Jaco Pastorius

When talking of electric bass, no one figure garners as much respect, notoriety and awe as Jaco Pastorius. Both as a fiery soloist and a thoughtful sideman, Pastorius' singular style made its mark on the worlds of both jazz and rock -- and that is precisely the scope of Mosaic's Ultimate Jaco Pastorius collection. Culling tracks from across his (far too short) career, Ultimate succeeds in showing the bassist's full range. Included is not only his work with Weather Report ("Teen Town," "Barbary Coast") and his solo output ("Donna Lee," "Invitation"), but also a cut from his stint with Joni Mitchell ("The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines," from Mingus), as well as some all-star fun from The Birthday Concert. It's not a definitive spread by any means (a couple tracks from Mitchell's Don Juan's Reckless Daughter sure wouldn't have hurt) but for those interested in getting hip to why Pastorius is held in such high regard, Ultimate makes a stellar jumping-off point. ~ J. Scott McClintock, All Music Guide