"Donna Lee" was an old Charlie Parker be-bop standard that Jaco took on accompanied only by Don Alias on congas. I can imagine old Jazz guys looking at this and thinking to themselves, "Who the hell does this kid think he is?", and then listening and finding out exactly who he was. To hear a song played on solo bass that had previously been played on tenor saxophone is still astonishing today so to have it heard an unheralded kid playing it back in the seventies must have been mind-blowing.
The song that impressed me the most from this album was his solo composition "Portrait Of Tracy," written for his first wife. It's here that he shows the true potential, in my mind, for a bass to be melodic instrument. At times he sounded like a keyboard, with fat, fuzzy notes, and other times he created harmonic chords that resonated with a harp sound reminiscent more of Ireland than Jazz.
As we move down the years with him through the two discs of this collection we hear every single bit of the potential demonstrated on his first album realized and expanded upon in each of collaborations. From playing in the Pat Metheny trio exchanging licks and leads, pummelling out funk lines with Herbie Hancock, laying down ethereal counterpoint to Joni Mitchell's vocals, leading Weather Report into places in Jazz fusion that nobody could have imagined, to heading up his own small orchestra on his penultimate album Word Of Mouth.
Just when you think you can't be amazed anymore, he pushes the envelope a little further. Dropping an homage to Jimi Hendrix into the middle of a song by riffing on the lead from "Third Stone From The Sun", complete with feedback and distortion, and not taking anything away from the song or sounding like he's showing off. The seamless blending of songs and styles into one harmonious moment is indicative of a mind and a talent that can recognise potential and act upon it simultaneously.
Article comments
1 - Pico
Very well done, Richard.