Jaco's work with Joni, to me, is his best work ever. He was the consummate sideman, and her work was tailor made for Jaco, and he meshed with her on a level that transcended any other artist he ever played with...even Zawinul, or Stern...
I wasn't sure how unique I was about my feelings of Jaco's work with Joni, that it may well have been his finest expression. It's good to read your words and know I'm not alone! Maybe it's because Joni wanted Jaco's input and ideas and he wasn't clashing with fragile male egos.That and the fact that her songs are such a great framework with which to work!
I was a 16 year old bass player in 1976. Jaco had exploded in the night sky, lighting up everything, showing us stars we never knew were there... I already loved Joni; "Court and Spark" was a favorite album. I bought "Hejira" the moment it came out and since then it's just been eternal. I'm so happy how much you get this record and how thoughtfully you present the bass-playing. A beautiful job, man. I'll look for more from you!
My favorite Joni album. My room-mate and I both played jazz and we'd sit in bed in our dorm room and fall in love with her and her music. The title track never ceases to amaze and delight. Back then it was an ear-opener...no drums and the bass didn't play bass but was a co-vocal, the tune held together with the guitar figures. Sweet.
I'm a Joni fan, this is my favourite of her albums. When I first heard 'Hissing of Summer Lawns' I found the music difficult but knew it was important, this was the same but even more so. I needed time to learn this new language, 46 years on and I'm still listening and learning.
I remember hearing “Hissing “ when my older sister bought it. It was such a departure from her prior stuff (at least her albums my sister owned) that I didn’t like it. I just wasn’t emotionally prepared to appreciate it at that time in my life. Now I’m 65 and still have a lot more to explore in her work.
This is my favorite album ever and I thought I knew everything there was to know about it. But I never realized that Jaco Pastorius was double and triple tracking his bass in order to achieve the chorus effect. I’m glad other people, especially music teachers, recognize Hejira for the absolute masterpiece that it is. Thank you so much for this video.
“Hejira” is my favorite album by anyone ever, and I clicked on your video as soon as I saw it on my feed. It’s great that this video was from a bassist’s perspective, and this was an awesome video and great tribute to the great bass masters who played on this genius of an album. You gained a follower here.
I was introduced to this album as a teenager around '85. I was instantly hooked at Joni's landscapes she painted with words. The accompanying music is perfect. Hejira is my all time favourite record, my most treasured piece of vinyl. Thanks for great background to the bottom end pdbass, you have another new follower here.
First of all, it was my bass instructor who turned me on to Joni Mitchell, he referred me to Miles of Aisles for the bass player in there. But after I snatched up the rest of her albums soon after, Hejira became my fast favorite. I feel heartened that the reasons I loved it were articulated in your lecture here. But now I want to know more about Phoebe Snow, holy crap. I listened to one song and now I must learn more. Thanks for that!
My favorite album of all time... Wait, think about that. I'm 60--a music lover my whole life--and I'm saying this is my favorite album of all time. This introduced me to the bass guitar, so much so that I moved from guitar as my primary instrument to the bass. I will never tire of listening to this album. Thanks for this insight into the techniques Jaco used.
1976 was the year man!!! "Fusion" jazz was new and exciting ... Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and Billy Cobham and Weather Report were creating this sound. So much great music came out of the mid 1970s! Fortunately - The mid seventies were such powerfully creative years in the evolution of popular music.
Being a singer-songwriter myself I was already a huge Joni fan when she recorded Heijira, but I'd never heard of Jaco Pastorius. At the time I did go to jazz venues to watch the local fusion bands (blossoming in my town), but rarely listened to jazz on record. Heijira absolutely opened up a new world for me. Not only was it the best album Joni ever made (along with her double live album with Jaco, Pat and the rest), I was blown away by what the bass players were doing to Joni's music. She'd finally got the band she so deserves. I record my own songs playing all the instruments. Bass guitar is still a mystery to me. As a guitarist I would think it couldn't be all that difficult. But my bass playing sucks big time. Since trying to play bass I have a lot more respect for the bass dude! Thanks a lot for explaining what Jaco and the others are actually playing here. It doesn't make me a better bass player (I know, I would need to practice hours a day to achieve that - maybe), but at least this wonderfull mystery is a little clearer. By the way, I named my son Jaco because of Heijira, and the song Heijira will be playing at my funeral.
I find that many musicians really don't have a grasp of how much the bass makes a song, or how to make that happen on bass. Once I got it, the bass became my main instrument. Way too often, both in bands (been there) and by the public, the bass player is dismissed as the least musical/technical player when it is often the opposite.
I had also heard of Jaco before I'd ever heard Joni Mitchell's music. The only reason I actually checked out Hejira was because I learned Jaco played on it. I really loved the album when I heard it. It's among my couple dozen favorite albums. But even still, it took over 10 years to dive into the rest of her catalog and realize she is an unbelievably brilliant musician.
One of the things I love most about Jaco is the sustain he got with that fretless, and nowhere is that more demonstrated than on the title track, Hejira. When I heard it for the first time living in London I immediately went out and got my first fretless bass. To this day I don't think there has been a more unique, gifted genius of such immeasurable influence even beyond his instrument than Jaco. But sadly that genius had a sidecar of demons.
BRAVO PRESENTATION. 1976 Was a spectacular year during this RENIESANCE period. I was 19yrs. & learning so much as a non-musician. HEAVY WEATHER; WIRED, J BECK; JACO'S SOLO; HEJIRA; ROYAL SCAM; STATION TO STATION; ROMANTIC WARRIOR. Electricity was in the air!
Thanks for what you do. I Love Joni and Jaco. I met him in '79. Played Frisbee with Jaco and watched him play that night in Salzburg. Changed my life. Thanks for what you do
Glad to see this. I just watched the live Shadows and Light concert and it made me weep. I always felt Hejira was the most incredible Joni ever, and that's saying a lot. I'm 66, still fretless, still missing Jaco. Thanks for teaching me so much. Im just a guy with a bass or three, no frets and no formal training. Still i reach unashamedly for the stars.
You have to go beyond watching Shadows and Light video. The album has "God Must Be a Boogie Man," luckily caught on cassette from the mixing board, and it swings SO F***ING HARD. Joni, Jaco, and Don Alias on congas are so playful but locked on. It's one of the greatest live performances I've ever heard.
