My daughter's boyfriend plays the bass, pretty well by all accounts. And his favourite bassist is Jaco Pastorius. I'd certainly heard of Pastorius before he told me that, primarily from his work on Weather Report's Heavy Weather album, but I'm not sure where or when I picked up this, his debut solo album.
It's not a regular in the CD drawer, so let's take a listen. Opener Donna Lee is a bass solo. Very skilful, very dexterous, very dull. I'm afraid bass solos appear on the same page as drum solos for me, so it's not a great start, but that's soon remedied by the gloriously funky Come On, Come Over with a thumping bassline and some cheery vocals from Sam & Dave. Continuum is another almost bass solo, but there's enough percussion and electric piano (Herbie Hancock) to make in interesting in an ambient way. Kuru/Speak Like A Child feels like a film score, with an orchestral backing bookending some keyboard wizardry over a thumping repetitive bass, but it doesn't really grab the attention for seven minutes. Portrait Of Tracy is another bass solo, enough said, Opus Pocus has a repetitive bass line overlain by some lovely Wayne Shorter sax playing. There's an African feel to Okonkole Y Trompa, a peaceful horn piece with a thumping beat. Cha Cha is as you'd expect, a bass heavy Latin tune, pleasant without making much impression and frankly, going on a bit. The album ends with Forgotten Love, a slow piano piece (Hancock again), written by Pastorius, but without him playing.
This is a decent enough solo debut, with some nice pieces, but ultimately little that feels great. I think it will be an occasional visitor to the CD tray, rather than a regular.
3* - a pleasant enough solo album, with some technical brilliance, but less musical impact
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