Jaco fans... a MUST WATCH VIDEO

[ras1983]

below is a video of jaco playing america the beautiful. i'm a proud aussie, but jaco's playing sends shivers down my spine!

the man was just too damn good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uabo0XaUClc&search=jaco

[havik180]

I'm not trying to deny his talent but sometimes I find it hard to listen to him playing solo Cool find though !

[Marcus Willett]

Yeah, this is from the "Live under the sky" show in Japan...July, 1984. Jaco was fully in downward spiral mode at this point. Not one of his better moments. IMO, stuff after the 1982 Word of Mouth tour is usually so hit-or-miss, it's almost painful to see.

[Alex]

Is it just me or does that not really look like normal Jaco?

[superbassman2000]

Like Marcus said, its not the Jaco everyone thought they knew at that point...his playing was great in the clip, but mentally, he was checking out...poor guy, i think he is one of the true tragedies of music...a lot of musicians develop a drug habit or something like that, but Jaco was (apparently) born that way, similar to Jimi Hendrix...

[ras1983]

Originally Posted by Marcus Willett

Yeah, this is from the "Live under the sky" show in Japan...July, 1984. Jaco was fully in downward spiral mode at this point. Not one of his better moments. IMO, stuff after the 1982 Word of Mouth tour is usually so hit-or-miss, it's almost painful to see.

are you referring to his playing or his mental state? i thought that his playing was awesome, but if he was better earlier on... i can only imagine how awesome he would have been.

[superbassman2000]

both...from what i hear, Jaco was doing some crazy stuff...at one gig at a college Jaco was supposed to give a bass master class (or something like it) and he played the drums the whole time...i hear that he did stuff like that a lot...

[canopener]

Originally Posted by havik180

I'm not trying to deny his talent but sometimes I find it hard to listen to him playing solo Cool find though !

Yeah, he had some nice runs in that vid, but it almost hurt to watch.

[Marcus Willett]

Originally Posted by ras1983

are you referring to his playing or his mental state? i thought that his playing was awesome, but if he was better earlier on... i can only imagine how awesome he would have been.

His playing was very re-hash (IMO) at that point, especially compared to stuff he had done before. Before he breaks into "Amerika", it's just noodling. If you watch other stuff in the vid (the copy I have only has this and "The Chicken"...he's really screwing around, and not in a good way. There's much better footage of Jaco out there. Any one of these would be an improvement. (in chronological order of performance):

w/ Weather Report, 1976 Montreux Jazz festival
Trilogue - Live!, late '76
w/ Weather Report, 1978 Rockpalast show
w/ Joni Mitchell, Shadows & Light, 1980
Jaco Pastorius Big Band in Japan, 1982
Word of Mouth (small band), Montreal, 1982

Even on that last one (Montreal), he's sub-par and mostly just phoning it in. Anything after that (like his instructional video) is usually 10 moments of noodling for every moment of brilliance.

There's good Jaco video out there (though not nearly enough) but "Live under the sky" ain't it.

All this IMO, of course.

[steve66]

Not his best performance, but still amazing. Even with the problems he had mentally, Its great that the bass community still many years after his death, continues to play his music and respects him for his talent and contribution. So sad that his life ended very tragically.

[Minger]

Alright, this may be slightly off topic, but does it look like he dumped his pants or something? Something brown just caught my eye down there...not like I was looking or anything...erm, nevermind...

[Marcus Willett]

Originally Posted by Minger

Alright, this may be slightly off topic, but does it look like he dumped his pants or something? Something brown just caught my eye down there...not like I was looking or anything...erm, nevermind...

Might be leftovers from the mud he was covered in at the beginning of the show.

Really....

[Don't_Fret]

I've never seen a crowd so enthusiastic for a bass solo.

[aarono]

I didn't find that video too exciting. The man is skilled but that video definatly did not show his potential.

And sweet christ did he just toss the bass 10 feet in the air at the end?

[Diego]

Originally Posted by superbassman2000

Like Marcus said, its not the Jaco everyone thought they knew at that point...his playing was great in the clip, but mentally, he was checking out...poor guy, i think he is one of the true tragedies of music...a lot of musicians develop a drug habit or something like that, but Jaco was (apparently) born that way, similar to Jimi Hendrix...

Yes, he was BORN like that. He had bipolar disorder apparently (aka. manic depression), a very complex and difficult psychiatric disorder in which very intelligent and/or talented people often can't get a hold on their emotions and turn very depressive or very manic (hyper), hence "bipolar disorder". It is often associated with other psychiatric disturbances, typically OCD, from what I understand, although I'm not sure if JAco had a typical clinical OCD manifestation. He had a clinically clear bipolar diosorder though.

[Visirale]

Wow... he seemed really coked out. Either that or he was just... enthusiastic... but given the year... I'm going to vote for the former.

[Aussiephoenix]

I would have hated to have seen that live... pay my hard earned money to go and see a cooked up junkie flip his bass in the air and noodle around? please... Some things I've seen in the past from him were nothing short of amazing, but this was complete crap as far as Jaco goes...IMO of course.

[Stingraypoindex]

For a much better example check this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSklf...EF7EE9&index=7

[BassManPatsFan]

I feel like i've definitely seen batter Jaco footage even from his declining years.
-Alex

[Vorago]

Shocking to see how different he looks compared to his debut time, he looks all fat and sweaty.