the jaco pastorius thread

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maskedman72

Member
does anyone got any jaco stories? i know some people in south fla that knew him and jammed with him and the said he would walk into a bar and just grab beers right from peoples hands and slam them and he would climb high into trees and wouldnt come down.
one night my uncle was driving down the road late and he saw what looked like a homeless barefoot guy walking down the road and when he got closer he realized it was jaco so he picked him up and he was drunk and he ended up puking in the car.

does anyone know what the fate of jackos "holiday for pans"album has become????????????

jacko is god.
 
Man, I don't like stories like that... I sat down with Toots one night and he told me a whole bunch of those stories, and told me it was really sad. Such a genius, but with a strange twist in his head made him completely crazy. Toots told me a bunch of 'good' stories too, that they sat down and they both learned a lot from each other, that Jaco called him at night to play tunes through the phone,... remember *those* stories.

There's one from the book: Jaco goes out to check out some band (wasn't it Cochran ?) and at the end of the show the bandleader asks him if he wants to audition next week 'cause they needed a new bass player.
So at the audition, the guy gives out scores of tunes they played and Jaco nails them down. He guys' impressed and gives him a new score, something he'd written the day before. "Sorry", says Jaco, "I don't read notes" .........



Herwig
 
...Yup, the guy was a genius.

Did you see the story about him riding into a hotel lobby on a bike, and passing out - with a squid under his shirt...
 
MY JACO STORY..........

I USED TO GIG FULL TIME.......

once upon a time, around 1982, i think, at a club in deerfield beach, florida, i was playing a top 40 gig, and this bum off the street wandered in the club..... i say bum because, he was wearing hole-y jeans, no shoes, and a pancho. and his hair was braided funny, and he looked demented.
but he came in, and stood at the edge of the stage, in front of each of the band members one at a time, and stared at them.
when he got to me, i just smiled and played as good as i could, and this guy stood there for the longest time, and it finally started to creep me out.
at the same time, i thought i recognized him, and couldn't imagine from where.
he watched our bass player for a long time........... we had a killer bass player, and he played a nice Alembic, and this seemed to really peak the interest of this bum........
so by now, i'm staring at the guy, sensing that he is in fact, not a bum, but probably a player....

so we finish the set, and the bum comes to me and says "hey, really like your playing. my name's Jaco."

i was stunned.
it dawned on me, that this was jaco pastorius, and that's why i recognized him, cuz i had his entire catalog in my cassette bag.........
i said " i thought i recognized you, i'm a big fan, let me buy you a drink!"

so we saunter off to the side bar, by ourselves, i order 2 rum and cokes, and he proceeds to tell me about his latest project........

"yeah, i just finished this album that's going to turn the jazz world on it's fuckin' ear. It's called "Word of Mouth""....................

then he tells me about his wonderful latest new toy, a prophet 5 synthesizer (one of which my band just happened to have), and how he was all into trying to program new unheard sounds into it, and i guess we talked for the entire break (30 minutes.......)
after which, i invited him to sit in with the band, to play bass, but he said, "no, i don't care about the bass right now, but i'd love to play your prophet"......
which, of course, the keyboardist said "sure", and we let the club owner know we had a guest, and he promptly told us he wasn't paying us to jam, so we played Loverboy's "Turn me loose" with Jaco Pastorius on keys.
 
gonzo, that is fucking great!!!!!!!!! that must have been a hell of a feeling being on stage with a legend.

herwig, yes it is sad about the things that jaco used to do and all of the stories i have heard are mostly ones where he wasnt in his right mind. i would love to hear good stories.

still what about the holiday for pans tapes? will those ever get put out or are they still in limbo and forgot about? there was talk of a film about jacos life too. there should be,in my opinon, more about jaco. like a behind the music type of thing or something.

although there are some great bassists today(wooten) i dont think anyone is at jacos level even to this day(this is my opinon).
he was so ahead of his time with everything. but dam is wooten a god or what?????? i like jacos playing in songs like barbary coast and come on ,come over. the busy, funk pocket playing. on all of the things he has recorded what else is in that style? i havent head the joni mitchell stuff or the album he did with pat metheny.


ps-does anyone know where i could get a copy of the cbs all stars lp with alfonso on bass????

-jay
 
Re: MY JACO STORY..........

GONZO-X said:
so we finish the set, and the bum comes to me and says "hey, really like your playing. my name's Jaco."

Wow!! Jaco says he really likes your playing. That is one hell of a compliment!!

"yeah, i just finished this album that's going to turn the jazz world on it's fuckin' ear. It's called "Word of Mouth""....................

