Jaco Pastorius
The story of the celebration of the historic three-day Havana Jam festival at the Karl Marx Theatre, in Havana, Cuba, from March 2-4, 1979.
The reputation of the late Jaco Pastorius is legendary, based as much on his mercurial personality as his groundbreaking bass playing and small but significant repertoire of original music. His declining mental health became increasingly evident following his departure from fusion super group Weather Report, ultimately leading to his tragic demise in 1987. Still, while the bassist was already beginning to show some signs of decline when Jaco Pastorius: Live and Outrageous was filmed at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 1982, he was still capable of putting on an exciting show.
Jazz great Pastorius instructs, does solo performance work, exclusive interviews, performance footage with Jeremy Jemmott, John Scofield and Kenwood Dennard; also cutting edge special features. This is one of last known Videos of the most influential Bassist ever!
Filmed at the Montreal Jazz Festival in the early 1980s, this concert provides nearly an hour of first-class jazz. Bob Mintzer is outspoken on tenor sax in the opening number, underpinned by Jacos clear and propulsive bass. Othello Molineaux coaxes a wide range of sounds out of a single steel drum possibly the most awkward musical instrument ever devised by man but Othello makes it sing radiantly.
Joni Mitchell's 1970s and '80s forays into jazzier territory may have distressed her folkie faithful, but they also resulted in some uncompromising, challenging, and, yes, entertaining music. Witness this 73-minute document from her '79 tour, which finds her backed by her greatest band eve. Mitchell's The Hissing of Summer Lawns-Hejira-Mingus period is heavily favored; there are two tunes from Court and Spark, but nothing earlier. It's not perfect--the film clips edited into the live tracks (at Mitchell's direction) are an annoying distraction (Rebel Without a Cause? Huh?). But by the time Mitchell, Mays, and vocal group the Persuasions finish a spine-tingling version of the title song, you'll have witnessed something special--and historic, as this was the only time this stellar crew toured together. --Sam Graham
Weather Report's landmark concert in Offenbach, Germany on September 28, 1978.
Weather Report was founded in 1970 by musicians who had met while playing with Miles Davis. This Montreux Festival show from 1976 follows on from the release of their album "Black Market" but features the line-up that would release their most famous and successful album "Heavy Weather" in 1977. This line-up features Joe Zawinul (keyboards), Wayne Shorter (saxophones), Jaco Pastorius (bass), Alex Acuna (drums) and Manolo Badrena (percussion). Previously only available as a bootleg of a TV broadcast, this new DVD release is fully authorized and has been restored to its full length.
