美国国家公共电台 NPR In A Lost Concert, Jaco Pastorius Sounded The Rhythm Of The City

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Jaco Pastorius was one of the most inventive bass¹ players, probably best known for his work with the jazz fusion² band Weather Report and Joni Mitchell and Pat Metheny. He is the only electric bass player in DownBeat magazine's Jazz Hall of Fame. But like many musical geniuses, alcohol and drugs took a toll³. Jaco Pastorius was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder⁴ and ended up living on the streets. Jaco Pastorius died in 1987 after a violent encounter with a bouncer in a Miami nightclub.

But new generations still discover his music. And to add to that legacy⁵ is now a 1982 recording⁶ at New York's Avery Fisher Hall for National Public Radio's Jazz Alive! It has been remastered for Resonance⁷ Records, "Jaco Pastorius: Truth, Liberty & Soul."

(SOUNDBITE OF JACO PASTORIUS' "REZA: GIANT STEPS")

SIMON: The original recording engineer on that recording was Paul Blakemore, who then worked for NPR. He's now a Grammy award-winning engineer. He has remixed the 24-track tapes. And he joins us now from the studios of WCPN in Cleveland. Paul, welcome back, OK. Thanks for being with us.

PAUL BLAKEMORE: Thank you very much. I'm thrilled to be here.

SIMON: And why remix this?

BLAKEMORE: When we originally did the recording the recording itself was quite good. When we mixed it we had to use considerably⁸ lesser⁹ equipment at a little studio in downtown Washington. And we were never able to really get everything off the original tapes.

And so for decades I was really disappointed with the original mixes that were done for the Jazz Alive! series. And so Resonance Records located the tapes - I had originally thought that they had been lost. And so to have the opportunity to revisit these tapes was - I mean, I considered it an incredible blessing¹⁰ because these performances are so good.

(SOUNDBITE OF JACO PASTORIUS' "SOUL INTRO/THE CHICKEN")

SIMON: Take us back to that night at Avery Fisher Hall, June in 1982. What was it like? Who was there?

(SOUNDBITE OF JACO PASTORIUS' "SOUL INTRO/THE CHICKEN")

BLAKEMORE: It was a sold-out house, as I recall. It was part of the Kool Jazz Festival. And it was unbelievably exciting both for the audience, who were all major Jaco fans, and for me. It was unbelievably exciting because I was 28 years old, and I really admired all these musicians...

(SOUNDBITE OF JACO PASTORIUS' "SOUL INTRO/THE CHICKEN")

BLAKEMORE: ...All these great New York players that made up the band. And plus, I had been an acquaintance of Jaco from back in the 1970s. And so to have the opportunity to record him with all these incredible musicians I was - I was thrilled out of my mind.

SIMON: Let's listen to a track where we get an idea of that enormous full-blown sound. And this is a Jaco Pastorius composition. It's called "The Chicken."

(SOUNDBITE OF JACO PASTORIUS' "THE CHICKEN")

BLAKEMORE: The players, as you can hear in the music performances, we're having a really grand old time. And they were not standing¹¹ like good choirboys...

SIMON: (Laughter)

BLAKEMORE: ...And concentrating on, you know, playing right into their microphones. They were moving around and giving a great performance. And so sometimes things would go on and off mic. And with the equipment that we had to mix it originally, it was difficult - if not impossible - to fix those little balance problems when people moved on and off mic, whereas in a digital set up, I was able to go track by track and fix volume discrepancies¹² so that all the players are audible all the time. And then you can really hear what's going on in the musical texture¹³.

(SOUNDBITE OF JACO PASTORIUS' "LIBERTY CITY")

SIMON: What's it like for you to listen to this music now?

BLAKEMORE: It takes me back. Even after this was recorded and I was in New York, you know, for several days recordings¹⁴ these other concerts, I would walk around the city with - I don't know if you remember, back in those days cassette tapes were the transportable music form.

SIMON: (Laughter) Yes, I remember cassette tapes, thank you...

BLAKEMORE: Yes, I had cassette tapes of the whole concert that we had recorded in the truck. And I had a Sony Walkman with a set of headphones, and I would walk around New York and just listen to this music and look at the city.

This music is so New York - the cacophony¹⁵ and the rhythm, the dramatic counterpoint of the city. You know, it's great, great music. And it sounds as fresh to me today as it did in 1982.

SIMON: Paul Blakemore, he was the engineer in this 1982 NPR recording which has now been remixed for the new album, "Jaco Pastorius: Truth Liberty & Soul." He joined us from Cleveland. Thanks very much, Paul.

BLAKEMORE: Thank you, Scott. It was a great pleasure.

1 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

2 fusion   

n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc. 黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• This alloy is formed by the fusion of two types of metal.这种合金是用两种金属熔合而成的。

3 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

4 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

5 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 resonance   

n.洪亮；共鸣；共振

参考例句：

• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
• The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。

8 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

9 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

10 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

11 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

12 discrepancies   

n.差异，不符合（之处），不一致（之处）( discrepancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• wide discrepancies in prices quoted for the work 这项工作的报价出入很大
• When both versions of the story were collated,major discrepancies were found. 在将这个故事的两个版本对照后，找出了主要的不符之处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

14 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

15 cacophony   

n.刺耳的声音

参考例句：

• All around was bubbling a cacophony of voices.周围人声嘈杂。
• The drivers behind him honked,and the cacophony grew louder.后面的司机还在按喇叭，且那刺耳的声音越来越大。