Jaco!

[poltr1]

Yet another of my musical influences.

Jaco Pastorius was an incredible musician. He is to the fretless bass guitar what Jimi Hendrix was to the guitar. He made the bass sing and growl and do previously unheard-of things, like harmonics.

I first heard of Jaco from Paul Iorio and Dave Limina, two of my musical friends from high school. Paul was a bass player; Dave a piano/organ player. Jaco was Paul's idol; Paul even bought himself a fretless bass to sound and play like Jaco. And they both liked jazz and were in the school's jazz ensemble. They played recordings of Jaco's works for me, from Weather Report to Joni Mitchell.

Paul, Dave, and I were the "Khazzmhyck Brothers". We did really strange things in the band room studio, like hook up an oscilloscope to a Barbra Streisand record. Some of the notes she sang were pure sine-wave -- no harmonics or overtones.

After I graduated, we all went our separate ways. Dave is now a professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Paul simply vanished.

As for Jaco.....sadly, he had problems with alcohol and drugs, and was beginning to show signs of manic depression (now called bipolar disorder).
He was badly beaten outside a club in Ft. Lauderdale in 1987 by the club's bouncer, suffered brain damage, and died four days later. The music world lost a legend that day. But his legacy lives on, as he has influenced scores of musicians.

Here's the Wikipedia article on Jaco.

Comments

[yourmommma.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I'm in awe of your knowledge and just plain cool when it comes to music. In that way, you remind me a great deal of my ex-husband who was an absolute marvel of knowing what was cool and what was complex and what was worthwhile listening to. He turned me on to so much music in the late 70s and early 80s that back then NOBODY knew about or listened to and now they are the groups that everyone is "oh yeah, I like them a lot--NOW."

What sucks big time is how many people of great creativity give way to mental illnesses -- often being swept off into their brain storms just at the peak of their artistry. :(

[poltr1]

Thank you!

Chalk it up to an insatiable curiosity, a voracious appetite for knowledge, and a vast collection of reference material. I'm really not trying to be a know-it-all, because I *don't* know it all. And I never will.

What I find saddening is that there are very few people in the circles I hang in that either know what I'm talking about, or have an interest in what I'm saying. It's like they've built little boxes or walls around themselves, whereas I've knocked down those walls for myself. And when I decompartmentalize myself, and people see all of me, those folks aren't interested in seeing the other facets of me; they only want to stick with the facet of me that they have in common with me.

[min0taur.livejournal.com]

Jaco is one of my bass heroes. First heard him on Joni Mitchell's "Hejira" (1976) just before he joined Weather Report (also a perennial with me), and I think what struck me most about his playing is that it combined two factors I already admired: the lightspeed inventiveness of Chris Squire (early Yes) and Stanley Clarke (Return to Forever) with the substance and versatility of Danny Thompson (double-bass player for Pentangle, recently touring with Richard Thompson, with whom he plays as if they were kin, though they're not). I think listening to Jaco has led me to other jazz/fusion treasures as well (Pat Metheny, Michael Manring, Victor Wooten with Bela Fleck). What initially caught my ear was his speed and virtuosity; what keeps me listening is his lyricism.

[poltr1]

Hey! Great to hear from another jazz-influenced filker! Not many of us around.

The Jaco recordings that stand out for me are Weather Report's "Heavy Weather" (especially "Birdland") and Joni Mitchell's "Mingus".

I also love listening to Pat Metheny, especially on long drives. Unfortunately, the only airplay he seems to get around here is on the Weather Channel.

Speaking of Stanley Clarke, did you know he and George Duke used to play in Frank Zappa's band?