John Francis "Jaco" Pastorius III was an American jazz bassist, composer, and producer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential bassists of all time, Pastorius recorded albums as a solo artist, band leader, and as a member of the jazz fusion group Weather Report from 1976 to 1981. He also collaborated with numerous artists, including Pat Metheny and Joni Mitchell.
Patrick Bruce Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.
The Pat Metheny Group was an American jazz band founded in 1977 by guitarist and composer Pat Metheny, along with his core collaborating member, keyboardist and composer Lyle Mays. Other long-standing members included bassist and producer Steve Rodby, from 1981 to 2010, and drummer Paul Wertico, from 1983 to 2001, after which Antonio Sanchez became the percussionist from 2002 to 2010. Vocalist Pedro Aznar was also a long-time member, performing with the group from 1984 to 1993. In addition to a core quartet, the group was often joined by a variety of other instrumentalists expanding the size to six or eight musicians.
Charles "Don" Alias was an American jazz percussionist.
Michael Leonard Brecker, nicknamed Dr. Sax, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as a performer and composer, received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in 2004, and was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 2007.
Silje Nergaard is a Norwegian jazz vocalist and songwriter. She is one of the best-selling jazz artists on the official sales chart in Norway. She became known worldwide after the release of the international bestseller Tell Me Where You're Going featuring Pat Metheny on guitar.
Paul Bley, CM was a Canadian jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live performance on the Moog and ARP synthesizers. His music has been described by Ben Ratliff of the New York Times as "deeply original and aesthetically aggressive". Bley's prolific output includes influential recordings from the 1950s through to his solo piano recordings of the 2000s.
Portrait of Jaco: The Early Years, 1968–1978 is a compilation of recordings made by Jaco Pastorius between 1968 and 1978. It was released in 2003 by Holiday Park Records.
"Donna Lee" is a jazz standard tune attributed to Charlie Parker, although Miles Davis has also claimed authorship. Written in A-flat, it is based on the chord changes of the jazz standard "(Back Home Again in) Indiana". Beginning with an unusual half-bar rest, "Donna Lee" is a very complex, fast-moving chart with a compositional style based on four-note groups over each change.
Shadows and Light is the second live album by Canadian musician Joni Mitchell. It was released in September 1980 through Asylum Records, her last release for the label. It was recorded in September 1979 at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, California.
David W. Bargeron is an American trombonist and tuba player who was a member of the jazz-rock group Blood, Sweat & Tears.
Bright Size Life is the debut album by Pat Metheny, recorded in December 1975 and released on ECM March the following year. The trio features rhythm section Jaco Pastorius and Bob Moses.
Pat Metheny Group is the debut album by the Pat Metheny Group, recorded in January 1978 and released on ECM in March that same year. The quartet features rhythm section Lyle Mays, Mark Egan, and Danny Gottlieb.
Richard Bona is a Cameroon-born American multi-instrumentalist and singer.
Pedro Aznar is an Argentine musician and singer-songwriter. He has a musical experience in jazz, Argentine folk and rock music and has a successful career as a solo artist. He is well known for giving rock songs a jazz-oriented style, by playing the fretless bass, with a big influence from Jaco Pastorius.
Hiram Law Bullock was an American guitarist known mainly for playing in jazz funk and jazz fusion, but he also worked as a session musician in a variety of genres.
Bruce Ditmas is an American jazz drummer and percussionist.
In the 1970s in jazz, jazz became increasingly influenced by Latin jazz, combining rhythms from African and Latin American countries, often played on instruments such as conga, timbale, güiro, and claves, with jazz and classical harmonies played on typical jazz instruments. Artists such as Chick Corea, John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola increasingly influenced the genre with jazz fusion, a hybrid form of jazz-rock fusion which was developed by combining jazz improvisation with rock rhythms, electric instruments, and the highly amplified stage sound of rock musicians such as Jimi Hendrix. All Music Guide states that "..until around 1967, the worlds of jazz and rock were nearly completely separate." However, "...as rock became more creative and its musicianship improved, and as some in the jazz world became bored with hard bop and did not want to play strictly avant-garde music, the two different idioms began to trade ideas and occasionally combine forces." On June 16, 1972 the New York Jazz Museum opened in New York City at 125 West 55th Street in a one and one-half story building. It became the most important institution for jazz in the world with a 25,000 item archive, free concerts, exhibits, film programs, etc.
Dreams So Real: Music of Carla Bley is an album by the Gary Burton Quintet, featuring compositions by Carla Bley, recorded in December 1975 and released on ECM the following year. The quintet features guitarists Mick Goodrick and Pat Metheny and rhythm section Steve Swallow and Bob Moses.
Mistérios is an album by American jazz trumpeter Wallace Roney, recorded in 1994 and released on the Warner Bros. label.
