Jaco Pastorius Archive

One week after recording the free jazz album Last Flight with Essence, Jaco Pastorius travelled from New York to Washington, D.C., to perform at Blues Alley with his Word of Mouth band, which featured Essence member Mike Gerber on piano and vocals. This was their first time back since August 1982, and as turbulent as the past summer had been for Jaco, he managed to deliver a good and cohesive performance.

"Dania," an uptempo composition dedicated to the Floridan city, had been in his setlists since November 1982 — so very much par for the course — but we still get good solos from saxophonists Alex Foster and Butch Thomas, and trumpeter–percussionist Jerry González. (You can find two excellent medleys from the same concert on Music Universe's Youtube channel.) This is presumably the earliest tape to include Thomas (one of my favourite sidemen of Jaco's), but far from the last, as he'd go on to be featured prominently in Big World Music's Live in New York City series, recorded a year later.

Jaco Pastorius and the Word of Mouth Band
• Jerry Gonzaléz, trumpet and percussion
• Alex Foster tenor sax
• Butch Thomas, tenor sax
• Mike Gerber, piano
• Jaco Pastorius, bass
• Kenwood Dennard, percussion

Photo by Robert Carlson, New York City, NY, circa 1985.
Recorded at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. on November 18, 1984 (second show).

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