Jaco Pastorius – Invitation (1983), A Legendary Live Jazz Album

Invitation‘ is the name of the third overall album by legendary, revolutionary, and innovative American bass virtuoso Jaco Pastorius, succeeding the studio album ‘Word of Mouth‘, previously released in 1981.

Invitation‘ was recorded by Jaco Pastorius at various venues throughout his tour of Japan in early September 1982 (revolving around Tokyo, Osaka, and Yokohama) with his big band called ‘Word of Mouth‘. ‘Invitation‘ showcases Jaco’s abilities as a band leader and as a great live performer. It was released in December 1983 through Warner Bros. Records and has a total running time of 43 minutes and 5 seconds. The album includes live material which was recorded between 1 and 4 September 1982.

Jaco Pastorius – Invitation (1983) frontal cover artwork. Image source: www.discogs.com

This live album by Jaco Pastorius mostly consists of covers by other artists but also includes original material by ex-Weather Report exquisite bassist, most notably ‘Continuum’ which appears on his debut self-titled solo album released in 1976. After it was released, ‘Invitation’ was extremely well received by critics, with such specialized musical publications as AllMusic giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars, The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide giving it 4 out of 5 stars while The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings giving 3 out of 4 stars.

The live album has the following tracklisting:

  1. Invitation (composed by Polish film score composer Bronisław Kaper);
  2. Amerika (traditional song);
  3. Soul Intro/The Chicken (composed by Jaco Pastorius and Pee Wee Ellis);
  4. Continuum (composed by Jaco Pastorius);
  5. Liberty City (composed by Jaco Pastorius);
  6. Sophisticated Lady (composed by Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, and Mitchell Parish);
  7. Reza/Giant Steps/Reza (Reprise) (composed by Jaco Pastorius and John Coltrane);
  8. Fannie Mae (composed by Buster Brown, Clarence Lewis, and Morgan Robinson);
  9. Eleven (composed by Miles Davis and Gil Evans).

For this album, Jaco had collaborated with many musicians as part of his big band ‘Word of Mouth’, most notably including fellow Weather Report drummer Peter Erskine and former studio collaborator Don Alias.

Personally, I first listened to this record at the age of 21, in 2018 to be more precise, while I was still a full-time away BSc student in Medialogy (short for ‘Media Technology’) student in Aalborg, Denmark at Aalborg Universitet (AAU). I bought it from Læsehesten record shop for a rather affordable shop and I listened to it for a while in my student dorm room in the shared student flat at Boulevarden in central Aalborg. Fond memories from of my first studentship abroad from this particular point of view.

Anyway, down below you can integrally listen to the live album via Youtube. I truly hope you will like it! Last but not least, thank you very much for your attention, time, and readership! All the best, much health, take care, stay safe, many blessings, and great peace your way! God bless you and rock on! 😊🙏✌️☮️🤘

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