survey on jaco pastorius' influence on today's bassists

[hanna]

hey guys

i'm doing a research paper on the history of the bass guitar and jaco's influence on today's bass players.

so i'm doing a survey in which i'm asking a few questions on jaco and i'd be really really glad if plenty of you would fill it in.
please give reasons for your answers (if possible).

thanks in advance for taking part. hanna



so:

1. how old are you?
2. how long have you been playing the bass?
3. do you play other instruments and how long have you been playing them?
4. what music do you play? (style)


4. have you ever played any jaco-tunes?
5. if so which ones?

6. what is your favorite jaco tune?

7. jaco - the world's greatest bass player? (as he used to call himself)
or:
8. just another talented musician who let fame, alcohol and drugs get him down?

9. jaco - the jimi hendrix of bass (do not only consider music but also lifestyle.)

10. how strong is jaco's influence on you?
(10) very strong
(1) not strong at all (who did influence you then?)

11. do you feel like your bass lines sometimes sound like jaco's bass lines or were they influenced by jaco lines?)

12. what if jaco had lived longer? what music would he play and who would play with him?

[jsingles]

1. 19
2. 3 years
3. Guitar for 5 years, occasional piano for 11 years
4. Yes
5. Portrait of Tracy, The Chicken, Teen Town, Good Morning Anya, bad attempts at Havona and Chromatic Fantasy....
6. A Remark You Made - beautiful fretless playing in a beautiful song.
7. I don't believe a single person can be greatest, apples and oranges.
8. No, he definitely did something special.
9. I think thats a pretty accurate analogy yes, though they still had their differences.
10. 7
11. only occasionally, I don't play the same style of music that he did in my own band.
12. Sadly I think he would have ended up being part of the whole virtuoso bassist clan, and ended up playing solo bass shows with victor wooten and all those other guys, and I would hate that...

edit: I play progressive thrash metal with my band, and I play jazz in music school

[Beyer160]

Do you want answers from all players, or just jazz players? You'll get pretty different results... it'd be like asking drummers how they'd been influenced by Buddy Rich- a lot of rock drummers these days have probably never heard of him.

As for me, I'm a rock player who has never heard a single note of Jaco's playing.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by hanna

so:

1. how old are you?
2. how long have you been playing the bass?
3. do you play other instruments and how long have you been playing them?
4. what music do you play? (style)


4. have you ever played any jaco-tunes?
5. if so which ones?

6. what is your favorite jaco tune?

7. jaco - the world's greatest bass player? (as he used to call himself)
or:
8. just another talented musician who let fame, alcohol and drugs get him down?

9. jaco - the jimi hendrix of bass (do not only consider music but also lifestyle.)

10. how strong is jaco's influence on you?
(10) very strong
(1) not strong at all (who did influence you then?)

11. do you feel like your bass lines sometimes sound like jaco's bass lines or were they influenced by jaco lines?)

12. what if jaco had lived longer? what music would he play and who would play with him?

1. None of your business!
2. About 30 years
3. Yes - same time
4. Jazz
4. Yes
5. Had a go at playing most of them - not with a band though
6. 3 Views of a Secret
7. Yes
8. He had a medical condition - get your facts right!
9. Yes
10. sometimes 10 - not so much lately

11. Yes
12 Jazz - all sorts of players .

[kenlacam]

1.40
2. over 20 years
3. also play keyboards
4. funk, rock, new age
5. never played any jaco tunes
6. America
7. no, but he is up there.
8. no
9. yes, definitely
10. not strong at all, no influence on my playing
11. nope
12. i don't believe in hypotheticals like this

[kenlacam]

he may have had a "medical condition" but drugs still took their toll on him.

[funkybass4ever]

Originally Posted by hanna

hey guys

i'm doing a research paper on the history of the bass guitar and jaco's influence on today's bass players.

so i'm doing a survey in which i'm asking a few questions on jaco and i'd be really really glad if plenty of you would fill it in.
please give reasons for your answers (if possible).

thanks in advance for taking part. hanna



so:

1. how old are you?
2. how long have you been playing the bass?
3. do you play other instruments and how long have you been playing them?
4. what music do you play? (style)


4. have you ever played any jaco-tunes?
5. if so which ones?

