Jaco with Weather Report 1976

odin70 · #1 09-11-2010, 06:19 PM

I just saw the WR 1976 Montreux dvd. It felt so good to see my hero: Focused, sober and supportive. To much s..... clips on youtube had almost made me forget how great he was.
If you havent seen it yet....Recomended!!

WJGreer · #2 09-11-2010, 06:24 PM

Well, let's not go so far as to say "sober". But definitely a different Jaco than we saw at the end. Great recording.

thombo · #3 09-11-2010, 09:24 PM

in 76, jaco was around 25... according bm's bio on him, no blow until he was 27.

Shakin-Slim · #4 09-11-2010, 10:05 PM

Man, I'm up to part 5 of the 8 parts on youtube. Fantastic! He is definitely on top of his game. Does anybody know why Jaco's fretboard looks so dark? I'm sure it's just Rosewood.

markjazzbassist · #5 09-11-2010, 11:07 PM

great dvd and great playing. great synth work from zawinul as well, killer stuff

Jazzomaniac · #6 09-12-2010, 11:09 AM

Yes, it's a great performance, I bought the official DVD a couple of years ago. Too bad that Jaco doesn't get as much camera-time as deserved

WJGreer · #7 09-12-2010, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thombo

in 76, jaco was around 25... according bm's bio on him, no blow until he was 27.

Agreed. I'm just going to speculate that people don't usually go from teetotaller to blow in one step. No data to support, though.

Lazylion · #8 09-13-2010, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shakin-Slim

Does anybody know why Jaco's fretboard looks so dark? I'm sure it's just Rosewood.

Was that the bass that he covered the fingerboard with marine epoxy?

humpy thumb · #9 09-13-2010, 07:50 PM

I think so. AFTER he bought it already de-fretted. Jaco didnt defret this bass of doom, it's previous owner did such a crappy job of pulling the frets, Jaco filled the slots with wood filler, then epoxied the whole fingerboard.
Jaco talks about it in a video with Jerry Jemmott.

middlebit · #10 09-14-2010, 01:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by humpy thumb

I think so. AFTER he bought it already de-fretted. Jaco didnt defret this bass of doom, it's previous owner did such a crappy job of pulling the frets, Jaco filled the slots with wood filler, then epoxied the whole fingerboard.
Jaco talks about it in a video with Jerry Jemmott.

Where in the video does he say that he didn't defret the BOD himself??

humpy thumb · #11 09-14-2010, 02:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by middlebit

Where in the video does he say that he didn't defret the BOD himself??

Watch & listen.

middlebit · #12 09-14-2010, 03:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by humpy thumb

Watch & listen.

I have, many times over the past decade. Just never noticed that particular part, which is why I asked the question.

Bruce Lindfield · #13 09-14-2010, 03:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WJGreer

Agreed. I'm just going to speculate that people don't usually go from teetotaller to blow in one step. No data to support, though.

If you read Bill Milkowski's bio - then Jaco never drank until he met Joe Zawinul, who sort of challenged him to a drinking contest...? Then, when Weather Report became big stadium stars - fans gave them drugs.

But the main reason for his decline was his bipolar disorder, which was never diagnosed, but which he passed on to his daughter who controls it with medication.

This is the saddest part of the story, as if Jaco had been properly diagnosed and treated early then he too, could have been in control of this like his daughter...

humpy thumb · #14 09-14-2010, 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by middlebit

I have, many times over the past decade. Just never noticed that particular part, which is why I asked the question.

Lemmy check. It's quite possible my memory is wrong about it being in the video. But it's a fact Jaco said he had to fill the slots, coz of the crappy de-fretting job before he bought the bass.
I'll get back to ya.

Jazzomaniac · #15 09-14-2010, 04:22 AM

Peter Erskine's father actually diagnosed Jaco and confirmed that he had bipolar disorder. Jaco even tried medication, but at the time antipsychotic medication wasn't nearly as well developed as it is today, and it also had unbearable side-effects. In Jaco's case it lessened his creativity and made his hands tremble so he quit the medication.

Jazzomaniac · #16 09-14-2010, 04:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by humpy thumb

Lemmy check. It's quite possible my memory is wrong about it being in the video. But it's a fact Jaco said he had to fill the slots, coz of the crappy de-fretting job before he bought the bass.
I'll get back to ya.

Charles Brent( who played with Jaco in the C.C Riders and was his mentor when it came to reading and writing music) said that Jaco defretted the bass himself( while on the road with that band) with a butter knife. It was the only bass he had with him for the tour and it was not long before the next concert so it was a risky thing to do.

