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

Jack DeJohnette - 1978 [2000] "New Directions"

 

New Directions is an album by Jack DeJohnette released on the German ECM label. It was recorded June 1978 at Talent Studio in Oslo and released in 1978.

New Directions found drummer/pianist Jack DeJohnette reflecting on the multiple routes his musical life had taken and summarizing them in a single band. “My idea was to put together a cast of unlikely characters”. He’d worked with Eddie Gomez in the Bill Evans Trio, played extensively with John Abercrombie in the Gateway trio and a new alliance with Art Ensemble trumpeter Lester Bowie reconnected Jack to the experimental spirit of the early AACM. “With Lester added we had four strong and very different characters, could cover a lot of musical areas, and the chemistry was fantastic.” New Directions, recorded in 1978, won France’s Prix du Jazz Contemporain de L’Academie Charles Cros.

Jack DeJohnette's New Directions was a jazz supergroup (circa 1978) made up of Lester Bowie (of the Art Ensemble of Chicago), Eddie Gomez (known for his work with Chick Corea), John Abercrombie (an ECM guitarist whose previous work had been in the John McLaughlin vein) and, of course, DeJohnette himself on Drums. I would call this music ambient jazz, with an eery, yet beautiful, dreamlike quality.
The playing (of DeJohnette, Abercrombie, and particularly Lester Bowie) on this album is revelatory.
DeJohnette's cymbal and snare work, recorded here in ECM's pristine clarity, seems to flow directly out of the collective unconcious. He plays endless variations on rhythms, never ceasing to groove, oh so subtly. If you broke his beats down measure by measure, any given measure would be enough for another drummer to fill an entire song.
John Abercrombie lays back and plays atmospherics throughout most of the album. He displays very little of the Mahavishnu-esque pyrotechnics he was wont to spew previous to this album. The atmosphere's he creates remind me of Brian Eno's ambient music at times. Maybe he had been listening to Robert Fripp. I don't know. But his playing is beautiful and unique throughout most of the album. In fact, while I doubt many 1980's pop/rock guitarists ever listened to this album, Abercrombie's playing here is an ambient jazz precursor to the playing of people like the Edge (on Unforgettable Fire), or Johnny Marr, or the guitar work on Joy Divisions Closer album.
But it is the trumpet of Lester Bowie for which this album most deserves to be remembered. While Lester did much great work in his life, he would often interrupt his best work to express the clown spirit which was so much a part of his nature. Here, though, Lester seems on a mission to express the entirety of his spirit. There's clowning to be sure, but it's framed in the larger picture of "Great Black Music, Ancient to the Future" which the Art Ensemble set out to express.
This album contains two tracks which should go down in the history of jazz as classics.
Bayou Fever is an extended, almost formless, field-holler with a a humid and surreal atmosphere. On this track Bowie plays the Blues as if he were it's culmination. It's not a blues, but Bowie's feel embodies the blues while, at the same time, being something else entirely.
Jack DeJohnette's piano ballad Silver Hollow is exquisite; touching and sentimental, without being sappy. Once again, Lester Bowie steals the show. Who would have guessed he could play this tenderly? His work on this track rivals Miles Davis' playing on tracks such as Blue in Green, Round Midnight, or Someday My Prince Will Come.

Jack's playing is perpetually crisp and inventive. He really has no clichés in his playing, yet his touch and feel are unmistakable. The real gem on this set has no drums at all, but Jack plays the piano. Silver Hollow is one of my favorite DeJohnette compositions, and its treatment here in the hands of Jack, John Abercrombie, Eddie Gomez and MVP Lester Bowie goes above and beyond. Buy it for that track, the rest is merely outstanding.

This is a great record -- nearly an all-time jazz classic. From the very first chords of "Bayou Fever," you're in a dreamscape created by four brilliant musicians at the very peak of their abilities, and enmeshed in a telepathic quartet setting that brought out the best in them. Abercrombie never sounded better -- he's at his most subtle and oracular here; Lester Bowie sounds like he's infected with some kind of voodoo that Miles himself never came down with; DeJohnette sounds like three guys, but never too busy, always selflessly stoking the groove; and Gomez is perfect here, adding lead notes that haunt the melodies like a voice you can't get out of your head. This is the stuff. The acoustic "Silver Hollow" at the end, after all that swirling blackness, is so beautiful it's almost too much!  

