The "what's the big deal about Jaco?" Zombie thread.

[Frugle]

Edit (BB): Since the question of Jaco's greatness comes up a lot and people are unlikely to change their answers, I'll just merge new posts on the subject to this one, creating a "zombie" thread.

Who knows when he'll attack next?



So since coming to these boards, I've heard over and over and over and over again that Jaco is the best bass player in the world.

Now I wanted to see for myself, so I typed jaco into google and got jaco pastorius, and a picture of an extremely ugly dude, whith a jazz. so I figured it was him.

after searching around for a while, I finally found some videos of him playing.


Please let this thread die.. I see I shouldn't have post this.


DISCLAIMER---- this thread is not intended to offend anyone. please change my opinion.


I came up with all this weather report stuff.. that was a little weird? I found something labeled "black market"? does that sound familiar?

the onlything that I could find that indecated it was any type of music, was that they would all play a loud screatching noise at the same time peridically. any other time, they all just seemed to be pecking at their instruments... and the drummer would go off on some wild smashing tangents that did not fit. at all.

the whole time I was listening to it, it reminding me of the napoleon dynomite theme... all accept without a beat in the background to hold it together.




The second thing I found was a video of a solo of his at a jazz fest in 1980. ...well, if you can call it a solo.

I don't understand why people enjoyed this so much... what did he do that made him a good bassist? all he did was tap his fretboard A LOT.. walk around the stage, and every now and then play some scale... tap some more.. make some weird noises in the area of the 18th fret, and then start tapping again?

working in my field, I have met a lot of bassist that could easily play on par with what I heard from these two videos.



so change my mind.


why is jaco so good? why do you TBers see him as a god? did I just see 2 really bad videos? does he have better days?

[Minimaul]

Change your own mind.

This of course isn't ment to offend bassisters or anyone's bassisting.


Some people love him, some don't.

[Mark Latimour]

Why do you list Jaco as an influence in your profile if he so obviously is not?

Some people like exotic food like truffles and foie gras. Other people like McDonalds. Each to their own.

[Frugle]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

Why do you list Jaco as an influence in your profile if he so obviously is not?

Some people like exotic food like truffles and foie gras. Other people like McDonalds. Each to their own.

I actually meant that as a joke thinking people would harm me if i didnt

but there was nothing that had to do with music, why is he so popular?

[Aaron Saunders]

...

Wow.

Good luck on getting an amp so everyone else can hear your wonderful bassisting.

[Discgraham]

Uh, you need to listen to some of his recordings. I'd get his self-titled release, "Jaco Pastorius" and give that a good listen. It sounds like you got crap videos because he will always be considered one of the greatest bassists ever. He was very innovative and really did a lot to reveal the possiblilties of the electric bass to the world. His solo abilility was amazing as was his ability to hold down an awesome groove. He may not be the best when compared with the superbassists of today, but I think most can agree those superbassists would not exist were it not for Jaco's music.

[Frugle]

Originally Posted by Aaron Saunders

...

Wow.

Good luck on getting an amp so everyone else can hear your wonderful bassisting.

read my post again, I NEVER said i was a better bassist than him.. and like I also said, please show me were to look to see where his real skills are. those 2 videos I saw... well, you know what I said.

[Frugle]

Originally Posted by Discgraham

but I think most can agree those superbassists would not exist were it not for Jaco's music.

I didn't think about that, your probably right. It stepped the bass out from being just a background instrament.

[JimmyM]

Wow, that means the guy who started that thread about people saying Jaco was an influence when they didn't know any of his tunes was right! Dude, we owe you an apology!

[Mike Money]

Ya... my view on jaco:

I can totally respect his talent... but he bores me to death.

[tplyons]

For me, I totally respect his music, but it's not my bag of tea. Not only did he bring bass to the forefront, but he also had impeccable phrasing with almost a vocal-like quality. He's not my favorite bassist either, but he's certainly influential in at least a sizable way.

Check out Heavy Weather by Weather Report and his solo album. Listen to the whole album of each to get an idea of what he can do.

[bassybill]

[The Clap]

Frugle, though you think your views warrant Talkbass consideration, there have been multiple Jaco threads recently that started with posts just like yours. There have also, in turn, been extensive replies to your question written in these threads of late.

