[purchase]
Charlie/Charles Mingus' Goodbye Pork Pie Hat is a song that I have listened to again and again since way back when, including such versions as Joni Mitchell's, from her Mingus album (see below). Unintentionally, it seems to segue well with Ramone666's immediately previous post.
Among those things I consider myself lucky to have been there for is a Jeff Beck concert in Philly (must have been the Main Line in '72, but it was so long ago ...). Amazing guitar. Beck's "Wired" is probably my favorite of his works (from whence his original version and the purchase link above comes). It dates to the same era as a similarly guitar-predominant work that I also hold dear and for some reason associate with this same era: Robin Trower's "Bridge of Sighs". Both include that same "sigh" - the lingering, well-timed pause of the guitar note before the guitarist moves on to the next. That wait is part of their personal/professional interpretation of a song: the timing that makes it their own.
Pork Pie Hat is so loosely structured that it really takes someone so confident and experienced as Jeff Beck or Joni Mitchell to bring it off. This live version of Pork Pie Hat appears to include Jaco Pastorius (not sure, really) ... I would have wished to give you the "Wired" version, but the belt on my turntable has - alas - finally given out and my only copy on hand is this live version from somewhere or other. The purchase link *is* to the Wired version, however.
