From early to mid-1985, Jaco Pastorius had been busy gigging with blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, but by July, performances were few and far between. September 19 saw the release of the Modern Electric Bass instructional video, filmed back in March, and on October 7, Jaco appeared at the Guitar Institute of Technology for a clinic and the LA Guitar Show for jams. Four days later Jaco began his three-month run of concerts in Manhattan with a quintet date at the Lone Star Cafe. Most lineups included Hiram Bullock on guitar, while the drummer was usually Victor Lewis or Kenwood Dennard. For this date Jaco and Hiram were joined by trumpeter and percussionist Jerry González, saxophonist Alex Foster, and drummer Ignacio Berroa.
The second show of the day opened with this 35-minute medley of Freddie Hubbard's "Straight Life," Jaco's "Teen Town," and Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze," which is probably the longest jam on a Jaco tape. This was Jaco's first known performance of "Straight Life," which soon become a regular feature at his shows with Hiram. "Purple Haze" had been played since Weather Report's 1980 Italy shows, then as a bass solo, now as a full-fledged rendition with vocals. Hiram would sing on several other songs too, which was exciting as Jaco rarely sang verses outside of "Fannie Mae" and "Why I Sing the Blues."
Like every late 1985 show, this one was very jam-oriented and a simple recording might not do it justice. Jaco seemed more reserved around this time (at least compared to the shows with Jorma), and unaccompanied bass solos were unusually rare. One of the more interesting things on this October 11 tape is Hiram quoting the Inspector Gadget theme during "Purple Haze"—24:32 to be exact. Jaco would do this too, but the only recorded instance I remember comes from December 1986.
Jaco plays his first bass solo of the period at 29:44, which was rare outside of "Dolphin Dance." It's full of exciting energy and spontaneity, even if not very original. It might continue into the "Teen Town" reprise, but the bass is too quiet to tell. The final part of the medley wraps up as most "Teen Towns" would, with a signature Jaco riff doubled by Hiram.
The rest of the 1½-hour show consisted of an unaccompanied bass solo, "Dolphin Dance," "All Blues" (one of Jaco's few recorded renditions), and the usual closer, "Fannie Mae" / "Why I Sing the Blues." The late 1985 run continued the following day with at least two similarly good concerts—I'll share a tape of the first one next Friday. In November, Jaco and Hiram were joined by Kenwood Dennard, one-third of their power trio PDB. This group remained active into the summer of 1986, half a year before Jaco embarked on his final tour with Vladislav Sendecki, Biréli Lagrène, and Serge Bringolf.
