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My Favorite Shows

I am frequently asked which shows I have that I would recommend.  These are some of my favorite shows.  I have attempted to pick material from all periods of Jaco's career.

 1.    Metheny/Moses/Pastorius Boston 7/4/75 and 6/16/76

EMC wanted a more traditional sound for Bright Size Life, but Bob Moses told me in concert they were much more "powerful, free, funky, African", as these recordings show.  The performance on All the Things You Are is one of my all time favorites of Jaco's, and Pat Metheny's guitar on Continuum makes it an exceptional and unique version.  

I have recently cleaned up the sound on these shows, and while still not great, they are considerably better than before.  I got both of these shows from my good friend John Gerren.

 2.   Joni Mitchell Sacramento 11/20/76

Jaco's live work with Joni Mitchell is well documented on the Shadows and Light set.  However this show from 3 years earlier is mostly a trio with guitar, bass,  and congas.  It has a different feel from the Shadows and Light shows, a very intimate sound.

3.    Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters Chicago 2/16/77

Jaco is extraordinarily restrained on these Headhunter dates, but his chops are in fine form.  This is a pristine FM broadcast.  

I was graciously given this show by Jeff Steele.

 4.   Weather Report Philadelphia 4/24/76

Before Jaco joined Weather Report they were a much looser, jamming band.  With Jaco's arrival they began to develop much more arranged shows.  The first few dates he was with the band were unlike any other he spent with them.  They still had a loose feel.  Scarlet Woman, for example, still had a bit of the fragmented, delicate  sound it had on Mysterious Traveler, rather than that big, rolling bass line it would soon develop.   

This Philly show is a decent audience recording of what I believe to be a complete show.  

 5.   Weather Report  Grand Rapids  11/30/77

I have not found a great, entire show from '77, and this one suffers from its incompleteness.  However this stands out for two reasons.  One is the beautiful sound, very warm.  Secondly, the performance is outstanding, and features a great cover of Miles' Its About That Time.  If that weren't enough, the disc closes with Night and Day.  Where that one came from I have no idea, but it sounds like they played it every night for years.   

This show came from Wayne Shorter expert John Cottrell.

6.   Weather Report  Boston 4/22/77

I have recently obtained a superior sounding version of this show, a very good performance, with improved sound on a complete show.

I received the new version from Andy Forward.

 7.   Weather Report  Philadelphia   11/10/78

There are lots of great shows from '78.  Offenbach, Phoenix, and Tokyo are also excellent.  But this is a complete show, 2 1/2 hours.  Although its an audience recording it sounds great.   The guy I got this show from said his brother recorded it on a Nakamichi deck, using elevated mikes.  Unfortunately I cant remember his name.   The necessity of the '78 stuff is lessened by the availability of 8:30, which all the shows have a distinct similarity to. 

Note: There is no '79 show on this list.  It was the only year Jaco was with the band where there was not an album of new material to support, the live album 8:30 having been issued that year.

 8.   Weather Report  London  11/14/80

In his Joe Zawinul biography In a Silent Way, Brian Glasser reports that Peter Erskine told Columbia that they should have released this show instead of the one recorded "live" in LA as Night Passage.  This is a great soundboard recording made by the band.  This show is no longer available.  A good alternative is the show from the previous night at the Hammersmith.  It is also a great performance, unfortunately the recording is only a decent audience.  

 9.   Weather Report  Boston 7/11/81

For the '81 tour the band dumped many of the songs they had used since Jaco joined the band.  The set list was made up almost entirely of songs from the soon to be recorded Weather Report album (Peter Erskine wrote me that "that tour was made in large part to ready the music for the album").  The Rochester show from 10 days earlier has a little more energy, but this one gets the nod for its superior sound.  

I received this show from a guy in Japan, unfortunately I can't remember his name.

 10. Word of Mouth  Los Angeles 1/10/82

The two shows at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion were always my favorite Word of Mouth Big Band shows.  The Birthday Concert which was held a month earlier was much looser, and the Japanese tour which was featured on Twins and Invitation featured much tighter arrangements.  This show falls in between, with some of the best elements of both.  

They were favorites when I had both shows as mediocre audience recordings, but have since gotten a great, digitally remastered version of the first show from Robert Collins, which made a great show all the more essential.

 11.  Word of Mouth Kristianstad  7/8/83

Excellent radio broadcast from the Kristianstad Jazz Fest.  

12.  Jaco Pastorius with guests New York City 1/4/84

I am frankly not a big fan of Jaco's stuff after '83.  In my opinion this is the best of the bunch, featuring a very high energy show.  This is undoubtedly due in part to the presence of one of Jaco's idols, Jerry Jemmott.  Also featured is the then up and coming Marcus Miller, and Jaco's dad Jack.   John Gerren sent me this show.

13. Jaco Pastorius Tiburon, CA 10/31/86

In my opinion the best release from the post '83 period was the boot Curtain Call.  This is the complete show from which that material was taken.  It is almost 3 hours and a decent soundboard recording.