You're so right about the song Hejira on Shadows and Light...the live concert....that song makes me cry especially as Micheal Breaker vamps his solo out with Joni, Jaco and Don Alias on congas joining the rhythm.
@@bassman1219 Love Jaco on Shadows and Light he's like hey everyone im gonna blow your mind , its so cool to see all those other great musicians turning their heads towards Jaco in admiration.
I caught the Shadows & Light tour at Red Rocks, Colorado, a few weeks before they did the film concert. A perfect, magical night, nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with the lights of the city of Denver merging in the distance with the shimmering stars in a cloudless sky. It was as if you were on another planet. Joni wore a dress that wafted in the soft breeze. The Persuasions opened and then came back to close the show with Joni. One of the greatest concerts I've ever experienced. And, yes, it was a better performance than the filmed concert.
All of the tunes are brilliant but Song For Sharon just takes me away. I feel like I'm in that car with Joni flying down the highway. And her background harmonies are beautiful.
There is no way to overstate how this record filled my jazz/punk rock mind with wonder. I never heard anything like this even though I was familiar with Jaco, but it was my intro to Joni. What a moment in time!
I am a Joni Mitchell fan after she delved into her jazz influenced work. Love “Hissing of Summer Lawns” and most of the Court and Spark album. Funny thing is that I met the Furry that her “Furry Plays the Blues” song is based on. It was Memphis around 1966 when I was just a kid. Furry Lewis ( Beale Street) came to the house and played bottle neck blues behind his head for a captivated little girl. Hence my collection of guitars over the following decades is much greater than my amateurish ability. Will have to listen to Hejira, now. .Have a Fender P bass set up close as I can to James Jamerson’s. Grew up on Motown in the 60’s. You mentioned another that I appreciated. Phoebe Snow. I agree. Thank you for your knowledge and analysis of bass players. Really appreciated.
I can't thank you enough. I've learn't a lot from this like; Hemiola, old school chorus and Max Bennett. Since I heard this album, as a bass player I used to dream about being a part of this kind of project because of the things hit me like story telling, poetry, extraordinary song forms and great musicianship. This was completeley different from everything I've listened so far at that time, actually it still is. I'm now printing the lyrics. Thanks a lot.
excellent video! i know nothing of bass playing--but been a fan of Ms. Mitchell for many years. when this album came out i was 15 and it changed my life forever. truly. got to see her Shadows and Light tour in 1979 with Jaco and Metheny and Michael Brecker and Don Alias and it was the greatest concert i've ever seen. check out the DVD if you can and hopefully a remastered version of the LP will be out in the next year or so, as Joni is putting out all these amazing box sets. again, thank you!
Wow. I’ve loved this album since it came out, and Joni is my hands down favorite musician, but after watching/listening this, I realize that I have a lot more to appreciate. And this is just ONE of her albums…
Spent the morning listening to Hejira and Jaco's first album "Jaco Pastorius". Thanks for reminding us just how great these albums and their composers are.
I'm not sure if I'd say Hejira is my favorite Joni album (so tough to choose!!). . . But I will say every song on that album strike me as something that ONLY Joni could ever dream of writing. The complexity, artistry, lyricism are absolutely stunning. Coyote is probably all of that encapsulated in one magical piece. It's probably my favorite song she ever wrote. Oh, and yes, I think Jaco's bass in particular is what really pushes this album into the sublime.
Oh man, I looked away for a second, then you started playing Hejira and my jaw dropped. Hard to nail Jaco but you were bang on there! The entire video was amazing as always.
Wow! Not a bassist, or even a musician, yet learned so much from this vid... I grew up "with" Joni as her evolution matched my own life; Hejira and her earlier Blue are my 2 fav discs, and you have deepened my already boundless love of Joni generally, and Hejira specifically! Thanx
Watched a few of your clips in a row - Paul Denman, Nick Beggs, Tiran Porter, YYZ and this one on my fave Joni album and a real desert island disc for me. You are doing something special with a clear love of eclectic music expressed with a nod to emotion in the playing and the overall work - nicely done, happily subscribed!
Great video! Thank you. Jaco was the man. Greatest bass player ever. I'm a little biased because I fell in love with him when I was 16. There was no other bass player like him. Such a tragic ending. I love Joni, and it is only natural that Joni and Jaco would come together to producer some beautiful music.
So good. While I was first a fan of Jaco when I was studying music in college in 81-84, I had juuuust missed his tenure in Weather Report, when I saw them with Victor Bailey in his place. I dropped out of the local scene after this, and was less active as a player and spectator, therfore never got to see Jaco play live during his long decline after that. However, as much of a music buff as I was, and I am almost ashamed to admit it, but I just knew the superficial basics of Joni Mitchell's career until last year when I finally took a deep dive. One of the main things that just kicked me in the hind was.. I was in prime position in the San Francisco area to catch a lot of legendary Joni performances.. and I just didn't soak it up then. What a loss, but for anyone else who hasn't jumped in to her catalog, just do it. It is easier now than ever.
The amount of work that you put into producing these is evident and your understanding of the material is enormous. I was looking for a copy of “Shadows and Light” for a long time, then found a promo copy on my birthday a couple years ago. Tonight I’m going to crank it up, loudly. Your recreation of Jaco’s style is amazing, what a tribute. This channel is criminally underrated.
shadows and light is a personal fav. have it on vinyl and dvd, both quite enjoyable for this old hippie. the channel AND joni are both underrated, imo.
Brilliant analysis Paul . I have loved this album that was given to me on my 20th birthday back in 1976. I have listened to it many many times, but your insights have made me hear it again in totally different way. Thank you my friend.
Played this album on an 8 track cassette in a van going from Philly back to Los Angeles in January 1977. This was a mind blowing album and like you said Paul, Jaco was at his peak on this without question. It’s one thing to hear this album wherever now but to actually hear Joni’s genius traveling compositions while on the road for days on end was surreal !
This has been one of my top 10 albums ever since it was released. Apart from your great insights into the musicianship (which open up another dimension into my appreciation of the album), it’s great to encounter someone from another generation who enjoys its sublimity and the stunning lyrics. Thank you.
Hejira's one of my favourite albums, Paul, and your essay here's just added layers of knowledge to my enjoyment. Thank you very much, dudemeister... ☝️😎
Man! Thank you for opening the Doors ti the music that you love! I've discovered so many gratis albums I have missed along the years... I can't say it enough Thank you so much!