6. what is your favorite jaco tune?

7. jaco - the world's greatest bass player? (as he used to call himself)
or:
8. just another talented musician who let fame, alcohol and drugs get him down?

9. jaco - the jimi hendrix of bass (do not only consider music but also lifestyle.)

10. how strong is jaco's influence on you?
(10) very strong
(1) not strong at all (who did influence you then?)

11. do you feel like your bass lines sometimes sound like jaco's bass lines or were they influenced by jaco lines?)

12. what if jaco had lived longer? what music would he play and who would play with him?

1. anyone over 30 is old, so I am old
2. 5 years
3. Trombone
4 yes
5. Tried them all
6. Chromatic Fantasy
7. Yes
8. No, he was bipolar i believe
9. YES
10. Very strong
11. Yes often times sound similar
12. He would be playing avante gard music and would be playing with Buckethead the only guitarist who could keep up with him

[mvw356]

Originally Posted by hanna

so:

1. how old are you? in between
2. how long have you been playing the bass? 15 years
3. do you play other instruments and how long have you been playing them? piano for 20 years, guitar for 10
4. what music do you play? (style) rock, funk, blues, some 'jazzy' music


4. have you ever played any jaco-tunes? yes
5. if so which ones? portrait of tracey and chromaitc fantasy, plus others which i don't remember

6. what is your favorite jaco tune? portrait of tracey ( i certainly do not know all of jacos tunes)

7. jaco - the world's greatest bass player? (as he used to call himself) hm, not sure
or:
8. just another talented musician who let fame, alcohol and drugs get him down? more than just another talent, he had loads.

9. jaco - the jimi hendrix of bass (do not only consider music but also lifestyle.) no, hendrix is famous.

10. how strong is jaco's influence on you? very little if any, a 2 maybe
(10) very strong
(1) not strong at all (who did influence you then?)

11. do you feel like your bass lines sometimes sound like jaco's bass lines or were they influenced by jaco lines?) nope

12. what if jaco had lived longer? what music would he play and who would play with him?

hard to say.

[NickBass81]

Originally Posted by hanna

hey guys

i'm doing a research paper on the history of the bass guitar and jaco's influence on today's bass players.

so i'm doing a survey in which i'm asking a few questions on jaco and i'd be really really glad if plenty of you would fill it in.
please give reasons for your answers (if possible).

thanks in advance for taking part. hanna



so:

1. how old are you?
2. how long have you been playing the bass?
3. do you play other instruments and how long have you been playing them?
4. what music do you play? (style)


4. have you ever played any jaco-tunes?
5. if so which ones?

6. what is your favorite jaco tune?

7. jaco - the world's greatest bass player? (as he used to call himself)
or:
8. just another talented musician who let fame, alcohol and drugs get him down?

9. jaco - the jimi hendrix of bass (do not only consider music but also lifestyle.)

10. how strong is jaco's influence on you?
(10) very strong
(1) not strong at all (who did influence you then?)

11. do you feel like your bass lines sometimes sound like jaco's bass lines or were they influenced by jaco lines?)

12. what if jaco had lived longer? what music would he play and who would play with him?

1-I'm 27
2-more or less 13 years
3-when I was about 6-7 I fooled a bit around the drumkit; I started playing the piano one year ago, but you don't wanna me hear me on keys, trust me...
4-I play a lot of different music 'cause I'm manly a sideman, but I love playing especially funk, jazz/fusion, blues/soul, latin and rock.
Yes, I've played (and still play) some Jaco tunes..
5-The chicken (more Dave Weckl version though), continuum, birdland, come on come over, havona
6-Portrait of Tracy, just a masterpiece
7-I don't know, it's a subjective thing...to me, it's impossible to say who is (or was) the best.
8-Of course, not just a talent...he had an amazing talent and awesome compositional skills!
9-Different instrument, different role.
10-I've been surely influenced by Jaco (as I play also both fretless and fretted basses), but not as others players...I love deeply his solo works or the Weather Report stuff(especially "Night Passage"), but I think that my playing is been more influenced by others bassists (to name a few: Nathan East, John Patitucci, Marcus Miller, Mike Porcaro, Rocco, Jimmy Johnson, Abe Laboriel, Pino, Alain Caron, Jimmy Haslip, Jeff Berlin....)...Jaco has been very important for me (and he still is), but I've always tried to not sound too much like him...
11-I don't know, probably sometimes, but not intentionally...one night after a gig a guy told me that I reminded him of Jaco..I must say that I ws pleased...
12-I think he would have experienced a new approach to jazz music, using also the ultimate technologies.

