It's McLaughlin, not Abercrombie.
Interesting side story to these recordings. IIRC: Briefly, their rehersals went great. When they got on stage at the Havana Jam festival, Jaco turns his amp up to 12, changes key signatures and starts power-chording etc. Poor John and Tony are in shock as Jaco turns to them saying "Man, that was the SHIT, wasn't it!" Tony wanted to kill him, never having been so embarrassed onstage. And they say Tony was a really mellow dude, so that took a lot. McLaughlin refers the that show as the "Bay of Gigs." A few weeks later, in an attempt to salvage something from this group, they went into the studio where Tony gives Jaco a piece of his mind. So that's why part of this release is live, from the Havana Jam festival, and part is in the studio.
As far as Jaco recordings, unfortunately for the music world, I feel that possibly his best playing was on his eponymous debut album. Certainly for the shock value of "Holy crap, here is an entirely new way of looking at this instrument", this album is it. When his later albums came out, I remember myself saying, "Hey, I've heard that lick before" and he never really surpassed the feat of his debut. Only later did I learn of his mental and substance abuse problems, surely compounded by the yoke of being "The World's Greatest Bass Player".
For sure his other original solo albums are also worth having - I've heard a few of those bootleggy live things and they were horrid in sound quality and I think his playing wasn't the best. But hey I'm no expert.
There is a book written about him, I forget the author. I'm no book critic but I enjoyed it and it provided a great look into the life of one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.
Also, check out the recent NPR piece on his life and passing.
-Mike
