Biography

Jaco Pastorius – Modern American Music . . . Period! The Criteria Sessions

Jaco Pastorius’ 1976 debut set a new standard in both jazz and the electric bass guitar. Many of the tracks on that eponymous album had their genesis when a 22-year-old Pastorius and friends used after-hours time at Criteria Studios to work out new songs and jam. Eventually six of those songs were transferred to acetate. Many of the songs found their way onto the debut album, and others remained unreleased until now. Omnivore’s Modern American Music . . . Period! The Criteria Sessions, produced in conjunction with the Pastorius estate and Metallica’s Robert Trujillo, contains 11 revolutionary tracks plus essays from Trujillo and Pastorius biographer Bill Milkowski. The original six-song acetate is being expanded and reproduced for RSD on CD and multi-colored LP with a download card for the entire CD program (to be released on the same day) as well as an insert with both essays and rare photos. The material was unearthed and restored in conjunction with the upcoming documentary Jaco (directed by Stephen Kijak and produced by Trujillo and John Battsek), the official Record Store Day film for 2014.

According to Trujillo: “Omnivore’s release of Jaco Pastorius’ ‘Criteria Sessions’ is a raw unique statement — a statement that lets you know you are experiencing a powerful historical musical moment. Jaco’s sound, and facility alone, take you on a trip that is totally new and fresh! This is punk at it’s best, and the attitude and edge is pure.”

Record Store’s Michael Kurtz said: “I fell in love with Jaco Pastorius in 1976 when I heard Weather Report’s Black Market being played in my local record store. In 1977 I caught the band on its Heavy Weather tour and heard Jaco perform live. It was like I had been exposed to a force bigger than life. Performing on the Fender bass he’d personally stripped of frets, Jaco propelled the band with ferocity and finesse. He was shirtless, with an axe bold as love. Thirty-seven years later it is a dream come true to be a part of helping Omnivore unearth and release the recording of a very young Jaco performing with his own band in Miami’s Criteria Studios.”

Mary Pastorius, Jaco’s daughter, added: “Once I allowed the memories associated with records to come in, it was like opening the proverbial floodgates — especially so when I started looking through my own records, having a visceral sensory overload experience with every one. Them records is powerful stuff!”