I'm 60 years old and I started playing bass 5 years ago. I just discovered your channel today and I love your passion and all the knowledge you share. I've been a big Joni Mitchell fan for a long time, but it seems like years since I last listened to her albums. I'm now going to go back and give them all another spin. Thank you for this 😊
Paul. As a guitar player who plays bass just well enough to get over (whenever there are too many guitarists!) I'm fascinated by your series. What a fabulous idea, beautifully executed. Dissected without overanalyzing everything, so as to capture the nuance and musicality, while still opening the door to how it was played and recorded. Not to mention your own chops, coupled with wading into some of tallest musical weeds to chop down. Bravo!
Great video! I don't play bass or much jazz, but I'm a BIG Joni fan and love, love, love that album. So my favorite track (so far) is "Song for Sharon."
Love Joni Mitchell - I also love this album. I'm split between Amelia and Refuge of the Roads for my favorite tracks on this one. I never thought of Jaco multi tracking his basslines, but of course he would have had to; impossible to do any other way. Thanks for the video and the musical insights, - looking forward to seeing more from You going forward! 😎🎼
What a beautiful video, informative, informed and passionate. I am a guitar player who loves the bass, and a decades-long devotee of Joni Mitchell. This is all such amazing music. Thanks for doing this work. These kinds of things make life a little more bearable these days.
This is one of my favorite bass vids of all time. I want to thank you for all your hard work, your honesty and fundamental openness. Also I bought this album when I was 11 after seeing Jaco on West German television. As you can probably imagine Joni's lyrics and music was lost on me but the sound of the fretless connected with me on a spiritual level. Now in my 58th year I cannot listen to Refuge of the Roads with welling up. Few songs make me do this. Right, where's my Jaco copy bass?
Thank you so much for this. I'm an 80s baby and by the late 90s/early 2000s Napster and other early pirate sites played bits of Hejira. I was into Jaco and Weather Report and learning that most of the Weather Report band of that era played with Joni meant she was legit to me. Then a few years later I was living in Chicago and bought "Hejira" from Virgin Records. I had a CD walkman (I know right LOL) and listened to that beautiful record all the way back home on the train to 95th. That was about twenty years ago and I was just listening today to "Refuge of the Roads" and hit in the heart at how beautiful it is. That record was my introduction to so much and it's a beautiful piece of complex artwork.
Exemplary again, love your enthusiasm, clarity and getting to the heart of things with one of my favourite albums too! Thanks for the Phoebe Snow heads-up. Love this series - thank you :)
Great Post, as usual extremely informative. I remember when this album came out. We all knew Jaco from his landmark debut. Joni is amazing and the album is Amazing and important
Great video, thanks. I'm primarily a Prog rock fan of Yes, Rush, Genesis, Floyd etc but a big Joni fan too and yes Hejira is one of the best albums of all time for me.
Paul, thanks for turning me on to a really special album that I never caught before and you really help to open my mind to many different things with jazz and the way Joni fuses her styles with Jaco and everybody else here it is just unbelievable and I definitely will listen to the whole album all the way through with headphones with the lights dimmed taking it all in. This music was from an era that people really made a point of listening to everything and taking it all in that's what is lost today. At this point in time this kind of music seems like a lost art and I hope great musicians like you keep the flame burning. Thank you so much, Bob M.
This is absolutely great! Thank you so much for clearing up the details! (I never knew there were two other great bassists on this album, it was all Jaco to me.) You really did a great job with this.
Just. Wow! I first got this album in ‘76 a couple of days after its release. I played it incessantly and bought copies for my friends and family. I was captivated by Jaco’s bass and Joni’s music. They took me to familiar places I’d never consciously been before. “Black Crow” and “Song for Sharon” are my favorite songs from the album, but after watching this video, I’ll definitely revisit the title track. Thank you, Paul, for this enlightening video! New subscriber here. 👍🏼
Thanks for your insight into this amazing album. Hejira is my all time favorite album. This album, and the track Refuge of the Roads in particular, was the perfect music that I played throughout my solo road trip around the country in 1978; living in the back of a station wagon and coming of age. It was the best time of my life and Joni Mitchell will always be an intregral part of that.
I used to listen to Hejira every morning after coming home from a Night Shift. I always imagined that it was the music at the end of a movie when the credits would roll.
Great channel man. I love the bass. I have hejira and jacos debut. I will definitey pull this one out and listen again with new ears after watching this....ace!
I am back again. Watching my favorite bass guy on social media...you have a incredible gift with speaking. ..your commentary is fluid and articulate and without stammer or pause.
This is great! i just discovered this channel. Second video i saw and: wow, so good! Thx a lot for giving all that information. I love the song hejira. Have a nice time!
The lyrics on this album will never leave you once you’ve really listened. “A strange boy is weaving a course of grace and havoc on a yellow skateboard through midday sidewalk traffic.” Yikes! Put those lyrics with surpassing musicianship all around and you have the gift that is Hejira. 💜🙏
Heijra is one of my favourite albums. Joni has great taste. Didn’t realise how many great bassists were on this album- I thought it was all Jaco! Thanks for this!
One of my favorites as well...Great video filled with many MOST welcome insights. Chucks playing on "Hotel Room" is reminiscent to me of Mingus(figure you might have something to say about that, perhaps I'm inaccurate) In case you didn't know the "friend of spirit" in "Refuge" is Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trumpa and song chronicals an encounter Joni had with him. She was catapulted into a non-duel state of consciousness and later decided that it was difficult for an artist to function from that space..
Paul! I’m so glad YT put this video in front of me! I really like your approach to showcasing this interplanetary music and legendary bassists. You play very well yourself. As a drummer, our relationships with bassists work as one of symbiosis, as you well know. So when I first heard Heavy Weather in high school in 1985, I latched on to Jaco’s playing within microseconds of the sound waves hitting my ears. That said, I have two favorite tracks on this record: Coyote and Hejira. The story is, in 1990 my wife and I had relocated Portland, OR. We had popped into this quirky little music shop, of which Portland has many, and I heard two things: a bass sound that was very familiar, and an amazing voice. I had never heard this music before, so I asked one of the guys working there who the artist was and who the bassist was. He tells me “it’s Joni Mitchell”, and with a sneaky grin he tells me, “It’s Jaco”. The song was Coyote, hence the favoriting, and I was hooked. I was even more impressed with Jaco’s playing on this album than I was with his playing on Heavy Weather. Later into my deeper listening, Hejira has become my absolute favorite of this album. All amazing tracks though, purely iconic. Well done! I look forward to seeing more of your work. Subscribed! - Mark Meeker
I have always said Jaco's best work ever was with Joni, as it's not a note or solo thing, it's a "how well can I complementthis piece" type thing...something about their musical union stands head and shoulders above his other work as a sideman, or even as a solo performer (first album excluded). This album, and Don Juan's Reckless Daughter...absolute magic of the rarest variety!!