[K-Funk]

Originally Posted by hanna

1. how old are you?
2. how long have you been playing the bass?
3. do you play other instruments and how long have you been playing them?
4. what music do you play? (style)


4. have you ever played any jaco-tunes?
5. if so which ones?

6. what is your favorite jaco tune?

7. jaco - the world's greatest bass player? (as he used to call himself)
or:
8. just another talented musician who let fame, alcohol and drugs get him down?

9. jaco - the jimi hendrix of bass (do not only consider music but also lifestyle.)

10. how strong is jaco's influence on you?
(10) very strong
(1) not strong at all (who did influence you then?)

11. do you feel like your bass lines sometimes sound like jaco's bass lines or were they influenced by jaco lines?)

12. what if jaco had lived longer? what music would he play and who would play with him?

1. 20
2. 6 years
3. Euphonium for 10 years, guitar for 5 years, vocals for 5 years.
4. Alt and indie rock, reggae, hiphop, and soul.
5. Yes
6. Most of them; my favorite to play is Donna Lee
7. Portrait of Tracy
8. The world has no such thing
9. No, it was almost a part of him. Lots of talented artists live a short, chaotic lifestyle.
10. He did a lot to free the instrument, so I guess yes.
11. 9; I take a lot of my technique and feel from him.
12. Sometimes, but not usually.
13. He would still play jazz, R&B and fusion. As far as with whom, I have no idea.

[derrenleepoole]

1. 35 years
2. 20 years
3. Bass only
4. Whatever sounds good, 'style' is a highly subjective term and counter productive to creativity IMHO.
5. Amerika and Continuum
6. Opus Pocus
7, 8 & 9. All highly subjective and loaded questions IMO. He 'WAS' for a time the best bassist around, but now he's dead. Talented yes, but many may/do feel differently. He wasn't Jimi Hendrix, he was Jaco - 2 different people, 2 different lives.
10. So-so influence. His dedication to practice and outward steely determination is very inspirational. I was inspired to play originally by Cliff Burton but play nothing like that.
11. I hope my basslines sound like me. Lazy people who hear harmonics in my playing will make a comparison as such, but that's as far as it goes.
12. He wouldn't play - he'd be doing reality TV shows for money Seriously though, I couldn't even begin to speculate on any artists likely musical progression - people get bored, they move on. Anyone that would play with him would do so just to say 'hey, I played with Jaco!'

[Baryonyx]

1. 21
2. 9 years
3. N/A
4. Fusion


4. yes
5. Quite a few, though I most enjoy playing his Weather Report stuff like Dara Factor One.

6. My favourite tune on which Jaco played? Volcano For Hire.

7. Neither, a great talent with unfortunate problems.
or:
8.

9. No, Jaco is Jaco, an far greater than Jimi ever was.

10. how strong is jaco's influence on you? - - - - (7)


11. Yes, I can often see a bit of Jaco's influence in my playing, if I want it to be there.

12. I think he'd have continued down the route of being very eclectic. Holiday for pans, anyone?

[Cinimod]

Originally Posted by hanna

hey guys

i'm doing a research paper on the history of the bass guitar and jaco's influence on today's bass players.

so i'm doing a survey in which i'm asking a few questions on jaco and i'd be really really glad if plenty of you would fill it in.
please give reasons for your answers (if possible).

thanks in advance for taking part. hanna



so:

1. how old are you?
2. how long have you been playing the bass?
3. do you play other instruments and how long have you been playing them?
4. what music do you play? (style)


4. have you ever played any jaco-tunes?
5. if so which ones?