And that album is one of the greatest ever made, IMHO.

then he tells me about his wonderful latest new toy, a prophet 5 synthesizer (one of which my band just happened to have), and how he was all into trying to program new unheard sounds into it, and i guess we talked for the entire break (30 minutes.......)
after which, i invited him to sit in with the band, to play bass, but he said, "no, i don't care about the bass right now, but i'd love to play your prophet"......
which, of course, the keyboardist said "sure", and we let the club owner know we had a guest, and he promptly told us he wasn't paying us to jam, so we played Loverboy's "Turn me loose" with Jaco Pastorius on keys.
Click to expand...

That is one hell of a story. I'm envious!
 
Guy I used to play with spent some time in So. Fla. Jaco came in one night and SIGNED HIS PRECISION. With a knife. In Japanese (that westernized version - can't remember the name - Katani? Something like that.).

Last time I played with him, he was STILL using that bass.

Daf
 
Gonzo- I think that's hillarious you guys had arguably one of the best musicians of the 20th century in for a jam and you played a Loverboy tune, rofl.
 
maskedman : I don't know for the states, but I have the Holiday for pans album ... it's a Japanese import that semi-available in Europe .. Weird stuff, I should relisten to it, it's been a while, and my ears have learned a lot since last time.

Barbary coast is still one of my favorites - mental note: transcribe it someday.

There have been long threads on all bass-related forums about Jaco, and the strange thing is there's a lot of different opinions on him. Whatever someone thinks of him, you can't deny the fact that he was the first known bass player to play Bird-like lines and to use the bass as a vocal solo instrument.


Herwig
 
herwig-thanks for the link!!!!!!! i havent figured out how to burn a cd(if at all possable)of it but i did get to hear the first track! each song takes 4.5 hours to download!!!! phone lines suck!

what ever happened to jacos basses i wonder?
what ever happened to jacos kids(the twins)? last i knew they were following in jacos steps and getting their chops togther. are they still playing? if they are i bet they are monsters.
another strange thing...... the night that jaco was in that fight was september 12th at 4 am. jacos last day was september 11th..........
 
I've been playing the bass for ten years now and I bought his first album a couple of years ago but I've listened to it only a few times. I'm sure he's a great bass player but I guess it's a style that I just don't dig.
 
christiaan- you have got to be kidding right?

i would suggest (if you havent already) checking out victor wootens cd "a show of hands" it is amazing. no drums,no guitars, just a bass guitar.
 
maskedman72 said:
christiaan- you have got to be kidding right?

i would suggest (if you havent already) checking out victor wootens cd "a show of hands" it is amazing. no drums,no guitars, just a bass guitar.
Click to expand...
Wooten is a great bassplayer and I may very well like your suggestion but a great technique does not necessarily make a great song. At least in my ears.
 
technique ....I know this is a snakepit ... shouldn't reply ... hmmm... too late ;)

I agree with both maskedman and christiaan: wooten is a bass god, but I don't really like his studio albums. It's the live stuff that shows he's a good musician and composer. In studio everything sounds too cold to me (all recorded on Roland VS....) but live they spice things up and sound incredible.

Christiaan: taste differs from person to person (luckily), but you do agree Jaco changed the way the electric bass is/was played forever ?? The techniques he invented (or refined, that's a discussion I don't want to get in to) are the base of modern electric bass playing.
What Jamerson was to groove and taste, Rocco to 16note funk, Graham to slap, Ray Brown to jazz comping and soloing, is Jaco for all creative, groovy playing and soloing ever after.

I don't know what style you play, but I do know I use harmonics, open string tenths (eg. A open, C# up high), on the fretless I use his 'mwah' way of making sound, ... all things we have to credit to JP. (plus that killer II-V-I line from Donna Lee that starts with the IIminor 1-3-7 arpeggio... :D )


Herwig
 
DeadPoet said:
Christiaan: taste differs from person to person (luckily), but you do agree Jaco changed the way the electric bass is/was played forever ?? The techniques he invented (or refined, that's a discussion I don't want to get in to) are the base of modern electric bass playing.
Click to expand...
I have no problems with that statement. He has influenced me in a way as well. If I had never read about Jaco I don't think I would have ripped the frets of my first bass. Yeah, it's all a matter of taste. Jazz/fusion just isn't my game and I think that's why I don't appreciate Jaco's music as much as some of us here do.

I play mainly pop/rock-oriented music. Jamerson, Prestia and Graham are three names I can relate to much more.
 
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