Barely a year passes without another, often worthwhile, appreciation or tribute appearing to the intense musical genius that was bassist and composer Jaco Pastorius. Hence Anthology – The Warner Bros Years coincides nicely with the release of Jaco, Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo's all-star documentary on the bassist that was released last November. Pastorius' untimely death at just 35 on 21 September 1987 left a somewhat unfinished legacy as a solo artist – his status as star sideman with Joni Mitchell, and as a pivotal member of Weather Report, fares much better in hindsight – thus Anthology reflects his sometimes erratic output. Compiled from his second studio album, Word Of Mouth and two live albums, The Birthday Concert and Invitation, there's plenty to enjoy here with one slight caveat. If you're already familiar with the wonderful compositional flow of WOM then the re-ordering of the tracks here seems a little pointless. An example of this on the original album is the dramatic juxtaposition of the mellifluous orchestral take on The Beatles' ‘Blackbird’ that crashes into the churning crunch of the Hendrix style ‘Word Of Mouth’ title tune in a brilliant bi-polar sonic self-portrait. Here ‘Blackbird’ runs into Bach's ‘Chromatic Fantasy’ and then into the distortion wig out, all because the version of the linking piece, ‘Liberty City’, appears later from the first of the two live albums. For all that the remastered version of The Birthday Concert is still a joy to behold – both in its highlights on Anthology and on its separate reissue as part of the 1000 Yen series – as the band mark Jaco's 30th year in aptly effusive style. Their adrenalised take on ‘Invitation’ still takes some beating with Brecker and Mintzer going hell for leather over Pastorius' extraordinary bass line. With a previously unreleased live take on ‘Donna Lee’ as a bonus, and a couple of late period studio cuts with Airto Moreira and Mike Stern, the Anthology is good value, but The Birthday Concert is pure unadulterated Pastorius at his passionate best.