He was very "alpha" with Weather Report. It was a totally different thing. The way he plays with her is so much more sensitive than anything else he did (mostly). It's two beautiful, COMPLETELY original voices just colliding with so much beauty and depth.
Love Hejira, and this is a great video. My favorite track is Refuge. Unbelievably brilliant, inventive, lyrical bass lines; the perfect complement to Joni’s plaintive vocals.
Excellent analysis, articulated well. Captures the feeling one gets when listening to this brilliant album. The interplay between Joni's voice, her acoustic guitar playing and Jaco's bass playing on the tracks on side one of Don Juan's Reckless Daughter are nothing short of amazing also... Track two - “Talk to Me“ is beyond words... can't describe how it makes me feel. It's kind of like Lester Young and Billie Holiday, the way they imitated each other with vocal and saxophone. The amazing connection they had between them in their musical styles. Thank you for your insight!
I’ve been a bass player since the early ‘70s, and I stand in awe at the musicality, and technical mastery of many contemporary bassists these days. However, I really appreciate that you highlight bassists and grooves from the past that laid the foundation for the amazing players at the margins of todays music. Kudos.
Although "Amelia" was not featured because it does not have a bass, it might be one of the greatest songs Joni wrote--absolutely sublime. Fantastic video! LOVE your perspective from a bassist point of view. Max Bennet had such a cool style.
Your videos are great! Well produced, thoughtfully composed, and well played on all those basses. When you mentioned Jaco’s 16th notes, it reminded me of the Berklee Bass Dept webinar tribute to the late, great Tower Of Power bassist, Rocco Prestia. TOP bandleader Emilio Castillo was on it and said that Jaco worshipped Rocco (who was famous for his 16th notes and ghost notes) and would come to the TOP NYC gigs and sit in with the band - especially on the 16th note bass frenzy that is ‘What Is Hip?’. Jaco would take his mother to the show and she’d say to Jaco, “Why don’t you play more like him?!”. Might be a Rocco/Jaco/16th note/Joni link there! And well done to you!
It is a myth that Rocco Prestia was an influence on Jaco and his 16th note funk lines. Jaco started moving in that direction already in the late 60's, and had perfected that part of his playing as early as 72' while on the road with Wayne Cochran! In other words he had it together BEFORE TOP and Rocco made it big. It's also very telling that out of the couple of dozen interviews Jaco made through the years, he NEVER mentioned Rocco as an influence! He usually mentioned people like Jerry Jemmott, Duck Dunn, James Jamerson but NEVER Rocco! Not even in the modern electric bass video where he had all the time in the world to talk about his influences ;)
@@normanhirschfeld3823 - just passing on what I heard from the bandleader’s mouth, which I found interesting. I just had a glance at Wikipedia, and Rocco’s finger style is mentioned as an influence on Jaco. They were both amazing musicians!
I am so grateful and appreciative that you have presented this work. You have done a masterful job of explaining the work of these great artist. I listen to this album so much over these many years that I find myself audiating the lyrics as i go about by business. And your right the more you listen the more you hear and learn. Thank you--- and thanks to Joni and these great musicians.
Confession: I clicked "Like" before this video even started playing.
We all did. :-)
@@NicolaLarosa Yup
Yes... the content on this channel is great. And it is an incredible album.
Jaco's work with Joni, to me, is his best work ever. He was the consummate sideman, and her work was tailor made for Jaco, and he meshed with her on a level that transcended any other artist he ever played with...even Zawinul, or Stern...
Apparently Joni kept complaining at a session bass player and he said.....'you need to get with this guy (Jaco). He plays all that weird stuff.'
Jaco's playing with Joni is a perfect example of how sincere love for another and her art brings out the best and even more.
Completely agree.
With you there.
I wasn't sure how unique I was about my feelings of Jaco's work with Joni, that it may well have been his finest expression. It's good to read your words and know I'm not alone! Maybe it's because Joni wanted Jaco's input and ideas and he wasn't clashing with fragile male egos.That and the fact that her songs are such a great framework with which to work!
I was a 16 year old bass player in 1976. Jaco had exploded in the night sky, lighting up everything, showing us stars we never knew were there... I already loved Joni; "Court and Spark" was a favorite album. I bought "Hejira" the moment it came out and since then it's just been eternal. I'm so happy how much you get this record and how thoughtfully you present the bass-playing. A beautiful job, man. I'll look for more from you!
Love this. I was born in '74 and can only imagine what it was like to hear this as NEW. Thanks for watching.
I was a 16 year old bass player in.. 1978 bro !
@@pdbassI played it all the time
No words for this video! Amazing. Made with the love and respect Joni Mitchell and Jaco Pastorius deserve ❤
This Guy speaks on a level that is amazing. .I wish my teachers in life had his gift
My favorite Joni album. My room-mate and I both played jazz and we'd sit in bed in our dorm room and fall in love with her and her music. The title track never ceases to amaze and delight. Back then it was an ear-opener...no drums and the bass didn't play bass but was a co-vocal, the tune held together with the guitar figures. Sweet.
Yes - so Joni, so unique 💖 🇨🇦
Yes. It was a musical conversation.
My favorite as well. Hissing of Summer Lawns is another good one.
I'm a Joni fan, this is my favourite of her albums. When I first heard 'Hissing of Summer Lawns' I found the music difficult but knew it was important, this was the same but even more so. I needed time to learn this new language, 46 years on and I'm still listening and learning.
I remember hearing “Hissing “ when my older sister bought it. It was such a departure from her prior stuff (at least her albums my sister owned) that I didn’t like it. I just wasn’t emotionally prepared to appreciate it at that time in my life. Now I’m 65 and still have a lot more to explore in her work.
This is my favorite album ever and I thought I knew everything there was to know about it. But I never realized that Jaco Pastorius was double and triple tracking his bass in order to achieve the chorus effect. I’m glad other people, especially music teachers, recognize Hejira for the absolute masterpiece that it is. Thank you so much for this video.
