| Jaco sad details
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Below is what was in the NY Times at that sad time. For those who never looked up some details, here is an eye opener. And another article said his family OK'd taking him off life support and letting him go. The last paragraph always gets me.
AP
Published: September 23, 1987
LEAD: John Francis (Jaco) Pastorius, an electric bassist whose brief career influenced jazz musicians worldwide, died Monday night at the Broward General Medical Center. He was 35 years old.
John Francis (Jaco) Pastorius, an electric bassist whose brief career influenced jazz musicians worldwide, died Monday night at the Broward General Medical Center. He was 35 years old.
Mr. Pastorius had been comatose since being beaten during a fight at a local nightclub, according to Gary Cuccia, a nursing coordinator at the medical center.
Mr. Pastorius's rapid-fire fingering techniques and composing talent earned him a reputation in the late 1970's and early 80's as one of the top electric bass players. At the peak of his career he toured with Weather Report, Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock and Blood, Sweat and Tears.
The police said the beating occurred before dawn on Sept. 12 after Mr. Pastorius tried to enter a nightclub from which he had been barred. The manager of the club, Luc Havan, was arrested Friday on a charge of aggravated battery and released on $5,000 bond, the police said.
Early in his career, Mr. Pastorius had disdained drugs and alcohol, saying they impaired his playing. But colleagues said he later began to drink heavily and for months before his death was penniless and unemployed, often sleeping in a local park. | 
