Bass Extremes/CD Review

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(More customer reviews)I wrote my review (which you kindly posted) from memory but I mis-remembered how many tracks there are on the CD. There are actually 8 songs, an intro to the lessons, then 8 lessons:
1) A Chick From Corea
2) Bangkok Blues
3) Stan The Man
4) Victor's Jam
5) Thumb Start My Harley
6) Exerald Forest
7) Moonridge
8) Donna Lee
9) Introduction and tuning
10) Lesson 1: A Chick From Corea
11) Lesson 2: Bangkok Blues
12) Lesson 3: Stan The Man
13) Lesson 4: Victor's Jam
14) Lesson 5 Thumb Start My Harley
15) Lesson 6 Emerald Forest
16) Lesson 7 Moonridge
17) Lesson 8 Donna Lee
To VERY briefly summarize the material:
A Chick From Corea is about triplets and 'country and western' sound. Victor plays the melody, while Steve plays chords.
Bangkok Blues finds Steve playing etheral false-haromonics over Victor's anchoring funky blues,then Victor plays hammer-ons over Steve's fretless chording.
Stan The Man: Dedicated to Stanley Clarke. Victor plays a tenor bass- ADGC - against Steve's chords, both take solos at the same time. The chord progresson starts gently so you can hear it, then they crank it up.
Victor's Jam: A funk workout from Victor and drummer Greg Bissonette.A range of techniques is used to keep with the drummer
Thumb Start My Harley: With Steve's fretless played through wicked distortion (like Pink Floyd's "One Of These Days") over Victors pumping foundation, which turns into competing, over-the-top triplet solos. Jack Bissonette's emphatic drumming morphs into a VERY complex solo, in correct time. As Steve says in the lesson intro, "If you think you have good time, pat your foot all the way through that at the tempo of the song and you
should come out right. Until you do, keep trying!" Victor will later explain how he does the very funky "open-hammer-pluck".
Emereld Forest: Victor arpegiates chords through sweet reverb while Steve's fretless sings a sitar-ish melody.
Moonridge: Steve's solo, a study for the right hand (6 string fretless) keeping the D string going, with chords and harmonics. If you had thought there were any limitations to electric bass this should put those fears to rest.
Donna Lee: Victor plays the scales using thumb and index finger, using thumb-down, thumb-up, index finger triplets. The scales are sewn together in the familiar tune, while Steve pays the chords that Charlie Parker copped from "Indiana" to support it. DENSE, with some call and response at the end. (Another take on the same classic tune appears as "Madonna Lee"
on the "Cookbook" cd.

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Eight complete album tracks featuring Steve, Victor and Greg Bissonette, followed by eight instructional tracks, paired with a book of complete transcriptions in standard notation and tablature. In styles ranging from bebop to new age to heavy metal, each piece highlights different aspects of their amazing techniques.

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Jaco: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius (Book) Review

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(More customer reviews)First off, the title is great. There is no doubt that Jaco is one of the most (if not the most) gifted bass players of all time. The book documents his life as a young boy who picked up the bass (after he could not play drums any longer because he broke his arm), his career and his later years when he suffered from mental illness and died at 33. I bring up the question of accuracy as it has been raised by others as well.

One criticism about the book has been that it sensationalizes Jaco's destructive behaviour and takes away from his legacy. This is a point made by Metheny (who was a friend and a fellow musician) in the liner notes of Jaco's debut album. Also I have asked the opinion of (via a short e-mail) Jaco's second wife. Her website that details some minor inaccuracies that exist in the first edition.
That being said the book is well written and gives insight into Jaco's life. Milkowski (who is a music journalist) portrays Jaco as an extremely gifted, hard working and narcisisstic man who self destructs at the end due to bipolar disease. The clues to Jaco's illness are evident from his early years. He plays tirelessly and at times seldom sleeps. At the end of his life he self destructs due to a number of reasons including refusal comply with treatment for his illness,drugs and drinking.
One has to wonder what it says about our society that no one helped Jaco when he was clearly suffering towards the end. I posted the same question to Jaco's wife and her answer was that one has to be willing to accept help.
Mental illness is still misunderstood my most of the world. People who suffer from it can be hard to deal with and be around. I hope that if the same scenario plays out today, with better understanding of mental illness, the outcome would be different. But I am not an optimist.

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Jaco is a fitting tribute to Jaco Pastorius, the troubled genius who revolutionized electric bass playing and bridged the gaps between jazz, R&B, rock, and funk. From his early days in R&B club bands through his international stardom with fusion group Weather Report and on to his solo career and tragic death at age 35, this book portrays the life and music of Jaco Pastorius. This special anniversary edition features new interviews with Jaco's childhood friends, prominent bass players of Jaco's era and afterward, and girlfriend Teresa Nagell, who was with Jaco in the last few years of his life. In addition, several incidents from the first edition have been further researched and expanded to full chapters.

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