Track listing:

All compositions by Jack DeJohnette except as indicated.

    "Bayou Fever" – 8:40
    "Where or Wayne" – 12:25
    "Dream Stalker" (Abercrombie, Bowie, DeJohnette, Gomez) – 5:55
    "One Handed Woman" (Abercrombie, Bowie, DeJohnette, Gomez) – 10:49
    "Silver Hollow" – 8:24

Personnel:

Jack DeJohnette – drums, piano
John Abercrombie – guitar, electric mandolin
Lester Bowie – trumpet
Eddie Gómez – double bass

Weather Report - 2015 "The Legendary Live Tapes" 1978-1981 [4 CD Box]

The Legendary Live Tapes: 1978–1981 is a four CD live recording of Weather Report on Columbia, Sony, released on 20 November 2015. Disc One and Three are quintet recordings from 1980–81, while Disc Two and Four are quartet recordings from 1978. Most of the music was recorded on analog tape by the band’s then drummer (and producer of this live album) Peter Erskine and front of house mixing engineer Brian Risner. In the liner notes, Erskine provides insight into Weather Report’s live performances and life on tour via a song by song discussion.

Weather Report's The Legendary Live Tapes features four discs of sensational unreleased performances all "completely, totally, unapologetically and insanely live" recorded by the legendary jazz group from 1978 to 1981.

Formed by onetime Miles Davis sidemen Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter in 1970, Weather Report defied categorization in the 15 years they recorded together. Inspired by their "electric" collaborations with Davis, Zawinul and Shorter would lead Weather Report into unpredictable territory, from free-jazz to structured but sprawling multicultural jazz-rock. Though Zawinul would reject the "fusion" genre the band are so often associated with "We don't fuse nuthin', we just play from the heart," he once said their music would serve as a landmark for jazz revolution and evolution in the 1970s and 1980s.

The dramatic addition of electric bass virtuoso Jaco Pastorius to the lineup in 1976 led to an even more energetic and daring Weather Report, who would even score a crossover hit in 1977 with "Birdland." A year later, drummer Peter Erskine joined the fold, creating one of the band's most notable lineups; that lineup would expand to a quintet with the addition of percussionist Bobby Thomas, Jr. in 1980.

These two lineups, responsible for some of Weather Report's most important moments, are chronicled in this four-disc set, sourced from never-before-heard soundboard tapes recorded by longtime live mixing engineer Brian Risner. Produced by Erskine and executive produced by Joe Zawinul's son Anthony, this package uniquely showcases Weather Report's extensive prowess as a band, opting not to replicate the ebb and flow of a standard Weather Report set at the time, instead offering a uniquely curated experience that captures the dazzling directions the group took at the arguable height of their powers.

Culled from Peter Erskine's own private collection, the bulk of the material on this four disc set consists of board mixes, which were made by long time WR sound man, Brian Risner. They are some of the finest live performances of the band ever captured on tape. This is a curated collection, i.e. each track comes from a different performance, dating from 1978-1981. Each disc is sequenced in order to offer the listener a complete and satisfying listening experience, as opposed to making an attempt to replicate a live set.

There are two configurations: one with Bobby Thomas Jr on percussion (discs 1 and 3,) and one with just the quartet. The highlight for this listener is disc 3, on which the quintet plays six tunes off of one their finest late albums, Night Passage. (The entire album is presented-the two remaining tracks from that album, Pastorius' Three Views of a Secret and Zawinul's Forlorn, can be found on disc 1.) The band attacks this material with fierce abandon, stretching far beyond the time constraints of the original recordings. Check out the epic 17 minute version of Madagascar. Like Mile's late bands, there are ensemble marks to hit, cued unison figures to play, but most of this piece is very free, funky and swinging. In general, Wayne Shorter stretches more on this collection than has been captured thus far on any other live WR recording.