“Hejira” is my favorite album by anyone ever, and I clicked on your video as soon as I saw it on my feed. It’s great that this video was from a bassist’s perspective, and this was an awesome video and great tribute to the great bass masters who played on this genius of an album. You gained a follower here.
Wow, thank you!
I am thrilled that so many other people are posting that this is their all-time favorite album. I thought maybe I was the only one.
@@IrnBruNYC I thought I was the only one, too, but over time I keep seeing more fans of it! 👍🏾👍🏾
Mine too, I have all of Joni's albums and this is the best.
I was introduced to this album as a teenager around '85. I was instantly hooked at Joni's landscapes she painted with words. The accompanying music is perfect. Hejira is my all time favourite record, my most treasured piece of vinyl. Thanks for great background to the bottom end pdbass, you have another new follower here.
First of all, it was my bass instructor who turned me on to Joni Mitchell, he referred me to Miles of Aisles for the bass player in there. But after I snatched up the rest of her albums soon after, Hejira became my fast favorite. I feel heartened that the reasons I loved it were articulated in your lecture here.
But now I want to know more about Phoebe Snow, holy crap. I listened to one song and now I must learn more. Thanks for that!
My favorite album of all time... Wait, think about that. I'm 60--a music lover my whole life--and I'm saying this is my favorite album of all time. This introduced me to the bass guitar, so much so that I moved from guitar as my primary instrument to the bass. I will never tire of listening to this album. Thanks for this insight into the techniques Jaco used.
Thank you for watching! You understand this album way more than I ever could. I'm glad you approve!
This has been my stuck-on-a-deserted-island album since it first came out.
1976 was the year man!!! "Fusion" jazz was new and exciting ... Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and Billy Cobham and Weather Report were creating this sound. So much great music came out of the mid 1970s! Fortunately - The mid seventies were such powerfully creative years in the evolution of popular music.
Being a singer-songwriter myself I was already a huge Joni fan when she recorded Heijira, but I'd never heard of Jaco Pastorius. At the time I did go to jazz venues to watch the local fusion bands (blossoming in my town), but rarely listened to jazz on record. Heijira absolutely opened up a new world for me. Not only was it the best album Joni ever made (along with her double live album with Jaco, Pat and the rest), I was blown away by what the bass players were doing to Joni's music. She'd finally got the band she so deserves.
I record my own songs playing all the instruments. Bass guitar is still a mystery to me. As a guitarist I would think it couldn't be all that difficult. But my bass playing sucks big time. Since trying to play bass I have a lot more respect for the bass dude! Thanks a lot for explaining what Jaco and the others are actually playing here. It doesn't make me a better bass player (I know, I would need to practice hours a day to achieve that - maybe), but at least this wonderfull mystery is a little clearer. By the way, I named my son Jaco because of Heijira, and the song Heijira will be playing at my funeral.
☝🏽☝🏽☝🏽THIS right here!!☝🏽☝🏽☝🏽 Amazing!! Thank you!
Wow, good one 💖 🇨🇦
I find that many musicians really don't have a grasp of how much the bass makes a song, or how to make that happen on bass. Once I got it, the bass became my main instrument. Way too often, both in bands (been there) and by the public, the bass player is dismissed as the least musical/technical player when it is often the opposite.
I had also heard of Jaco before I'd ever heard Joni Mitchell's music. The only reason I actually checked out Hejira was because I learned Jaco played on it. I really loved the album when I heard it. It's among my couple dozen favorite albums. But even still, it took over 10 years to dive into the rest of her catalog and realize she is an unbelievably brilliant musician.
One of the things I love most about Jaco is the sustain he got with that fretless, and nowhere is that more demonstrated than on the title track, Hejira. When I heard it for the first time living in London I immediately went out and got my first fretless bass. To this day I don't think there has been a more unique, gifted genius of such immeasurable influence even beyond his instrument than Jaco. But sadly that genius had a sidecar of demons.
BRAVO PRESENTATION. 1976 Was a spectacular year during this RENIESANCE period. I was 19yrs. & learning so much as a non-musician. HEAVY WEATHER; WIRED, J BECK; JACO'S SOLO; HEJIRA; ROYAL SCAM; STATION TO STATION; ROMANTIC WARRIOR. Electricity was in the air!
Thanks for what you do. I Love Joni and Jaco. I met him in '79. Played Frisbee with Jaco and watched him play that night in Salzburg. Changed my life. Thanks for what you do
I was 17 when this masterpiece came out. My musical landscape has never been the same. Thanks for a marvelous exploration of a truly seminal work.
Glad to see this. I just watched the live Shadows and Light concert and it made me weep. I always felt Hejira was the most incredible Joni ever, and that's saying a lot. I'm 66, still fretless, still missing Jaco. Thanks for teaching me so much. Im just a guy with a bass or three, no frets and no formal training. Still i reach unashamedly for the stars.
🙏🏽for watching and this comment. You’ve said more here than I ever could!
You have to go beyond watching Shadows and Light video. The album has "God Must Be a Boogie Man," luckily caught on cassette from the mixing board, and it swings SO F***ING HARD. Joni, Jaco, and Don Alias on congas are so playful but locked on. It's one of the greatest live performances I've ever heard.
You're so right about the song Hejira on Shadows and Light...the live concert....that song makes me cry especially as Micheal Breaker vamps his solo out with Joni, Jaco and Don Alias on congas joining the rhythm.
@@bassman1219 Love Jaco on Shadows and Light he's like hey everyone im gonna blow your mind , its so cool to see all those other great musicians turning their heads towards Jaco in admiration.
I caught the Shadows & Light tour at Red Rocks, Colorado, a few weeks before they did the film concert. A perfect, magical night, nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with the lights of the city of Denver merging in the distance with the shimmering stars in a cloudless sky. It was as if you were on another planet. Joni wore a dress that wafted in the soft breeze. The Persuasions opened and then came back to close the show with Joni. One of the greatest concerts I've ever experienced. And, yes, it was a better performance than the filmed concert.
The Max Bennett bassline are MESMERISING!!!!
All of the tunes are brilliant but Song For Sharon just takes me away. I feel like I'm in that car with Joni flying down the highway. And her background harmonies are beautiful.
SFS possibly the ultimate Joni song.
