Punk jazz (Pastorius) Asked by Williamson for his favorite cut on Mr. Gone, Jaco said, "Personally I like 'Punk Jazz' because it's the last piece of music I wrote, and I wrote it specifically for the album, as opposed to 'River People' that I had four years ago. It's a satisfaction thing, like 'I came up with the goods,' so you feel like you did your work and it was done specifically for the album... It's just a really well-orchestrated tune: a lot of work went into it." A little later, Jaco adds, "Like I got this tune, 'Punk Jazz', man, and at the beginning, look out, because this is some stone jazz, and we come in sounding like a symphony, but it's just Joe and me playing. It's unbelievable. Then Tony [drummer Tony Williams] comes in, and he's smoking, and Wayne takes one of the all-time classic soprano saxophone solos. But all that ensemble work is written out and we're grooving, and whatever talking we're doing is within the framework, so we're still completely improvising. I was really proud of Joe because he really got his calligraphy together for this album. (laughs) Usually they just throw you a piece of paper with a couple of marks on it, y'know, and you gotta work it out! This was a lot easier to read this time!" A big band version of "Punk Jazz" can be heard on Jaco's The Birthday Concert album, a live recording of the concert Jaco staged on the occasion of his 30th birthday on December 1, 1981. |