6. what is your favorite jaco tune?

7. jaco - the world's greatest bass player? (as he used to call himself)
or:
8. just another talented musician who let fame, alcohol and drugs get him down?

9. jaco - the jimi hendrix of bass (do not only consider music but also lifestyle.)

10. how strong is jaco's influence on you?
(10) very strong
(1) not strong at all (who did influence you then?)

11. do you feel like your bass lines sometimes sound like jaco's bass lines or were they influenced by jaco lines?)

12. what if jaco had lived longer? what music would he play and who would play with him?

1. 21

2. 8 years

3. No

4. Funk, jazz, metal, prog, psychedelic.

5. Yes

6. Portrait of tracy, River people, Teen town, Birdland, The chicken, a remark you made, come on come over, opus pocus, Kuru-speak like a child, rubbish attempts at chromatic fantasy and havona.

7. Come on come over

8. Yes

9. Bipolar but booze and cocaine didnt help matters.

10. Definitely

11. 10

12. I wish!! I try to use those muted notes that he did a lot.

13. He would probably be in the Mars Volta

[drunkenrobot]

1. 16.
2. Nearly 3 years.
3. Violin for about 4 months.
4. Rock/alt rock mostly.
5. No.
6. I've only heard like 3 none of which I would choose to listen to. I don't see how people can listen to pieces like Portrait of Tracy.
7. No, he was definately a very talented musician but he certainly wasn't the greatest bass player ever.
8. Agree.
9. I don't really know much about Jimi Hendrix so I can't compare.
10. 1 - Flea is a really big influence. Perhaps the biggest influence on my playing is Chris Wolstenholme from Muse. I love alt rock and metal like Muse and SOAD.
11. Not at all.
12. Dunno really. Not to say his music is bad but he would definately have to change his style to gather a younger following. People from the "guitar hero generation" as so many TBers brand us aren't really into jazz.

[Nyarlathotep]

Ok, Ill bite

Originally Posted by hanna

1. how old are you?
2. how long have you been playing the bass?
3. do you play other instruments and how long have you been playing them?
[3.5?]. what music do you play? (style)


4. have you ever played any jaco-tunes?
5. if so which ones?

6. what is your favorite jaco tune?

7. jaco - the world's greatest bass player? (as he used to call himself)
or:
8. just another talented musician who let fame, alcohol and drugs get him down?

9. jaco - the jimi hendrix of bass (do not only consider music but also lifestyle.)

10. how strong is jaco's influence on you?
(10) very strong
(1) not strong at all (who did influence you then?)

11. do you feel like your bass lines sometimes sound like jaco's bass lines or were they influenced by jaco lines?)

12. what if jaco had lived longer? what music would he play and who would play with him?

1. Twenty Six. I could've just put "26", but spelling it out makes it seem all that much more important IMO

2. 5 or 6 years. Time's fun when you're having flies

3. Played guitar for about 3 or 4 years. I like bass better, so I sold everything really guitar related.

3.5. I play mostly doom, drone, blackend death metal, and Ramone's style punk

4. No

5. n/a

6. Honestly, I've only ever listened to "Heavy Weather", and they all sounded the same to me. Although its really funny, because most of the people that hear the music I generally listen to, think all my stuff sounds the same. And for the most part I agree So ya, no real faves. Tho HW is a pretty nice album IMO.

7. No. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. That quote reminds me of Kanye West (aka Martin Louis the King Jr )

8. Pretty much what I think

9. I can see some similarities, sure.

10. 1 - not strong AT ALL. Im more influenced by the likes of Dee Dee Ramone and such

11. Unless jaco played something famous in straight eighths, prolly not

12. Sadly enough, I must agree with jsingles on this one:

Sadly I think he would have ended up being part of the whole virtuoso bassist clan, and ended up playing solo bass shows with victor wooten and all those other guys, and I would hate that...

