John Francis Anthony “Jaco” Pastorius III was a bassist, composer and producer. He was known for his work with Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Weather Report, and Joni Mitchell among others. I wrote John Francis shortly after his death when he was 35. We were devastated by his passing and the circumstances that led to

John Francis Anthony “Jaco” Pastorius III was a bassist, composer and producer. He was known for his work with Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Weather Report, and Joni Mitchell among others. I wrote John Francis shortly after his death when he was 35. We were devastated by his passing and the circumstances that led to it. It was one of those songs that flows out of you. I asked myself, did I create this, or was I a conduit? Reviving it recently and bringing his memory back is a token of our love for Jaco, for what he brought to us during his brief life.

Joy Brooks - Vocals

Fredrick Brooks - Acoustic Guitar

Chris Pezzarello - Drums

Charles James - Bass

Christine Bougie - Electric Guitars

Robbie Grunwald - Keyboards

Produced and Mixed by Robbie Grunwald

Written by Fredrick Brooks

Mastered by Justin Gray

Cover art - Mal Bray mixed media based on Chris Hakkens photo (no downloading, republication, retransmission, reproduction, and all other uses of the licensed image as a standalone file).

John Francis

There could be a chance

For you had the fire

From Des Moines to pork pie hat

The weather was fine

Trashed on the blues

Or manicked by life

I reach out

Only to cry

And where does the wind blow

The baddest of all

Silenced – empty

Divided by loss

For laughter is seldom

On this tired road

Hear me now

On you I’ll call

For laughter is seldom

On this tired road

Hear me now

Jaco’s called home

©Fredrick Brooks

After watching interviews with spouses of career military members, one interview inspired me to write the songElijah, about the partner of a soldier. Each night, after the children went to bed, she left a light on above the back porch. She spoke to her husband through this light while he was away on his third tour of duty, expressing her hope for

After watching interviews with spouses of career military members, one interview inspired me to write the song Elijah, about the partner of a soldier. Each night, after the children went to bed, she left a light on above the back porch. She spoke to her husband through this light while he was away on his third tour of duty, expressing her hope for his safety. The home front is often as hard to bear as the war front, as revealed in the chorus: “We are the broken hearts of peace."

Like so many of us who’ve been watching the tragedy in Ukraine, I felt hopeless, ‘How could I help’ - so I listened to everyday Ukrainians that were interviewed, and I decided to write this song with their conversations in mind. One conversation that hit hard was with a 90 year old woman who said, “It was in the silence, the waiting, the calm

Like so many of us who’ve been watching the tragedy in Ukraine, I felt hopeless, ‘How could I help’ - so I listened to everyday Ukrainians that were interviewed, and I decided to write this song with their conversations in mind. One conversation that hit hard was with a 90 year old woman who said, “It was in the silence, the waiting, the calm before the chaos I couldn’t stand.” That would become the genesis of this song. At the end I choose the first section of the Ukrainian national anthem and played them on bells with some intentional dissonance. We recorded In The Silence in our little home studio.