And it was unbelievably exciting both for the audience, who were all major Jaco fans, and for me. What was it like? Who was there?īLAKEMORE: It was a sold-out house, as I recall. SIMON: Take us back to that night at Avery Fisher Hall, June in 1982. (SOUNDBITE OF JACO PASTORIUS' "SOUL INTRO/THE CHICKEN") And so to have the opportunity to revisit these tapes was - I mean, I considered it an incredible blessing because these performances are so good. And so Resonance Records located the tapes - I had originally thought that they had been lost. And we were never able to really get everything off the original tapes.Īnd so for decades I was really disappointed with the original mixes that were done for the Jazz Alive! series. When we mixed it we had to use considerably lesser equipment at a little studio in downtown Washington. I'm thrilled to be here.īLAKEMORE: When we originally did the recording the recording itself was quite good. And he joins us now from the studios of WCPN in Cleveland. He's now a Grammy award-winning engineer. SIMON: The original recording engineer on that recording was Paul Blakemore, who then worked for NPR. (SOUNDBITE OF JACO PASTORIUS' "REZA: GIANT STEPS") And to add to that legacy is now a 1982 recording at New York's Avery Fisher Hall for National Public Radio's Jazz Alive! It has been remastered for Resonance Records, "Jaco Pastorius: Truth, Liberty & Soul." Jaco Pastorius died in 1987 after a violent encounter with a bouncer in a Miami nightclub.īut new generations still discover his music.
Jaco Pastorius was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder and ended up living on the streets. But like many musical geniuses, alcohol and drugs took a toll. He is the only electric bass player in DownBeat magazine's Jazz Hall of Fame. Jaco Pastorius was one of the most inventive bass players, probably best known for his work with the jazz fusion band Weather Report and Joni Mitchell and Pat Metheny.