Bob Mintzer - 1992 "I Remember Jaco"

Robert Alan Mintzer (born January 27, 1953) is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader. Early in his career, Mintzer played in various big bands, including those led by Buddy Rich (1975–77), Thad Jones and Mel Lewis (1977–79), and Sam Jones (1978–80). While with Rich, he began writing big band music, and has since composed and arranged hundreds of pieces. In 2008, Mintzer and his family moved to Los Angeles, where he joined the faculty of the University of Southern California. He is a member of the Grammy® award-winning Yellowjackets and holds the Buzz McCoy endowed chair of jazz studies at the University of Southern California. In 2014, he agreed to become Chief Conductor of the WDR Big Band in Cologne, Germany, sharing the job 50:50 with Vince Mendoza.

Bob Mintzer, mostly on tenor but also playing a bit of bass clarinet (on "A Method to the Madness") and EWI, pays tribute to the late, great electric bassist Jaco Pastorius on this CD. Mintzer had worked with Pastorius in his "Word of Mouth" Orchestra. Surprisingly, Mintzer only plays one Pastorius tune ("Three Views of a Secret") and instead performs seven originals inspired by feelings he had about his experiences with the bassist. With either Jeff Andrews and/or Michael Formanek on bass, former Pastorius associate Peter Erskine on drums and keyboardist Joey Calderazzo, the music is never less than excellent, and Jaco would have enjoyed it.

I hadn't played this in a while and picked this off the shelf the other day to give it a spin. I had forgotten how good the album actually is and was shocked to see that no one had reviewed it even though it was released back in 1992!

Well, here are my few words: It's a great collection of eight songs, seven of them penned by Mintzer and one, "Three Views of a Secret", by Jaco Pastorious. Mintzer plays tenor sax, EWI and bass clarinet and he's joined by Joey Calderazzo on piano and synthesizer, Jeff Andrews & Michael Formanek on bass and Peter Erskine on drums. Percussionist Frank Malabe also appears on two tracks; "The Visionary" and "The Great Chase".

I love all the songs - that was inevitable, considering the musicians involved - but special mention goes to my favourite tracks; "The Visionary"; "Three Views of a Secret" (this version is my personal favourite of all the versions I've heard so far); "What Might Have Been" (an achingly beautiful ballad); and "A Moment of Peace".

My only query is with the billing on the CD's front cover. I know the album is a tribute to a legendary bass player and so I guess it's fitting that both bass players are mentioned even though one only plays on six of the eight tunes here and the other only on four of the eight, and of course Peter Erskine's name had to appear as obviously did Mintzer's - but how come no Joey Calderazzo? He played on all eight of the songs!

Not fair. I'm sure there's a logical explanation but still.

And after that brief moment of digression, back to the music :) Yes, if you are a Mintzer fan like I am or a fan modern tenor sax or of any of the other musicians featured here, give this a try. You will not regret it.

Track listing:

1. The Visionary 5:46
2. Three Views Of A Secret 5:52
3. The Great Chase 5:31
4. What Might Have Been 6:19
5. Relentless 6:26
6. A Moment Of Peace 4:47
7. A Method To The Madness 5:36
8. Truth 10:58

Personnel:

Bob Mintzer - Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Electronic Wind Instrument
Michael Formanek - Acoustic Bass
Peter Erskine - Drums
Jeff Andrews - Electric Bass
Frankie Malabe - Percussion
Joey Calderazzo - Piano, Synthesizer