JACO PASTORIUS MUSIC
My interest with Jaco's music started with his first record in 1976. But it wasn't until my former students, bassist Timo Hirvonen and drummer Jussi Lehtonen, put together a project in 2004 that I actually got to play the music. Fredrik Noren of the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra soon got interested and comissioned me to write charts to complement the few surviving Jaco originals to make up a whole evening's program. We did concerts in 2005 and 2006 in Sweden to enthusiastic audiences.
On May 8th 2008, I lead the Finnish UMO orchestra through a concert of Jaco Pastorius music featuring the amazing Timo Hirvonen. Besides the original Jaco arrangements such as "Three views of a secret" and "Liberty City", I had arranged six Jaco tunes and also played piano. Guest drummer Jussi Lehtonen had also contributed one arrangement for the concert that took place at concert hall Kanneltalo in Kannelmäki, Helsinki. UMO played beautifully, guest lead trumpeter Jan Kohlin shined and so did the soloists in the band. We had great fun, hope to do it again in the future!