[funkyebk]

1. how old are you? 35 (oh no really??? 36 in 28 days.)
2. how long have you been playing the bass? 20-21 years that first year was a grey area
3. do you play other instruments and how long have you been playing them? I don't "play" other instruments, but I'm familiar enough to make me a better bassist.
4. what music do you play? (style) Rock and Alternative, some harder stuff, some funky stuff...

5. have you ever played any jaco-tunes?
6. if so which ones?
I've taken the time to learn "Come on Come Over" and "Continuum", but don't play them in any band situations, however I do "quote" them from time to time

7. what is your favorite jaco tune? "A Remark You Made" My loved ones have instructions to find a group to play that at my funeral.

8a. jaco - the world's greatest bass player? (as he used to call himself)
or:
8b. just another talented musician who let fame, alcohol and drugs get him down?
Neither. Distilling Jaco's life and the tragedy of his downward spiral into fame, alcohol and drugs does a great disservice to him and any afflicted with bi-polar disorder. While substance abuse had it's share of the blame, Jaco's problems were not all of his making. Believing his and his countless imitators hype is also a disservice to his legacy. Jaco was A great bassist, composer, and musician; just not THE greatest.

9. jaco - the jimi hendrix of bass (do not only consider music but also lifestyle.) Um... no. Jimi wasn't even the Jimi Hendrix of guitar. I've always thought it ironic that people draw similarities between the two... to me, it's a tenuous connection at best...

10. how strong is jaco's influence on you?
(10) very strong
(1) not strong at all (who did influence you then?)
Playing and phrasing... 5 but that may not be so much jaco as it is Jaco, Rocco and others that incorporate percolating 16ths in their lines. when I play fretless, the influence actually drops... my fretless playing comes more out of the Tony Levin/Pino school than Jaco or say Gary Willis
Style... 9.5. I love nothing more than a beat up sunburst jazz bass... or not so beat up... it's just the look that I love, and I'm 99.9% sure that it comes from Jaco.

11. do you feel like your bass lines sometimes sound like jaco's bass lines or were they influenced by jaco lines?) See above... not so much... I'm mindful not to "TRY" to sound "LIKE" Jaco, cause when I do, I suck... I can't play like Jaco to save my life, so it comes out mangled and botched... he's an influence, but so are Rocco, Sting, Jamerson, Jemmont, Rainey (dear god Chuck is the reason I picked up a bass) Tommy Shannon, Tom Peterson, and dUg Pinnick...

12. what if jaco had lived longer? what music would he play and who would play with him?
Lived longer how? Under the care of a physician that managed his bi-polar disorder? If that's the case- I can envision lots of possibilities- I'd have loved to see him continue working with Kenwood Dennard and Scolfield as in the DCI video...

BUT.... I think it would have had a diluting effect on the bass world as a whole though... Would we have Gary Willis, Jonas Helborg, Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, Jimmy Haslip and COUNTLESS other MONSTER bassists (JP clones or not) that came after Jaco had they grown in the shadow of his talent, legacy, legend, and dare I say, Ego? I don't think so. Jaco was prolific, Weather Report, his solo work, Joni Mitchell, and later work with Mike Stern and others- I imagine a healthy, working Jaco would have been the equivalent of releasing the Northern Snakehead (oh please... wiki it) into the North American Ecosystem. A Jazz Gig? Jaco would play it in a heart beat. A Rock gig? Heck yes... A Funk Gig? Of course. Reggae? Why not, he's got 9:30 on Thursday open... Wait... didn't Ozzy and Metallica just have a big bass chair rotation thing... I bet Jaco could have found a black jazz and fit right in. Everybody would want him, and He'd want to play anywhere and everywhere... the covers of DownBeat, Bass Player, Rolling Stone, Spin, Living Blues, Vibe, and US Weekly would have his grinning mug on it 8 months out of the year.... The Millennium would have left us asking "Who's going to fill his shoes"... and not in a good way.

