Jaco Pastorius Big Band

Jaco Pastorius Big Band: The Word Is Out

by Woodrow Wilkins
April 5, 2006

When Word of Mouth Revisited came out in the summer of 2003, I predicted it would hold up as the best new jazz album of the year. I'll make no such claims for The Word Is Out. It's already trailing Spyro Gyra's Wrapped in a Dream, Janis Siegel's A Thousand Beautiful Things and Steve Khan's The Green Field. However, in a head-to-head comparison, The Word Is Out beats its predecessor by a nose. Once again, conductor Peter ...

Jaco Pastorius Big Band: The Word is Out

by Jim Santella
March 21, 2006

With this second album by the Jaco Pastorius Big Band, led by Peter Graves in South Florida, we're reminded of the impact that the virtuosic bassist left behind.

Pastorius' big band roots go all the way back to his earliest professional development. Before the bassist got noticed, he had been working near his home in South Florida with the Peter Graves Orchestra. Graves, a trombonist who had learned the ropes working in the house band for The Jackie ...

Jaco Pastorius Big Band: Word of Mouth Revisited

by Florence Wetzel
December 1, 2003

It may be surprising to learn that legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius had deep roots in the big band tradition. His father Jack was a big band singer and drummer in the late '40s and early '50s, and in Jaco's early twenties he played for five years with the Peter Graves Orchestra, a progressive big band located in Ft. Lauderdale. Graves' orchestra gave Pastorius valuable experience writing and arranging – and provided a supportive environment for his blossoming genius.