Love your appreciation of this album. Spot on !
There is no way to overstate how this record filled my jazz/punk rock mind with wonder. I never heard anything like this even though I was familiar with Jaco, but it was my intro to Joni. What a moment in time!
I am a Joni Mitchell fan after she delved into her jazz influenced work. Love “Hissing of Summer Lawns” and most of the Court and Spark album. Funny thing is that I met the Furry that her “Furry Plays the Blues” song is based on. It was Memphis around 1966 when I was just a kid. Furry Lewis ( Beale Street) came to the house and played bottle neck blues behind his head for a captivated little girl. Hence my collection of guitars over the following decades is much greater than my amateurish ability. Will have to listen to Hejira, now. .Have a Fender P bass set up close as I can to James Jamerson’s. Grew up on Motown in the 60’s. You mentioned another that I appreciated. Phoebe Snow. I agree. Thank you for your knowledge and analysis of bass players. Really appreciated.
Thank you for featuring this gem 💎! Mitchell is a musical giant. Thanks, Canada 🇨🇦
I am addicted to this album at the moment. I love refuge of the roads, such beautiful bass playing!
I can't thank you enough. I've learn't a lot from this like; Hemiola, old school chorus and Max Bennett. Since I heard this album, as a bass player I used to dream about being a part of this kind of project because of the things hit me like story telling, poetry, extraordinary song forms and great musicianship. This was completeley different from everything I've listened so far at that time, actually it still is. I'm now printing the lyrics. Thanks a lot.
excellent video! i know nothing of bass playing--but been a fan of Ms. Mitchell for many years. when this album came out i was 15 and it changed my life forever. truly. got to see her Shadows and Light tour in 1979 with Jaco and Metheny and Michael Brecker and Don Alias and it was the greatest concert i've ever seen. check out the DVD if you can and hopefully a remastered version of the LP will be out in the next year or so, as Joni is putting out all these amazing box sets. again, thank you!
Wow. I’ve loved this album since it came out, and Joni is my hands down favorite musician, but after watching/listening this, I realize that I have a lot more to appreciate. And this is just ONE of her albums…
Spent the morning listening to Hejira and Jaco's first album "Jaco Pastorius". Thanks for reminding us just how great these albums and their composers are.
I'm not sure if I'd say Hejira is my favorite Joni album (so tough to choose!!). . . But I will say every song on that album strike me as something that ONLY Joni could ever dream of writing. The complexity, artistry, lyricism are absolutely stunning. Coyote is probably all of that encapsulated in one magical piece. It's probably my favorite song she ever wrote. Oh, and yes, I think Jaco's bass in particular is what really pushes this album into the sublime.
Jaco is INCREDIBLE on the title cut!!!!
Oh man, I looked away for a second, then you started playing Hejira and my jaw dropped. Hard to nail Jaco but you were bang on there! The entire video was amazing as always.
Thank you!! He continues to inspire me.
Fabulous album, I agree this is a masterpiece.
Thanks for this, particularly giving some flowers to Max Bennett’s work on the album. Great idea to analyze the bass parts on this milestone LP.
Superb , my favourites are Hejira and Refuge Of The Road ...Jaco is on fire !!!
Wow! Not a bassist, or even a musician, yet learned so much from this vid... I grew up "with" Joni as her evolution matched my own life; Hejira and her earlier Blue are my 2 fav discs, and you have deepened my already boundless love of Joni generally, and Hejira specifically! Thanx
Watched a few of your clips in a row - Paul Denman, Nick Beggs, Tiran Porter, YYZ and this one on my fave Joni album and a real desert island disc for me. You are doing something special with a clear love of eclectic music expressed with a nod to emotion in the playing and the overall work - nicely done, happily subscribed!
Great video! Thank you. Jaco was the man. Greatest bass player ever. I'm a little biased because I fell in love with him when I was 16. There was no other bass player like him. Such a tragic ending. I love Joni, and it is only natural that Joni and Jaco would come together to producer some beautiful music.
So good. While I was first a fan of Jaco when I was studying music in college in 81-84, I had juuuust missed his tenure in Weather Report, when I saw them with Victor Bailey in his place. I dropped out of the local scene after this, and was less active as a player and spectator, therfore never got to see Jaco play live during his long decline after that. However, as much of a music buff as I was, and I am almost ashamed to admit it, but I just knew the superficial basics of Joni Mitchell's career until last year when I finally took a deep dive. One of the main things that just kicked me in the hind was.. I was in prime position in the San Francisco area to catch a lot of legendary Joni performances.. and I just didn't soak it up then. What a loss, but for anyone else who hasn't jumped in to her catalog, just do it. It is easier now than ever.
This is an INCREDIBLE album, Joni Mitchell's best!!!
Thank you for writing this love letter to one of the greatest albums ever.
The amount of work that you put into producing these is evident and your understanding of the material is enormous. I was looking for a copy of “Shadows and Light” for a long time, then found a promo copy on my birthday a couple years ago. Tonight I’m going to crank it up, loudly. Your recreation of Jaco’s style is amazing, what a tribute. This channel is criminally underrated.
shadows and light is a personal fav. have it on vinyl and dvd, both quite enjoyable for this old hippie. the channel AND joni are both underrated, imo.
@@philgray1000 I’m with you brother. To go from Pat in S&L to Larry here, this is a good portion of my record collection overall!
Thanks, guys! The more you listen, the more you love it, right?
It's on UA-cam guys
Brilliant analysis Paul . I have loved this album that was given to me on my 20th birthday back in 1976. I have listened to it many many times, but your insights have made me hear it again in totally different way. Thank you my friend.
Awesome! Thank you so much!
WOW, I just discover this channel. It's AMAZING. It's the only video in the whole fuckin world who talks about Hejira's bass playing. Pure Gold!
Many thanks for watching!!
Played this album on an 8 track cassette in a van going from Philly back to Los Angeles in January 1977. This was a mind blowing album and like you said Paul, Jaco was at his peak on this without question. It’s one thing to hear this album wherever now but to actually hear Joni’s genius traveling compositions while on the road for days on end was surreal !
When I thought you topped it with your Nightfly video, you’ve done it again. Keep it up man!!!
Exactly!
This has been one of my top 10 albums ever since it was released. Apart from your great insights into the musicianship (which open up another dimension into my appreciation of the album), it’s great to encounter someone from another generation who enjoys its sublimity and the stunning lyrics. Thank you.
