Customer Reviews

Jaco Pastorius: Live and Outrageous

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This DVD is the EXACT SAME DVD that has also been sold as the Montreal Jazz Festival performance from 1982. It's a decent performance, and a must have for Jaco addicts like myself. I didn't realize that it was the exact same concert though, just with a different name, so now I have to screw around with sending it back for a refund.

I was very happy to see possibly new "footage" of Jaco. But I was sad
to see that there was no life in Jaco. His first song "The Chicken" cooks with the major stars Brecker,Mintzer,Don Alias,Molineaux (on steel drum). But Jaco is somewhat lifeless,his sound is there and his fingers are moving, but no soul.Even on track 3 (Jaco's bass solo) we see him fighting for some type of groove . For all you Jaco fans,its a must to get this for your collection. But I have seen better footage on You Tube.Even the packaging is bad, when you open it up it shows the picture inverted making Jaco a "left handed" bass player,TERRIBLE! This happened to both inside pictures. My God give a little respect. The whole content of the DVD concert is strange. Jaco disappears several times on the 4th track (Mr.Fonebone) and Donna Lee. Well,anyway get it for your
collection. His death follows shortly after this concert. Dont look
too close ,but on the first song Jaco has his face painted..........

That was Jaco's rally cry. And to me and many other loyal fans he was then and continues to be even now over 20 years after his death.So to catch him live on this dvd with his Word of Mouth Band is a treat, especially for those who have never seen him live.As far as the band's performance on this date, I would give this a 4 and a half. I've seen Jaco more inspired,like on the Weather Report from Rockpalast or Joni's Shadows and Light dvds. But it is still a great performance. The rest of the band is on top of their game also. I'd give the audio a 4, the volume fades up and down a bit. And I would give the video a 3 and a half. Too many head shots and awkward angles.Song selection is excellant,Mr Fonebone is my fave. His best effort ever,no. But definitely worth buying.

I will start out by saying that I give this video 5 stars only because it is Jaco and to have ANY footage of him at length is tremendous no matter what. But, to understand Jaco's performance in this concert, one has to have a grasp of his brilliant yet tragic life. By 1982, when this concert was filmed, Jaco was unfortunately experiencing serious substance abuse problems and mental health issues (I believed he suffered from manic drepression or something similar). You can see it in his face (he was likely coked up for the show). But what is most special, knowing this situation as you watch the video, is that you can see and hear Jaco's genious underneath the external disintegration. It's all there, and it is awesome and beautiful!

As already mentioned, Jaco's solos are not all that spectacular compared to other material. You sense a feeling of apprehention and lack of flow during his traditional solo slot. He seems hesitant, but he will catch you off gaurd during the show and just "nail it" sometimes and make you say "yeah!".

So definitely buy this performance, as a historial piece at the least, to chronical a snapshot in the life of THE most influential electric bass player. But I encourage everyone to look up other Jaco performances, especially those from the late 70s, when he was with Weather Report to view Jaco at his true peak.

Finally, the most deceptive thing about this DVD is the cover. That picture of Jaco is NOT even from the show! It looks like a younger (and more sober) Jaco when he actualy was in his prime.

There is always so much hope involved in finding "new" material by the self-proclaimed (and rightly so) "World's Greatest Bass Player." And, as Jaco-philes already know, much depends upon when the material was captured along the road to Jaco's tragic disintegration.

This DVD from 1982 - the year of The Word Of Mouth Band - displays a boiled-down quintet version of that exciting big band and a boiled-down version of Jaco as well. Audio and video quality, as well as solo performances by Randy Brecker and Bob Mintzer (who resmbles far too much a poor man's version of Michael Brecker), are all adequate. The tunes are a mixed bag with a little too much from the R&B side of Jaco's personality. Did I really have to watch him sing "Fannie Mae?"

