The Origin of Jaco Pastorius and His Music Revealed in Landmark Release

Fort Lauderdale, FL, U.S. -- Holiday Park Records announces the long-awaited release of a two-CD boxed set of early recordings by legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius titled Portrait of Jaco - The Early Years. Over ten years in the making and against all odds, a teenage friend of Jaco's from their early years together on the South Florida music scene has transformed his personal collection of raw, live recordings of Jaco into a comprehensive “audio biography." This exclusive early years anthology represents a work of historical significance that provides a thorough account of Jaco's development from his very beginnings as a musician all the way up through 1976, the year of his revolutionary solo debut on Epic Records. Early years friend Bob Bobbing explains, “These were Jaco's 'Garden of Eden' years in Florida when he was healthy, happy, making music and enjoying life, and you can hear that positive attitude throughout these recordings."

This revealing story is told through historically significant music, by Jaco's own spoken words, and with close friends', family members' and fellow musicians' first-hand recollections of events. Grammy-award-winning artists Pat Metheny, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, and Joni Mitchell have joined in Bobbing's efforts to produce this historical retrospective and as a tribute have not only provided some of their own classic recordings with Jaco from this very special period, but actually agreed to appear on Portrait giving exclusive spoken word interviews about their unique and magical times together, providing valuable insight into the inner-workings of their musical collaborations and relationships.

The Pastorius family has also joined forces with Bobbing to further develop and authenticate this early anthology that for the first time accurately traces the origins of Jaco's musical genius. This multimedia experience takes you all the way back to the beginning when Jaco was developing his sound, his chops, his style, and his writing skills... back to when he was brazenly ignoring all the rules and well on his way to re-defining the role of the electric bass.

A richly illustrated boxed Portrait Of Jaco comes complete with an 80-page full color booklet of exclusive photos and a seamless overview of text and liner notes that cover the entire 10 years of Jaco's development in South Florida. But the real story is in the music....

Within this amazing adventure you will hear all of Jaco's historical “Firsts" including his first experimental home recordings, his first bands, his beginnings as a soloist, his first record appearance, and most importantly his never-before-heard first original compositions. You