[dougjwray]

1. 51
2. 39 years
3. Violin lessons as a child; guitar (self-taught); piano (required in music school)
4. rock, blues, jazz, folk-rock
5. Jaco tunes played: Portrait of Tracy, Opus Pocus, Teen Town (all written by him); Donna Lee, Dolores, Bright Size Life (written by others); I'm probably forgetting a lot of material!
6. Portrait of Tracy-- brilliant concept, gorgeous composition; Refuge of the Roads (w/Joni Mitchell)-- amazingly lyrical and inventive; Used to Be a Cha-Cha-- my favorite solo of his.
7. There can be no "greatest"; however, he certainly did more things well than just about anyone else, while he was alive, and he had a more visionary concept than any other electric bassist.
8. Fame didn't get him, although he was self-consciously trying to make himself into a larger-than-life "star" (not necessarily a wise idea); rather, he was done in by mental illness and (I believe) a genetic weakness which made him overly dependent on alcohol and other substances. In any case, he was not "just another" anything; he had a brilliant mind, and would have made his mark in any field (not just music).
9. No, two different people. Jaco claimed (bragged) that was "the only bassist who could have played with Hendrix", and he used to play bits of Hendrix songs, so he obviously was inspired by Hendrix. To me, Hendrix the musician had more imagination and more emotional range. As far as their mental conditions, Hendrix might have had similar mood swings from intense highs to very depressed lows, but by all accounts he was a shy, gentle person, while Jaco was an extrovert who enjoyed being a provocateur, to a certain extent.
10. Strong (maybe a 7), but I had already been playing for about 6 years before I first heard him in 1976, so to me he was an interesting up-and-coming voice, not an icon. Rather than trying to sound like him on the bass, I was inspired by him to try to become a complete musician. For example, after hearing him play "Donna Lee", I got a Real Book and started learning heads to lots of jazz standards. Also, like millions of other bassists, I had toyed with harmonics, but never done anything with them; then he came along and wrote a beautiful piece consisting of nothing but harmonics. It was the whole idea of really buckling down and reaching past the bass. (My previous heroes were Jack Bruce, Stanley Clarke, Paul McCartney, Ron Carter and others.)
11. See above. I can try to incorporate his ideas into my own playing (i.e. how would he approach this?), but trying to sound LIKE him would be embarrassing; anyway, I've been playing for so many years that I like to think I have my own style. (I sure hope so.)
12. Impossible to say, but I could imagine him becoming like Charles Mingus -- leading a rather avant-garde ensemble that existed to play his own compositions and arrangements.

(Incidentally, I knew him briefly, ca. 1977-1978 and had a couple of lessons with him, as well as hanging around with him in Fort Lauderdale.)
(When he taught me how to play Portrait of Tracy, he acted amused by the whole fuss over it. "There are harmonics all over the neck... you just have to find them!")

[thombo]

Hanna, you may want to edit your 1st post to make collecting data easier... you have two "4's" and 7 & 8 are the same question

1. 27
2. 11 years
3. not well
4. secular music
4. not live... at home, often
5. Many tracks from Weather Report stuff, Self titled album, Word of Mouth
6. Portrait of Tracy
7 & 8 A little from column A, a little from column B
9. no
10. 6
11. occasionally influence, they do not sound like Jaco
12. If Jaco had not died, but never sobered up/recieved treated for mental illness, there is a good chance that he wouldn't have ever owned a bass again.
There are many of Jaco's peers that have overcome drug addiction: With Jaco, his mental illness and subsequent extreme behavior was what to led his people ostracizing him.
If Jaco did get it together, he would have had a long way to go to anywhere near where he was. It at the time of his death, he had alienated himself from most of his peers. He would have had to mend many bridges on his road back up.

[Montsegour]

1. how old are you? 17
2. how long have you been playing the bass? 3years
3. do you play other instruments and how long have you been playing them? no
4. what music do you play? (style) mostly metal, there are plenty more genres i play along at home, but bands overhere aren't so open to other styles and neither is the "crowd"


4. have you ever played any jaco-tunes? yes
5. if so which ones? too many

6. what is your favorite jaco tune? continuum

7. jaco - the world's greatest bass player? (as he used to call himself)
or:
8. just another talented musician who let fame, alcohol and drugs get him down? as was stated before, music is not a competition, every artist can inspire us in his own manner and, that makes each one the best ( wow, this was so gay /cry haha )

9. jaco - the jimi hendrix of bass (do not only consider music but also lifestyle.) Drugs - yes. Music - yes. What else?