Hejira's one of my favourite albums, Paul, and your essay here's just added layers of knowledge to my enjoyment. Thank you very much, dudemeister... ☝️😎
Man! Thank you for opening the Doors ti the music that you love! I've discovered so many gratis albums I have missed along the years... I can't say it enough Thank you so much!
What a wonderful dissection of the soul of an album. Thank you so much!
I'm 60 years old and I started playing bass 5 years ago. I just discovered your channel today and I love your passion and all the knowledge you share. I've been a big Joni Mitchell fan for a long time, but it seems like years since I last listened to her albums. I'm now going to go back and give them all another spin. Thank you for this 😊
Awesome! Thank you for watching!
Paul. As a guitar player who plays bass just well enough to get over (whenever there are too many guitarists!) I'm fascinated by your series. What a fabulous idea, beautifully executed. Dissected without overanalyzing everything, so as to capture the nuance and musicality, while still opening the door to how it was played and recorded. Not to mention your own chops, coupled with wading into some of tallest musical weeds to chop down. Bravo!
Thank you, Ken! Thanks for checking it out!
Congratulations! and Thank you for putting this work together. It's one of my favorite LP's, with 3 of my favorite bass players. Too much! Yes...
Thank you for the class, professor!
Thanks for shedding so much light on these essential records Paul! It’s a master class every, single, time!
There is a lot of passion put into the videos on this channel. Love it. And I don't even play the bass. Just a music lover.
My favorite album forever
One of the best Albums ever... thank you✨
This video was a great way to appreciate this album. Thank you.. and so cool to hear Phoebe Snow mentioned.
Astonishingly good! Sincerely grateful to you, Mr PD Bass.
Great video! I don't play bass or much jazz, but I'm a BIG Joni fan and love, love, love that album. So my favorite track (so far) is "Song for Sharon."
Thanks! Hejira is my favorite album of all time. It’s one of the best road albums ever.
WOW!! Thanks for the super and thanks for watching!!
Love Joni Mitchell - I also love this album. I'm split between Amelia and Refuge of the Roads for my favorite tracks on this one. I never thought of Jaco multi tracking his basslines, but of course he would have had to; impossible to do any other way. Thanks for the video and the musical insights, - looking forward to seeing more from You going forward! 😎🎼
What a beautiful video, informative, informed and passionate. I am a guitar player who loves the bass, and a decades-long devotee of Joni Mitchell. This is all such amazing music. Thanks for doing this work. These kinds of things make life a little more bearable these days.
Thank you and 🙏🏽for watching!
This is one of my favorite bass vids of all time. I want to thank you for all your hard work, your honesty and fundamental openness. Also I bought this album when I was 11 after seeing Jaco on West German television. As you can probably imagine Joni's lyrics and music was lost on me but the sound of the fretless connected with me on a spiritual level. Now in my 58th year I cannot listen to Refuge of the Roads with welling up. Few songs make me do this. Right, where's my Jaco copy bass?
Thank you so much for this. I'm an 80s baby and by the late 90s/early 2000s Napster and other early pirate sites played bits of Hejira. I was into Jaco and Weather Report and learning that most of the Weather Report band of that era played with Joni meant she was legit to me. Then a few years later I was living in Chicago and bought "Hejira" from Virgin Records. I had a CD walkman (I know right LOL) and listened to that beautiful record all the way back home on the train to 95th. That was about twenty years ago and I was just listening today to "Refuge of the Roads" and hit in the heart at how beautiful it is. That record was my introduction to so much and it's a beautiful piece of complex artwork.
So True this album gets better each time I listen to it ! ...
Exemplary again, love your enthusiasm, clarity and getting to the heart of things with one of my favourite albums too! Thanks for the Phoebe Snow heads-up. Love this series - thank you :)
🙏🏽for watching!!
Great Post, as usual extremely informative. I remember when this album came out. We all knew Jaco from his landmark debut. Joni is amazing and the album is Amazing and important
Great video, thanks. I'm primarily a Prog rock fan of Yes, Rush, Genesis, Floyd etc but a big Joni fan too and yes Hejira is one of the best albums of all time for me.
Paul, thanks for turning me on to a really special album that I never caught before and you really help to open my mind to many different things with jazz and the way Joni fuses her styles with Jaco and everybody else here it is just unbelievable and I definitely will listen to the whole album all the way through with headphones with the lights dimmed taking it all in. This music was from an era that people really made a point of listening to everything and taking it all in that's what is lost today. At this point in time this kind of music seems like a lost art and I hope great musicians like you keep the flame burning. Thank you so much, Bob M.
Well said. Hard to imagine people today being patient enough to sit through 2 verses. Long live Joni & Jaco. 🙏🏽for watching!
This is absolutely great! Thank you so much for clearing up the details! (I never knew there were two other great bassists on this album, it was all Jaco to me.) You really did a great job with this.
Just. Wow!
I first got this album in ‘76 a couple of days after its release. I played it incessantly and bought copies for my friends and family. I was captivated by Jaco’s bass and Joni’s music. They took me to familiar places I’d never consciously been before.
“Black Crow” and “Song for Sharon” are my favorite songs from the album, but after watching this video, I’ll definitely revisit the title track.
Thank you, Paul, for this enlightening video!
New subscriber here. 👍🏼
🙏🏽for watching and subbing, Jack!
Her 'melancholy' is pure comfort - I always tear-up when I listen to this album. Her loneliness is EPIC 💖 🇨🇦
I can’t explain exactly how much I appreciate what you do and how you do it. A big thank you! Hejira is one of my fav!
Thanks for your insight into this amazing album. Hejira is my all time favorite album. This album, and the track Refuge of the Roads in particular, was the perfect music that I played throughout my solo road trip around the country in 1978; living in the back of a station wagon and coming of age. It was the best time of my life and Joni Mitchell will always be an intregral part of that.
I used to listen to Hejira every morning after coming home from a Night Shift. I always imagined that it was the music at the end of a movie when the credits would roll.
Great channel man. I love the bass. I have hejira and jacos debut. I will definitey pull this one out and listen again with new ears after watching this....ace!
I am back again. Watching my favorite bass guy on social media...you have a incredible gift with speaking. ..your commentary is fluid and articulate and without stammer or pause.
great analisis man, thank you from Argentina. im listening Hejira right now
Wonderful! Thanks for checking it out!
