As modern-day bass behemoth Christian McBride once quipped: “There's bass before Jaco, and after Jaco…” and for many low-enders, getting ‘over’ that Jaco copyist stage is a summit they have to climb. However, Biréli Lagrène is a special case. An internationally renowned guitar virtuoso, a child prodigy raised in the gypsy jazz tradition of Django Reinhardt, as a 19-year-old he toured with Pastorious in 1986 on a series of frantic European dates the year before Jaco died aged just 36.

This first-hand knowledge of the bassist's personality – and more importantly, his extraordinary charisma and effervescent ‘vibe’ – imbues every facet of Lagrène's astonishingly accurate evocation of Jaco's tone, touch and iconic fretless bass vocabulary. That's right, he's an incredible bass player too.

So much so, that he flawlessly executes those percolating 16th- note funk basslines, singing solo lines, and those adrenalin-fuelled full-band unison sections with a real depth of understanding and nuance few other bassists achieve. As for the other star of the show, Jaco's enduring and uplifting compositions, the Multiquarium Big Band makes them positively sparkle, with a buoyant, joyful bounce. With such solid core ingredients, few liberties are taken with favourites ‘Used To Be A Cha Cha’, ‘Kuru/Speak Like A Child’ and ‘Continuum’, although some cheeky splicing of ‘Liberty City’ into Jaco's fast-and-furious take on ‘Invitation’ is a nice touch as is the mid-tune switch from the super-slinky funk of ‘Barbary Coast’ to the far more frenetic finger-picking of ‘Come On, Come Over’. The ultimate seal of approval for this project comes from Jaco's former Weather Report bandmate, Peter Erskine, whose mellifluous voice floats over a series of interludes, telling of his own experiences of playing with Jaco. These dreamy evocations offer a softer, emotional side to this fireworks- packed album, which reminds us, while the great bassist's life was cut cruelly short, his music and spirit more than live on in the hands and heart of Biréli Lagréne.