Also, Frugle, get ahold of Jaco's self-titled ablum and listen to it a number of times to get a good feel for the man.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by The Clap

Frugle, though you think your views warrant Talkbass consideration, there have been multiple Jaco threads recently that started with posts just like yours. There have also, in turn, been extensive replies to your question written in these threads of late.
.

+1

RTFM!!

Is the only comment that sums up my feelings on this....

[Mark Latimour]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

+1

RTFM!!

Is the only comment that sums up my feelings on this....

Of course, you noted that this was a perfect example of that other users point whose thread you poo pooed. Frugle quoted Jaco as an influence without even listening to him. I guess you owe someone an apology, I am sure you are a big enough man to admit when you are wrong.

[Bard2dbone]

Get Joni Mitchell's 'Don Huan's Reckless Daughter' 'Hejira' and/or 'Mingus.'

That's Jaco in a more approachable situation. Maybe you just don't get heavy jazz from the '70's.

When you listen, remember that most electric bass parts recorded by that time sounded more like Country bass does now. There was some other amazing bass before Jaco (Look into James Jamerson!) but it wasn't as far forward in the mix back then. Even if you can't dig him, learn enough to respect him.

[Lackey]

In my opinion the best "intro" Jaco cd would be Pat Metheny's Bright Size Life - Fantastic!

Jaco liked to do his own thing, which sometimes meant that he screwed around more than some of us might find musical, but he plays with so much melody and feel at other times that he more than makes up for any of the harsh vibes he creates.

Jaco and Stanley both knocked down walls in the 70's in my opinion.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

Of course, you noted that this was a perfect example of that other users point whose thread you poo pooed. Frugle quoted Jaco as an influence without even listening to him. I guess you owe someone an apology, I am sure you are a big enough man to admit when you are wrong.

Look _ I wasn't "poo pooing" that thread - whatever that means - I exlained about five times, that what's irritating is the proliferation of these threads - every week (!) now we have threads saying something like - I don't get Jaco - and this one just goes to further prove my point!!

[Bruce Lindfield]

What I'm saying - to make it clear for those like Mark who are slow on the uptake ..

...is why can't these people go and read all the responses to the 500 other Jaco threads round here? Why do they have to start a new thead every week and expect us (the TB regulars) to write out the same thing every time!!

It's very irritating - but maybe that's why they do it....

[Garry Goodman]

I remember calling on an ad at Musician's local 47 in the 70's that read "Wanted; Bass player for Weather Report" I promptly called the number and the guy(Bobby Colomby?) said "we found a guy from Florida'. I replied "Are you auditioning anyone else?" and he said "no, this guy is outrageously good" (click).

At the time,Jaco played in a way that was rarely heard. Fretless through that boss chorus, open harmonics, stacatto 16th note funk lines etc. He really opened peoples ears to a different way of approaching the Bass Guitar.
Remember that back then Stan Clarke and Chris Squire were also opening peoples ears.
It's really east to listen to his version of "Donna Lee" in 2005 and deem it as sloppy,abstract or any of the many comments I've heard from people trashing his performances.
If you listen to our modern "greats" ,more often than not, you will hear a bass player who "soaked" in Jaco's playingh for a while.

Paul McCartney's "Paperback Writer" bass line was the state of the art in 1966.How many guys do that stuff now?

All of the above have a level of musicianship that is undeniable and they had the sound you know so well before anyone else did.
I saw jaco play live a number of times.Once he threw his bass across the floor of the stage,still plugged in, then from out of his back pocket he whips out a baseball cap ,puts it on ,and runs,then slides into "Bass".He opened that show playing drums because Erskine was late.

So he was a unique personality,a showman, a musician' s musician and developed a strong,original bass concept that affected others.So many of our modern bass "greats" are influenced by Jaco, that they border at times on being clones.It is easy, for the uninformed player who hears Jaco for the first time, to say he sounds like the 125 guys who consider themselves great players....because they can sound similar to Jaco. He did it first. If you removed Jaco's influence from some of the guys many TBer's think are the best players today, the influence that those players used to measure excellence would be missing.They wouldn't play the same way.