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JACO PASTORIUS BIG BAND

CONTINUES TO SPREAD THE WORD ON THE LEGACY OF A BRILLIANT BASSIST, COMPOSER AND ARRANGER

The Word Is Out! features: Jaco Pastorius, Gerald Veasley, Victor Wooten, Richard Bona, Jimmy Haslip, Jeff Carswell, Israel “Cachao” López, Jr., Mark Egan, Oteil Burbridge, Will Lee, Randy Brecker, Arturo Sandoval, Hiram Bullock, Mike Stern, Ed Calle, Bob Mintzer, Peter Erskine, Robert Thomas, Jr., Othello Molineaux and Toots Thielmans

Following the success of Word of Mouth Revisited, the critically acclaimed and award winning 2003 release on Heads Up International, the Jaco Pastorius Big Band has crafted a second chapter in their ongoing tribute to the brilliant legacy of the bassist/composer/arranger from whom they’ve taken their name. The Word Is Out! (HUCD 3110 and on SACD in 5.1 as HUSA 9110), an album that features an array of guest artists – not only on bass, but on a variety of other instruments – is set for international release on Heads Up on March 28, 2006.

On this second outing, the Jaco Pastorius Big Band again addresses Jaco’s compositional genius, this time with newly expanded arrangements of pieces that harken back to 1976, that pivotal year in Jaco’s career when he appeared on three near-simultaneous releases – Weather Report’s Black Market, Pat Metheny’s Bright Size Life and his own self-titled debut – that stand today as major landmarks in his fabled career. Included among the 11 tracks on The Word Is Out! are new treatments of a few Jaco rarities and more familiar Jaco gems.

From the very beginning, one of the things I’ve tried to explore is Jaco’s compositional genius,” says Peter Graves, conductor of the Jaco Pastorius Big Band and co-producer of The Word Is Out! “So much of the world knew Jaco as this phenomenal bass player, but I’ve always thought that his abilities as a composer and arranger were something that really needed to be explored more. On the first album, we did things that were a bit more familiar to everybody, but this project actually gave us the chance to explore a variety of tunes that probably a lot of Jaco aficionados are not familiar with.”