The dam broke for electric bass innovator Jaco Pastorius in 1976. That was the year he appeared on Pat Metheny’s Bright Size Life, Joni Mitchell’s Hejira, Weather Report’s Black Market, as well as his own eponymous debut—a record that features some of the finest playing and composing of the era. Jaco Pastorius not only rewrote the rules for his instrument, it allowed his sound to resonate across genres, and earned Pastorius a reputation for being a charismatic rock-star-like figure onstage. Not bad for a guy who was still in his mid-twenties. Don’t mind the whiplash of Jaco Pastorius going from a ripping bass/conga duet on Charlie Parker’s bebop classic “Donna Lee” to what might at first seem like a throwaway R&B number with Sam & Dave on vocals (“Come On, Come Over”). The latter track, on closer inspection, is a fine précis of Pastorius’ unique funk vernacular on the fretless bass, as well as a glimpse of his close partnership with Herbie Hancock, who lights up this album like a Christmas tree (the two would soon play together on Joni Mitchell’s Mingus). Among those assisting on Jaco Pastorius are the great Wayne Shorter; percussionist Don Alias; drummer Lenny White; flutist Hubert Laws; and steel drummer Othello Molineaux, whose chops on that rare jazz instrument set Pastorius’ music apart from other fusion fare of the time. The album includes two of Pastorius’ most enduring melodies: “Continuum” and the unaccompanied bass feature “Portrait of Tracy”. The jaw-dropping virtuosity of his solo on “(Used to Be a) Cha-Cha”, meanwhile, has had an influence on generations of electric bassists that cannot be overstated. Elsewhere on Jaco Pastorius, Peter Gordon’s French horn on “Okonkole y Trompa” and the Michael Gibbs string arrangement on Hancock’s “Speak Like a Child”—which is conjoined with the original “Kuru”—give a hint of the larger ensemble sounds Pastorius would explore in the early 1980s with his Word of Mouth big band.