

[JimK]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

- I'm not sure I understand this obsession with having every last scrap -

...I need to fill up my iPod with more stuff.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by JimK

...I need to fill up my iPod with more stuff.

Don't own one and I definitely prefer how CDs (albums) are a single definitive statement from an artist - so Jaco's first album is like a perfect statement!

I think the reason for a lot of the Jaco "misunderstanding" we get round here, can be blamed on the "download culture" where odd tracks of dubious quality are taken in isolation...

[Baryonyx]

Originally Posted by dougjwray

What I want to hear are the Hendrix/McLaughlin jams, which McLaughlin has supposedly kept hidden for nearly 40 years!

Actually, the Hendrix family probably want those to be kept tucked away, they don't want there icon being school now!

[dougjwray]

Originally Posted by Chris2112

Actually, the Hendrix family probably want those to be kept tucked away, they don't want there icon being school now!

Huh?

[Baryonyx]

pardon me, that should have said "Schooled".

Just a little joke Hendrix fans

[jzucker]

Originally Posted by Chris2112

Actually, the Hendrix family probably want those to be kept tucked away, they don't want there icon being school now!

Are you kidding? The Hendrix family doesn't have a clue.

[dougjwray]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

Don't own one and I definitely prefer how CDs (albums) are a single definitive statement from an artist - so Jaco's first album is like a perfect statement!

I think the reason for a lot of the Jaco "misunderstanding" we get round here, can be blamed on the "download culture" where odd tracks of dubious quality are taken in isolation...

Couldn't agree more. And to take it a step further:
Just this morning I was listening to Stevie Wonder's "Innervisions" and contemplating just how masterfully the thing was sequenced-- you make it through the first three songs which are politically oriented and get more and more tense, and then you arrive at a pure love song, "Golden Lady"; the release of tension is blissful. Listening to "Golden Lady" by itself would be pretty great, but...
Another example is "Layla" (the album)-- you really have to listen from beginning to end to fully appreciate the story Clapton's telling so beautifully.
I don't own an iPod, but I gather you can load entire albums onto them. It's just that kids these days have such a short attention span. Imagine downloading only your favorite scenes from lots of different movies and carrying them around. Crazy, right?

[DaveBeny]

Here's what Bob Bobbing (lifelong friend of Jaco) said about the ToD recordings in Dec 05 over on the jacopastorius.com forum:

I am not a principal either, but I don't like the bad rap Jaco has been getting all of these years about the Havana Jam "Trio Of Doom" set.

First of all, the complete "Trio of Doom" recordings are scheduled to be released sometime next year on Legacy. And, having the opportunity to listen very carefully to everything that exists from the vaults, both live and studio cuts, here are my two cents on the matter.

Like everyone, I have heard all of the stories of how Jaco sabotaged the show by purposely playing wrong notes and turning his amp up to ten. John McLaughlin also describes Jaco as acting crazy by playing with his guitar between his legs like Hendrix etc… Then of course are the stories about both John and Tony being so furious at Jaco that they wouldn’t talk to him. And most notably the scene where Tony Williams actually grabs Jaco and throws him up against the wall in the studio physically threatening him.

What could be the explanation for all of this? What happened?

I personally always thought that Jaco had experienced one of his first really serious manic episodes brought on by his divorce to Tracy Lee becoming finalized the month before. This would have been his first concert performance since their divorce and Jaco was always one to react to things. Of course drugs and alcohol would have played their part as well. I always felt sorry for Jaco during this period, as divorce is never a good time. I thought maybe it was just too soon.

But now, after hearing all of the live performances I am very concerned as to what really happened. First and foremost, it is clear that Jaco did NOT sabotage the “Trio Of Doom” in Havana show as described by John McLaughlin. In fact there is not one portion of any of the performance where Jaco is heard acting out in a rebellious way or intentionally playing wrong notes. Surprisingly Jaco’s bass is frequently way down in the mix with the guitar blaring away. So, where is the sabotage that Jaco has been blamed for for all of these years? It is simply not there!

Just maybe John and Tony didn’t like what Jaco was playing. You know, maybe Jaco went off in a different direction than at rehearsal. Maybe this threw Tony and John off of their game. I think a quick look back and forth from each other after noticing Jaco's weird behavior and they convicted him right on the spot. And maybe because Jaco was looking and acting different after a few drinks or whatever, that his appearance and unusual behavior alone could have been responsible for their negative reaction. I think Jaco got blamed as to why the set didn’t go as well as expected.

The above is just speculation on my part, but one thing is for sure, the recordings do not support Jaco as a saboteur. To my ears it's Tony and John that are occasionally playing a bit “off” during the performance. And I always felt that Tony Williams and Jaco never really played that great together anyway. And that goes for John too for that matter. It wasn’t a great chemistry in my opinion. That’s what I think it all boils down to.

It’s a shame that all of this got so blown out of proportion. Three great musicians for sure, but unfortunately it was Jaco who got trashed as a result of this perpetual rumor.

BB.