This straight-ahead trio date led by drummer Brian Melvin is most notable for being electric bassist Jaco Pastorius' final recording, cut just a year before his premature death. With Melvin and pianist Jon Davis (whose style is most influenced by McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock), Pastorius was free to be very active in accompanying the piano solos, and he gets to stretch out on nearly every tune. Those listeners who stereotype Pastorius as a fusion-rock bassist will be surprised by the song titles, which include "Days of Wine and Roses," "So What," "If You Could See Me Now," "Tokyo Blues," and "Village Blues." The recording is consistently stimulating and serves as a strong final musical chapter for the great Jaco Pastorius.

This live CD captured a quite strong performance by the Dregs. You'll get straight rock and roll, country, fusion,some blues, and more… all performed incredibly tight by the band. In my opinion, The Dregs were one of the best ensembles out there, specially Guitar virtuoso Steve Morse, who can play any style in top form. He masters the instrument in an awesome way; even Steve Howe of Yes has expressed his admiration for his wide vocabulary, technique and feeling. Highly recommended.

Their best up to this point. I'm Freaking Out is the top composition they ever did. New keyboardist T Lavitz really shines on that one, as well as Morgenstein. The Great Spectacular is a re-recording of a song from their pre-label release of the same name, and it features one of Morse's best solos ever laid to wax. Both of the Dregs album standards, the classical piece and the country tune have strong representatives on here as well. They thought enough of Road Expense to open their first live album years later. Not a down track on here.

Tragic genius who reinvented the electric bass guitar, playing complex, long lines and amazing solos at remarkable speeds.
Jaco Pastorius was a meteor who blazed on to the scene in the 1970s, only to flame out tragically in the 1980s. With a brilliantly fleet technique and fertile melodic imagination, Pastorius made his fretless electric bass leap out from the depths of the rhythm section into the front line with fluid machine-gun-like passages that demanded attention. He also sported a strutting, dancing, flamboyant performing style and posed a further triple-threat as a talented composer, arranger and producer. He and Stanley Clarke were the towering influences on their instrument in the 1970s…