Bruce Lindfield · #17 09-14-2010, 04:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jazzomaniac

Peter Erskine's father actually diagnosed Jaco and confirmed that he had bipolar disorder. Jaco even tried medication, but at the time antipsychotic medication wasn't nearly as well developed as it is today, and it also had unbearable side-effects. In Jaco's case it lessened his creativity and made his hands tremble so he quit the medication.

What is your source for this?

I would suggest that people read this :

http://www.jacopastorius.com/feature...ings/daddy.asp

- for a view on Jaco's condition from those who knew him best - his family.

humpy thumb · #18 09-14-2010, 04:53 AM

Ok, I searched long & friggin hard,but only managed to find this, quoted from an interview in 1984 Guitar Player magazine.
http://www.jpastorius.net/faq.html
"When I got the bass, the cat who had it had taken the frets out himself,
and he did a really bad job of it - left all kinds of nicks and chunks taken
out of the fretboard. So I really had to fix it up. I filled in all the chunks
with Plastic Wood. Hell, when I was a kid, I used to make a living by fixing
and dealing old, beat-up instruments. I was the first cat to use epoxy on
the neck of a fretless bass so the strings wouldn't eat the neck away.
I used Petite's Poly-Poxy; it's boat epoxy. You can find it in any
boating supply store around Florida. It's the toughest epoxy they make.
You apply it with a brush, and it takes several coats. I used about six
coats on my fretless, and it took about a day for each coat to dry."

But then,from the same site, on another page,
http://www.jpastorius.net/cork.html
This,
I feel, what follows are important questions by Cork Green, and wonderful candid answers from Jaco:

Q. Concerning your instrument itself - Did you take the frets out yourself, and what did you use to fill the grooves?

JACO: YES 'DURATITE' FILLER. I ALSO HAVE 'PETITE'S POLYPOXY' TO PROTECT IT.

This sounds to me like he's not actually admitting pulling the frets himself, but saying yes to the filler question.

The GP interview I've read in actual print, not just a copy online, that could've been mis-quoted.
I watched an old VHS tape where he's told this same story about buying the bass already de-fretted.Straight from the horses mouth.I'll try to locate the tape.

BUT,

Then I've read interviews where he's contradicted himself. After all, this is Jaco.

Dragan · #19 09-14-2010, 05:14 AM

as much as i remember in modern el.bass movie, jaco told that he pulled the frets out with a knife. whatever...

middlebit · #20 09-14-2010, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by humpy thumb

Ok, I searched long & friggin hard,but only managed to find this, quoted from an interview in 1984 Guitar Player magazine.
http://www.jpastorius.net/faq.html
"When I got the bass, the cat who had it had taken the frets out himself,
and he did a really bad job of it - left all kinds of nicks and chunks taken
out of the fretboard. So I really had to fix it up. I filled in all the chunks
with Plastic Wood. Hell, when I was a kid, I used to make a living by fixing
and dealing old, beat-up instruments. I was the first cat to use epoxy on
the neck of a fretless bass so the strings wouldn't eat the neck away.
I used Petite's Poly-Poxy; it's boat epoxy. You can find it in any
boating supply store around Florida. It's the toughest epoxy they make.
You apply it with a brush, and it takes several coats. I used about six
coats on my fretless, and it took about a day for each coat to dry."

But then,from the same site, on another page,
http://www.jpastorius.net/cork.html
This,
I feel, what follows are important questions by Cork Green, and wonderful candid answers from Jaco:

Q. Concerning your instrument itself - Did you take the frets out yourself, and what did you use to fill the grooves?

JACO: YES 'DURATITE' FILLER. I ALSO HAVE 'PETITE'S POLYPOXY' TO PROTECT IT.

This sounds to me like he's not actually admitting pulling the frets himself, but saying yes to the filler question.

The GP interview I've read in actual print, not just a copy online, that could've been mis-quoted.
I watched an old VHS tape where he's told this same story about buying the bass already de-fretted.Straight from the horses mouth.I'll try to locate the tape.

BUT,

Then I've read interviews where he's contradicted himself. After all, this is Jaco.

Yeah, I know about that '84 interview - AND the ones in which he contradicts himself. I had to ask, because I know that tape *pretty* well, and I've never heard him talking about repairing someone else's defret job. The instructional tape actually has him talking about pulling frets out of a bass after his upright was ruined by humidity, but he doesn't actually say anything about the BOD, which is also not the (half) one fitted with the Precision neck in the video. Then there's the Brent version where he pulls the frets out (presumably, of a different bass, since he already had exprience playing a fretless bass) while on the road with the CC Riders.

"After all, this is Jaco.

" - well put! I know Jaco often contradicted himself and liked to brag and spin yarns something terrible, so we can agree that what is actual "fact" is not so clear cut in these contexts. Which is part of what makes this subject so damn interesting, ain't it?!