The high points are the two stick men, drummer Don Alias, who always cooks, and steel pan virtuoso Othello Molineaux, who is the only reason I'll watch this concert more than once. The low points, unfortunately, are Jaco's solos. He seems unable to capture the grooves in his solos that underscore his ensemble work. Ideas come haultingly and are randomly strung together. Even his blank facial expression (regardless of the war paint) is a scary precursor of the downward spiral he had evidently already begun. Alas...

Though this DVD can be good for archival purposes and those fans that have to see everybit of footage about or including Jaco, I found it missing in many areas. Jaco looks slightly bored and like he is preoccupied. He struggles in spots to come up with solos and as a result, the times that feature him are not fluid. That being said, the parts that come out are amazing and fun to litsen to, but you really need to listen for them. In fact, I have marked a couple of the high points so that I can go back and watch them later, because I don't think that I will ever sit down and listen to the whole DVD again.

Hey this is a great DVD, with a lot of great music on it. But I will agree with other reviews here that there are a lot of things that are strange about the DVD. First of all, as someone else said, Jaco has some facepaint on during the first song, "The Chicken" and then he doesn't have the facepaint anymore for the rest of the performance. Also, Jaco seems to disappear a lot during the performance. It's almost like he doesn't really want to be there. His drug use must've taken it's toll on his body by this point in his life. He sings on the last tune, and his singing voice is a bit hoarse, and it doesn't really seem like his thing.

The performance may have been billed as Jaco's band, but Jaco is by no means the star of the show. All the band members carry their weight. Mintzer wails on the tenor sax, and on the bass clarinet for "Donna Lee." You can't go wrong with Peter Erskine on the drums, or Randy Brecker on the trumpet. Don Alias gets to show off a little bit on the congas and the steel drum player is great as well. It is a great DVD for the jazz lover's collection. These guys are all greats and this is a snapshot of them at the pinnacle of their careers.

Jaco Pastorious is by far the greatest bass player and the most missed. This concert was very dissapointing. I say this because I was expecting much more from Jaco. Every now and then he gives us a brief solo that is extrodinary(especially a couple of minutes bfore he has his own solo piece).
The solo piece is just a downard spiral. It seems like he has no motivation. It just isn't the Jaco Pastorious I have come to know and respect musically. He seems to be fiddling around more than jamming. It seems like he is really out of it, and this presents itself especially in this section. A true master of his instrument, as Jaco undoubtably is, would never present a solo as sporadic and meaningless as this.
Don't misread me please, he does play fine, as well as the other musicians. I just feel that is what it is and nothing more. I really expected to see brilliance and instead got a mediocre performance.

All in all, it is great to have these preserved snapshots of Jaco playing his thing. It just didn't seem like he was really into this show at all. I would recommend the WEATHER REPORT box set that includes a dvd of a WR performance. Now that is brilliance. Jaco was showing this German audience that the bass is alive and well and he commands it like no other person could ever.

First, I must say that I ordered this item, a little more than a week ago and paid $17.99 US for it and I realize that it is now advertized at $14.99 US (story of my life).

However, this review has nothing to do with the price I paid.

I promptly received my order yesterday and I have to say that this DVD is totally hawesome. This is one of the best Jazz concerts I have ever watched on DVD. Jaco is simply amazing. Both the video and audio are superb.

I also like the DVD presentation; nice photographs.

HOWEVER, I have to report that, other than the front cover picture of Jaco, which is simply beautiful, all the other pictures (inside and on the back) were mistakenly reversed, showing Jaco as a left-handed bass player, which everybody knows is not the case at all. I find this somehow insulting to Jaco himself and, more importantly, to all of his fans. I am also extremely surprised that this monumental error has remained overseen since this DVD was first released, back in 1982. I personally think that I deserve a gold medal for spotting this error; what do you think?.

I love Jaco.

Yves

this man did things with his bass that to this very day people still cannot even approach. his story is truly a tragic one. i am very grateful that there is video material that future bass players will be able to watch and sit back and go holy S#*T. listen to any of his solo material or material from weather report. players will always try to achieve his level of playing, but there will never be another Jaco Pastorius !!!!!!!!!