Thank you for showing the excellent bass and musicianship on this Iconic Joni album. great video,very inspiring.
This is great! i just discovered this channel. Second video i saw and: wow, so good! Thx a lot for giving all that information. I love the song hejira. Have a nice time!
The lyrics on this album will never leave you once you’ve really listened. “A strange boy is weaving a course of grace and havoc on a yellow skateboard through midday sidewalk traffic.” Yikes! Put those lyrics with surpassing musicianship all around and you have the gift that is Hejira. 💜🙏
I love you for making this video.
Heijra is one of my favourite albums. Joni has great taste.
Didn’t realise how many great bassists were on this album- I thought it was all Jaco! Thanks for this!
Agreed, one of the best records ever!
A great breakdown, thank you.
I love your passion and knowledge!! Thanks
One of my favorites as well...Great video filled with many MOST welcome insights. Chucks playing on "Hotel Room" is reminiscent to me of Mingus(figure you might have something to say about that, perhaps I'm inaccurate) In case you didn't know the "friend of spirit" in "Refuge" is Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trumpa and song chronicals an encounter Joni had with him. She was catapulted into a non-duel state of consciousness and later decided that it was difficult for an artist to function from that space..
Thanks for this wonderful video. I will now hear and enjoy this album mote than before.
Paul! I’m so glad YT put this video in front of me! I really like your approach to showcasing this interplanetary music and legendary bassists. You play very well yourself. As a drummer, our relationships with bassists work as one of symbiosis, as you well know. So when I first heard Heavy Weather in high school in 1985, I latched on to Jaco’s playing within microseconds of the sound waves hitting my ears. That said, I have two favorite tracks on this record: Coyote and Hejira. The story is, in 1990 my wife and I had relocated Portland, OR. We had popped into this quirky little music shop, of which Portland has many, and I heard two things: a bass sound that was very familiar, and an amazing voice. I had never heard this music before, so I asked one of the guys working there who the artist was and who the bassist was. He tells me “it’s Joni Mitchell”, and with a sneaky grin he tells me, “It’s Jaco”. The song was Coyote, hence the favoriting, and I was hooked. I was even more impressed with Jaco’s playing on this album than I was with his playing on Heavy Weather. Later into my deeper listening, Hejira has become my absolute favorite of this album. All amazing tracks though, purely iconic. Well done! I look forward to seeing more of your work. Subscribed! - Mark Meeker
I have always said Jaco's best work ever was with Joni, as it's not a note or solo thing, it's a "how well can I complementthis piece" type thing...something about their musical union stands head and shoulders above his other work as a sideman, or even as a solo performer (first album excluded). This album, and Don Juan's Reckless Daughter...absolute magic of the rarest variety!!
@@williamlowe7718 Good point, I agree
He was very "alpha" with Weather Report. It was a totally different thing. The way he plays with her is so much more sensitive than anything else he did (mostly). It's two beautiful, COMPLETELY original voices just colliding with so much beauty and depth.
@@pdbass Beautifully put.
Love Hejira, and this is a great video. My favorite track is Refuge. Unbelievably brilliant, inventive, lyrical bass lines; the perfect complement to Joni’s plaintive vocals.
🙏🏽for watching!
Excellent analysis, articulated well. Captures the feeling one gets when listening to this brilliant album. The interplay between Joni's voice, her acoustic guitar playing and Jaco's bass playing on the tracks on side one of Don Juan's Reckless Daughter are nothing short of amazing also... Track two - “Talk to Me“ is beyond words... can't describe how it makes me feel. It's kind of like Lester Young and Billie Holiday, the way they imitated each other with vocal and saxophone. The amazing connection they had between them in their musical styles. Thank you for your insight!
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Bro you are a great story teller 🤘
I’ve been a bass player since the early ‘70s, and I stand in awe at the musicality, and technical mastery of many contemporary bassists these days. However, I really appreciate that you highlight bassists and grooves from the past that laid the foundation for the amazing players at the margins of todays music. Kudos.
Although "Amelia" was not featured because it does not have a bass, it might be one of the greatest songs Joni wrote--absolutely sublime. Fantastic video! LOVE your perspective from a bassist point of view. Max Bennet had such a cool style.
Your videos are great! Well produced, thoughtfully composed, and well played on all those basses. When you mentioned Jaco’s 16th notes, it reminded me of the Berklee Bass Dept webinar tribute to the late, great Tower Of Power bassist, Rocco Prestia. TOP bandleader Emilio Castillo was on it and said that Jaco worshipped Rocco (who was famous for his 16th notes and ghost notes) and would come to the TOP NYC gigs and sit in with the band - especially on the 16th note bass frenzy that is ‘What Is Hip?’. Jaco would take his mother to the show and she’d say to Jaco, “Why don’t you play more like him?!”. Might be a Rocco/Jaco/16th note/Joni link there! And well done to you!
No doubt! Thanks for watching!
It is a myth that Rocco Prestia was an influence on Jaco and his 16th note funk lines. Jaco started moving in that direction already in the late 60's, and had perfected that part of his playing as early as 72' while on the road with Wayne Cochran! In other words he had it together BEFORE TOP and Rocco made it big. It's also very telling that out of the couple of dozen interviews Jaco made through the years, he NEVER mentioned Rocco as an influence! He usually mentioned people like Jerry Jemmott, Duck Dunn, James Jamerson but NEVER Rocco! Not even in the modern electric bass video where he had all the time in the world to talk about his influences ;)
@@normanhirschfeld3823 - just passing on what I heard from the bandleader’s mouth, which I found interesting. I just had a glance at Wikipedia, and Rocco’s finger style is mentioned as an influence on Jaco. They were both amazing musicians!
@@bazgolin1036 I wouldn't take what Wikipedia as gospel , it was writen that Tommy Robinson is a right wing neo nazi complete lies.
A wealth of information. Thank you.
I am so grateful and appreciative that you have presented this work. You have done a masterful job of explaining the work of these great artist. I listen to this album so much over these many years that I find myself audiating the lyrics as i go about by business. And your right the more you listen the more you hear and learn. Thank you--- and thanks to Joni and these great musicians.
🙏🏽for watching!
Brilliant analysis of one of the greatest albums of all time - thanks so much!
This LP is on my quick-grab rack!!! It's that important to me!
📀💜
Thanks for diving into this! Glad 🙏 that I found your channel!