Another high point is the quartet version of the rarely performed Gilbraltar, off of the classic Black Market album. Clocking in at 21 minutes, talk about epic - the guys are swinging for the rafters here. It is the definitive version of this tune. This take-no-prisoners attitude dominates these discs, proving once and for all that the late WR formation could still take it all the way into the stratosphere with as much freedom and risk taking as in the early days.

These discs capture some of Joe Zawinul's most inspired solos on record. His control of his keyboards is really amazing, considering the limitations of the technology he had access to at the time. Somehow he's able to duplicate subtle details on the fly, such as the signature repeated synth rise at the beginning of a rollicking rendition of the Ellington chestnut, Rockin' in Rhythm. He sounds like a one man big band here. He was still integrating the acoustic piano into his setup for these tours. Unfortunately, the only time we get to hear the acoustic piano in this collection is on his solo piano spot, in which he freely improvises, cycling through several standards before segueing into a very simpatico duo with Shorter. As masterful as he was on synths, this recording reminds us just how great a pianist he was. Unbelievable technique and freedom.

Also, these discs contain some of Jaco's best playing ever recorded during his tenure with the band. His playing here is audacious, edgy and powerful, yet somehow always in the pocket and in control. Here we hear the Jaco of legend. Even though it's comprised of material similar to other recorded live solos, Jaco's solo spot presented here, replete with quotations from Jimi Hendrix to Alan Hovaness, is focused and clear, and is about as good a representation of what he was doing at the time as one is likely to hear.

While the sound quality can't compete with say, 8:30 or the Offenbach recordings, the audio is surprisingly good, considering these were made from cassettes! While mostly mono, (only the drum overheads are in stereo,) the balances are very good, with the exception of the two or three audience tapes where the keys occasionally sit a little low in the mix, a testament to how good this band sounded onstage. On the other hand, Jaco's bass is pretty high in the mix most of the time, which should please fans, but never so much as to detract from the overall enjoyment, as is sometimes the case on Live and Unreleased. Again, considering the source material, these recordings sound very good indeed, even if it isn't exactly audiophile quality.

Kudos to Peter Erskine for sharing his private tapes with the world and for his wonderful 16 page essay, which includes fascinating background information for each performance. (By the way, if you haven't read his ebook, No Beethoven, it's a must read!) Also, a shout out to Brian Risner who made most of these tapes-his board mixes are way better than one could ever hope for. Mastering meister Rich Breen did a wonderful job, as did the folks who transferred the analog cassettes to digital over at Stanford University.

All in all, this is a labor of love. I feel as if this is a kind of holy grail of live WR recordings. It is hard to imagine topping these, both for content and relative audio quality. I haven't heard anything that comes closer to the excitement this band generated on stage at the shows I had the good fortune to attend. Whereas even with 8:30, the band's only official live release with this lineup, overdubbing and editing were used to achieve its polished final form, this is the totally un-retouched and raw Weather Report I remember. As Peter Erskine says in his liner notes: "the performances on this 4 CD set are completely, unapologetically and insanely live."

Track Listing:

CD 1
1. 8:30
2. Sightseeing
3. Brown Street
4. The Orphan
5. Forlon
6. Three Views Of A Secret
7. Badia / Boogie Waltz
8. Wayne Solo
9. Jaco Solo (Osaka 1980)

CD 2
1. Joe And Wayne Duet (Tokyo 1978)
2. Birdland
3. Peter’s Solo
4. A Remark You Made
5. Continuum / River People
6. Gibraltar

CD 3
1. Fast City
2. Madagascar
3. Night Passage
4. Dream Clock
5. Rockin’ In Rhythm
6. Port Of Entry

CD 4
1. Elegant People
2. Scarlet Women
3. Black Market
4. Jaco Solo (Osaka 1978)
5. Teen Town
6. Peter’s Solo (Osaka 1978)
7. Directions

Personnel:

Joe Zawinul – keyboards; ARP Quadra synthesizer bass (Disc 1 / tracks 1, 3); acoustic piano (Disc 2 / track 1); ”Chicken Neck” (Disc 1 / track 8)
Wayne Shorter – saxophones
Jaco Pastorius – fretless bass; drums (Disc 1 / track 1)
Peter Erskine – drums, timpani (Disc 2 / track 3)
Robert Thomas Jr. – hand drums (Discs 1 & 3)