10. how strong is jaco's influence on you?
(10) very strong
(1) not strong at all (who did influence you then?)
5
11. do you feel like your bass lines sometimes sound like jaco's bass lines or were they influenced by jaco lines?)
No, not really
12. what if jaco had lived longer? what music would he play and who would play with him?
I believe he would've made many more great songs, but, he wouldn't be as famous and this thread wouldn't exist.
So, I prolly wouldn't even hear for his great tunes.

[JTE]

1. how old are you? 54

2. how long have you been playing the bass? 32 years (since summer 1976)

3. do you play other instruments and how long have you been playing them? Guitar since about 1970

4. what music do you play? (style) Duke Ellington... Sorry, this is a pointless question as genre and style is so subjective to be meaningless unless you're selling music to folks who are only interested in "audio wallpaper". When asked if he considered his music to be jazz, Duke replied "There're only two kinds of music. Music that sounds good and whatever you want to call that other stuff." I play a lot of different "styles".

4 (sic). have you ever played any jaco-tunes? I sat down to learn "Portrait of Tracy" a long time ago from a couple of very good transcriptions. And, BTW, it's "Jaco" not "jaco" I hope you type your research paper better than you typed your post...

5. if so which ones? See above...

6. what is your favorite jaco tune? Hmm.... "Continuim", "Come On, Come Over", and "Forgotten Love" shuffle around for the top spot.

7. jaco - the world's greatest bass player? (as he used to call himself)
or:
8. just another talented musician who let fame, alcohol and drugs get him down?

9. jaco - the jimi hendrix of bass (do not only consider music but also lifestyle.)

I'd say #9. There simply is the way the electric bass and its role was conceived of before Jaco, and after. And those two ways are different. Even if a bassist hasn't hear of Jaco, and has never played a harmonic or a fretless, it's still hard to escape the influence. That's because he shaped so much of what OTHER musicians besides bassists think of how the bass can function. Arrangers and composers have been influenced by his music. When I heard a fretless Jaco-ish line on a TV commercial for some mundane product decades ago, it was proof that Jaco had changed the music world. Another parallel to Mr. Hendrix is the annoying and blatant sycophanti hero-worhsip of some of the fans, and the perrinial focus by too many folks on life-style, outrageous behavior, and subsequently dismissing the music, or even worse, only acknowledging part of the contribution. How many people say they like Hendrix, but only know what "Purple Haze" sounds like? Or think Jaco's music is all about fusionoid chops fests and harmonics sliding around a fretless while ignoring his arrangements, his compostitions, and his heart-breakingly passionate ballads?


10. how strong is jaco's influence on you? Very strong- his approach helped me understand that the limits are what I put on the music, not what the instrument puts on it. And while I don't sound at all like Jaco, he's a huge influence on how to approach music.

11. do you feel like your bass lines sometimes sound like jaco's bass lines or were they influenced by jaco lines?) Well, yeah- it's part of the very fabric of electric bass playing. Of course sometimes it's hard to tell where Jerry Jemmott's influence ends and Jaco's starts...

12. what if jaco had lived longer? what music would he play and who would play with him? He might have been a come-back story like Eric Clapton kicking smack and then kicking booze to create great music. Of course, there'd be a lot of people whining because Jaco at 50 didn't sound like he did when he was 25. And they's complain about the Pat Metheny "Brigth Size Life" reunion tour because Jaco was using an Eden WT0800 with two D410XLT and two D212XLTs instead of the Acoustics from the '70s...

But given his medical condition, and the pretty deplorable state of mental healthcare at the time, if he hadn't gotten himself offed by the bouncer, he'd be a "what a shame he can't play anymore" people lamely trying to make a living off their past glories- but I didn't mention Foriegner, Journey, Styx, REO, etc., did ?

jte