Impulse purchases: Oren Ambarchi Jazz (Fusion) Baker's Dozen | Page 6 of 14 | The Quietus

Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

5. Jaco PastoriusWord Of Mouth

The Metheny record has Naná Vasconcelos on it, the Brazilian percussionist, and he’s the wild card on this record that really takes it into a strange place. I think in general, Brazilian music has a lot of strangeness, you know, a lot of weirdness that I love. He was driving it with Brazilian rhythms, but there was something very odd about it as well, something a little unsettling or a little humorous. His contribution to those Metheny records was a big influence on my new record too.

This Jaco record, Word of Mouth was a huge record for me when I was growing up, but I think this record is really, really under acknowledged for the experimentation on it. A lot of it is the production. I mean, he was a genius. But he wasn’t afraid to have a harmonica player and a steel drum player and a dog barking and birds in a birdcage, and all these things mixing together on a jazz record, it was very, very unusual and forward thinking.

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