Jaco Pastorius
Honestly Solo Live

Jaco Pastorius is the typical example of genius and madness well shaken together. But he wasn't so out there as to release a collection of all his live solo moments! Yes, because "Honestly Solo Live" is a posthumous collection of all the solo showcases that Jaco did on the 1986 tour with Bireli Lagrene, the same one immortalized by that nice little record called "Live In Italy." In short, a little more than an hour of just Jaco, exclusively bass for over an hour. And you'll say: "It might be Pastorius, but boring!"

Big mistake: this is actually a classic example of a beautiful record. Hey, hold on, don’t expect the structured compositions of Weather Report or the jazz-funk energy of the solo albums. This isn’t Jaco solo, this is Jaco on his own. One of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century dealing solely with himself, conversing with himself under our eyes, pardon, ears. Needless to say, Pastorius showcases all his technical skill, among harmonics, chords, distortions, and loops, torrential cascades of notes against poignant melodies, rhythmic moments against other more melodic ones. But there's no exhibitionism, as one might easily think. Not a single note is played to flaunt his talent, nothing is self-serving, everything is governed by such class, such soul. Besides his own pieces (like "Continuum," for example), there are many references to famous songs (some even repeated multiple times throughout the record), including "Purple Haze" and "Third Stone From The Sun" from Hendrixian memory, "Blackbird" by the Beatles (already interpreted in an amazing way on that masterpiece "Word Of Mouth"), "The Star-Spangled Banner" which Hendrix (one of Pastorius's idols) had already reinterpreted entering into legend and which Jaco plays with a powerful distortion almost ideally reconnecting to his idol.

For Jaco Pastorius fans, this is a record to listen to without any fear; for others, it might be a bit hard to digest, but trust me, it's just a psychological block because the album is worth it, a lot. Trust me, I’m not saying this with trivial rhetoric: in this record, even more than in the others, Jaco Pastorius shows us the pulsing center of his sound, shows us the heart of his music, why it's so beautiful and fascinating. And he does it simply, honestly.