1.  Drum Improvisation 
2.  Dark Prince 
3.  Continuum 
4.  Para Oriente 
5.  Are You The One, Are You The One? 
6.  Dark Prince 
7.  Continuum 
8.  Para Oriente 
9.  Para Oriente 
10. Para Oriente 

John McLaughlin - Guitars
Jaco Pastorius - Bass Guitars
Tony Williams - Drums / Percussion 

Jaco and I went back a long time. The first time I met him I was rehearsing with the last edition of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, which was with Narada Michael Walden, Ralphe Armstrong and Stu Goldberg on keyboards. We were at S.I.R. studios in New York and at some point the rehearsal room door swings open and in walks Jaco. Now, I didn't know Jaco from Adam and he said, "Hey man, let's jam!" You know Jaco...walk right in, move in, take over. And I said, "Oh yeah' What do you play'" And he said, "I play bass." So I said, "Oh, OK, let's jam." And he was unbelievable. But before we started jamming he said, "Hey man, can you lend me $20. I got a flat tire driving in from Florida. My car's parked outside... I got a flat." And it took him like 17 years to pay back the $20, not that I wanted it back. But it was very sweet. I used to tease him about it all the time. But he came in that day and he was playing unbelievable. I mean, if I didn't have Ralphe at the time...Ralphe was and still is a great bass player. So I told Jaco, "I got a great bass player, man." But I called Tony Williams that night and said, "Tony, you gotta hear this kid play. He's unbelievable." Next thing I knew...it must've been a couple of months later, I know he did some gigs with Tony. Tony did call him to play but nothing much came of it because shortly after that Jaco got hooked up with Wayne (Shorter) and Joe (Zawinul). So he moved in and took over Weather Report, as you remember. But actually, he did a good job because he did a lot of renewal feelings in that he brought this modern kind of sound and tone into the band. I mean, he brought the Jaco sound, and that was wonderful. And that was great what happened to Weather Report. At that time too, the edition of Weather Report with Jaco and Alex Acuna and Manolo Badrena toured with Shakti. And it was a great combination for a tour. We did a lot of tours together but what was amazing was every night we'd be playing and the Weather Report guys would be at the side of the stage digging it, and then on their set we'd be at the side of the stage, because they were killing! This must've been '76-'77. That was amazing. And then we'd jam too, every now and then. I remember one great jam we had in London at the Hammersmith Odeon. I have some great memories of Jaco and I have a great picture at home too of Joe, Jaco and me on the beach of Havana. Remember the Bay of Gigs. Do you know that story about him and Tony and me?

Yes indeed, the Trio of Doom. That trio was unbelievable. It was amazing. When they were on it was unbelievable to play with those guys. Anyway, rehearsals were phenomenal. We had only three tunes that we were going to play (at the historic Havana Jam in Cuba). So we went down to Havana and we had a tune each. We started off with my tune, "The Dark Prince", which was a kind of blues in C minor with some altered changes. But the thing is, Jaco altered everything. He turned his amp up to 11 and started to play A major, which is like a little far away from C minor ... and unbelievably loud! So we start to play the tune, Tony's looking at me, I'm looking at Tony and it's like, "What the fuck", and in the meantime Jaco's upfront with the bass between his legs, doing his thing ... it was almost like Jimi Hendrix. And the whole set went like that. When we finished the set, I was so angry at Jaco. Tony too. And we walked off stage and Tony was already up and running to the bathroom ... he was about to throw up. Anyway, Jaco came down and said, "Oh, man, you bad mother!" and I said, "What! You have the nerve to speak to me after this travesty on stage. I don't even want to see your face, I don't want to hear you, I don't want to see you." And it all came out, and in about 15 minutes later it was fine. But Tony couldn't get it out, right, and it was such a farce. Anyway, CBS called me about two weeks later and said, "So, we're going to put it out." And I said, "You're going to put what out' You're not going to put that out. You put it out over my dead body. That's terrible." So they asked if we wanted to re-record it over at Columbia Studios on 52nd Street. So we all went into the great CBS Studio on 52nd Street where we did all those great things with Miles - In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew and all of that. So we start re-recording the tunes and in the meantime, Tony's not looking at Jaco. I mean, forget about speaking, he's not even looking at him. And Jaco's already very nervous. So we start playing and we did my tune again. So we do one take and we go in the control room to listen back and Jaco says, "Well, I think we can do it better." And all of a sudden Tony jumps in front of Jaco and says, "Better' Better, motherfucker'!!" He pushed Jaco up against the wall. I had never seen Tony angry but that was like a little volcano action, man, I tell you. And Jaco's like ... "Hey man, I'm sorry, man, I'm sorry." Tony didn't hit 'em or anything, but when Tony got mad you just get out of the way. He had Jaco up against the wall and Jaco was like apologizing profusely. He knew he fucked up bigtime. So after 10 minutes of Tony blasting him with both barrels, Tony went into the studio and destroyed his drumkit. And I said, "You gotta record with this!" He destroyed his kit and walked out of the studio and that was it. What a shame. But hey, who's perfect in this world? But I told Jaco off right away back in Havana. I got rid of all the rats and snakes right off the stage, but Tony had it balling up, stewing around there for a while for he finally exploded. He always had difficulty with getting it right out. So yeah ... Jaco was crazy, but what a player! He was too much. Boy I miss him. I miss Tony too. What a tragedy.

Ingrid 
Jun 16th, 2006 - 9:59 AM   Re: Trio Of Doom 

I was present at the rehearsals, John, Tony, and Jaco ripped! 
It was beautiful and memorable. I didn't go to Cuba with them, 
but heard that too many "mojitos" got in the way of performing
...alas...GBJ  

Ingrid 
Jun 20th, 2006 - 5:11 PM   Re: Trio Of Doom 

Hello John! 

I remember being at the studio while they were rehearsing, the 
first time they got together. Do not know whether it was recorded 
at that time, sure would have been the smart thing to have done. 

What happened in Cuba, and in the studio thereafter I know nothing 
about first hand. Jaco didn't come home telling me about what had 
happened. 

From what John is quoted as saying, only his tune was recorded in 
one take at a studio session after the show, so perhaps we are about 
to hear the rehearsals?  

Jeroen 
Sep 28th, 2006 - 2:19 PM   Re: Trio Of Doom 

Hi Ingrid and friends,

The plot thickens, last month I spoke to a well known Cuban musician 
who also played during Havana Jam. Of course I asked him about what 
happened on stage during the performance of Trio of Doom. I expected 
to get stories about Jaco's behavior in stead he told me that the Tony 
Williams actually was the spark that ignited the fire! He continued 
rambling about Tony's reputation, which I shall not repeat here because 
of the abundance of dirty words. Bottom line: according to him Tony 
trashed the concert, not Jaco.

Of course I don't have the facts, but it IS an interesting perspective....

Jeroen