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Punk Jazz
- Thread starter Bassline_Delux
- Start date
I like it, in your face, percolating bass(my favorite 
, great arrangement, grooves...It's a good tune.
Have you heard Marcus Miller's remix? he turns it into like a hip hop type groove, it's pretty neat, you can find it on the word of mouth revisited album, speaking of which, the WoM:revisited album has a great version of punk jazz too.
I don't like how on the birthday concert album they build up all nice like, but then it just fades out, obviously they played longer, but they cut it short on the album...ah well.
, great arrangement, grooves...It's a good tune. Have you heard Marcus Miller's remix? he turns it into like a hip hop type groove, it's pretty neat, you can find it on the word of mouth revisited album, speaking of which, the WoM:revisited album has a great version of punk jazz too.
I don't like how on the birthday concert album they build up all nice like, but then it just fades out, obviously they played longer, but they cut it short on the album...ah well.
baba said:
The actual tune is quite slow and funky!!
But on the Weather Report version there is a little improvised moment between Jaco and Tony Williams as Jim says, at the beginning, which is great - although it's not really part of that tune as such - on other versions it doesn't happen.
So the Word of Mouth revisited band starts with a very slow rubato reading of tune on sax and then into the funk!
The Birthday concert version again starts with slow rubato solo sax and then a very short slow bass solo/fill, then into the funk! So - I think the WR version was just a spur of the moment thing in the studio - hey I've got Tony Williams here - lets rip ! And not part of the tune.
I don't think it's one of Jaco's best compositions and there's not much "punk" about it at all really - it's more like Funk Jazz!!
it's true that the intro to the 'gone version of Punk jazz is frenetic, but the majority of it is far more laid back than other versions.
I love the synth horns in that one though, they sound pretty damn good, well, that is...they *fit* in the song very well.
I love the synth horns in that one though, they sound pretty damn good, well, that is...they *fit* in the song very well.
JimK said:
for real, this man was an electronic magician!
augh, for the life of me I can't remember some of his contemporaries, there were 2 or 3 other cats that were equally notorious for buying *all* the latest synths and really pushing the limit and development of electronic instruments. well, granted there were probably dozens more, these 2(3) I'm thinking of, were often talked about in the same breath as zawinul.
JimK said:
best version out there imo
that whole album is great, Alphonso johnson's line on 'cucumber slumber' is one of my all time favorite basslines.
I have this bootlegged video from a TV special in Germany where they have the added sections from 8:30 as well as all of the original sections from Heavy Weather. It's pretty badass.JimK said:
JimK said:
I agree. That's the coolest version with Weather Report anyway. Especially since Joe Zawinul isn't playing that stupid bass synth over Jaco. One of the best, in my opinion, is his version with Mike Stern on Live in New York Vol. 5. The quality isn't as good, but it's totally sweet nevertheless.
mnadelin said:
How do thorse versions compare with the one he did with Bireli Lagrene, does anyone know.?
JimK said:
But the point I was making along with some other people, was that this was not part of the actual tune as such - but rather a short jam in the studio.
On all the other versions of the tune, there is a slow solo sax melody at the beginning. So I was saying that the actual tune itself, is laid-back and funky - not punky!!
On the Word of Mouth Revisited album notes, Peter Graves mentions how this was one of the early tunes that Jaco wrote and there is obviously a written version which exists and which starts with the slow rubato sax melody - as the exact same line appears on WoMRevisited and the Birthday Concert, other live recordings etc.
No other version is remotely "hyper" - and the written introduction is very slow!
Presumably, this manic intro just reflected Jaco's excitement at playing with Tony Williams and was nothing to do with the tune "Punk Jazz" itself and could have been tagged on to the beginning of any tune.
