ALPHONSO JOHNSON BACK IN THE DAY!!!

[Jazzomaniac]

Go back and read your previous posts... you really seemed to have a hard time believing AJ wasn't influenced by Jaco even though AJ was a predecessor of Jaco. And I'll ask again... what is there to explain? I honestly don't understand the request. Do you not understand, as has been said multiple times, that he already had a well developed style which he still has today? What more "proof" do you want?


Yes, he was as good as he was in that clip before Jaco. Is that really an explanation?


So what do you think Jaco's influence on him was? To sound more like himself?



And because of this solo, you have a hard time believing others might not have been influenced by him at the time? I'll PM you my email address, can't wait to hear it.

Stating that someone is a respected soloist and then adding that most people hadn't heard at the time is odd. Like one hand clapping or a tree falling in the forest when no one's around.

Edit: is this it?

Okay.



How much does you lack of knowledge factor into that? I mean no offense... you clearly weren't even aware of AJ's contributions yet you kept stating what you have a hard time believing about him? How much sense does that make? Maybe more research into a period many of us are all too familiar with will help.

I guess that millions of people around the world are wrong about Jaco then. But I admit that my knowledge of AJ is kind of hollow, but it's not like I haven't any of his music at all. I have heard his work with Weather Report. Besides, Jaco made such an impact on bass-playing that he made most bassists re-evaluate their approach. Some became so-called "Jaco-clones", some merely started playing the fretless, some chose to copy a few of his licks, some just focused on building speed, explore the possibilties of what could be done in a soloing context etc. A huge amount of bass-players changed their whole attitude towards bass-playing because of Jaco. Yes, AJ didn't/doesn't sound remotely like Jaco. So( like I explained ), the only way he might have been influenced was the inspiration it brought to see a fellow bass-player add a whole new dimension to bass-playing. Maybe he thought to himself: "Even though I'm a respected player with a long list of merits and great chops, maybe I can become EVEN better? Perhaps there is even more to explore in bass-playing, maybe I can innovate the bass for the second time in my career and do something that even Jaco isn't doing".

Do you see the point I'm illustrating? It seems that the definition of what it means to be influenced by someone varies greatly around here( not that it's not healthy for a discussion/debate).



And yes, the link you posted has the clip with the "Higher"-solo. But I have the complete version( lasts for over 12 minutes) which is music only without any spoken words. If you liked the youtube-clip, I'm sure you're gonna like the complete song as well. I can send it to you if you're interested in hearing the complete song.

 

[Brad Johnson]

I guess that millions of people around the world are wrong about Jaco then.

Absolutely. I doubt that millions of people around the world are even aware of him. But that hyperbole only feeds into your stance.

But I admit that my knowledge of AJ is kind of hollow, but it's not like I haven't any of his music at all. I have heard his work with Weather Report.

You've heard enough to know who he is but not what he did and does. Is that still not clear? Not sure what part of "he was around long before his Weather Report work" is not sinking in?

Besides, Jaco made such an impact on bass-playing that he made most bassists re-evaluate their approach.

Seriously...


When will you realize that dog still won't hunt?

This mindset of yours is seriously time challenged not to mention equally myopic. He did not make most bassists re-evaluate their approach. YOU'RE PROJECTING. Yes, he was so all encompassing that he had an influence on the work of bassists who were working before he was around.


Do you get how silly that is? Everyone didn't run back to the drawing board because of Jaco. Many people had already developed their own voice on the instrument. Does Rocco seem to be influenced by Jaco? Paul Jackson? Jamerson? Chris Squire? Stanley Clarke? Bootsy? John Entwistle?

Some became so-called "Jaco-clones", some merely started playing the fretless, some chose to copy a few of his licks, some just focused on building speed, explore the possibilties of what could be done in a soloing context etc. A huge amount of bass-players changed their whole attitude towards bass-playing because of Jaco. Yes, AJ didn't/doesn't sound remotely like Jaco. So( like I explained ), the only way he might have been influenced was the inspiration it brought to see a fellow bass-player add a whole new dimension to bass-playing. Maybe he thought to himself: "Even though I'm a respected player with a long list of merits and great chops, maybe I can become EVEN better? Perhaps there is even more to explore in bass-playing, maybe I can innovate the bass for the second time in my career and do something that even Jaco isn't doing".

Impenetrable. This much is clear. You're still saying the same thing with no leg to stand on. You really need to think that Jaco was omnipresent. He wasn't. Sorry.

Do you see the point I'm illustrating? It seems that the definition of what it means to be influenced by someone varies greatly around here( not that it's not healthy for a discussion/debate).

Yes I do... and the more you try to support it, the more off-base and desperate it seems. No offense. I really don't understand someone who thinks like you do on this topic. I tried. You're debating something of which on one side you have no more than a passing knowledge. Why?

And yes, the link you posted has the clip with the "Higher"-solo. But I have the complete version( lasts for over 12 minutes) which is music only without any spoken words. If you liked the youtube-clip, I'm sure you're gonna like the complete song as well. I can send it to you if you're interested in hearing the complete song.

I didn't. There were a lot of misses on that one. No more than an observation, not a criticism. If I'd heard it back in 1971 I would've been more impressed (I was impressed by different things when I was younger) but considering the soloing I was aware of on upright at the time, it would not have stood my world on end. I'm pretty sure AJ was aware of other Jazz soloists too. So was Jaco. And believe it or not, others were soloing like that in bands I'm sure you never heard of. The 70's was a time of exploration for many people.

Two contemporary electric bass/R&B solos would be Bob Babbitt on Dennis Coffey's "Scorpio" and Wille Weeks on Donnie Hathaway's "Everything is Everything". Those were very well known at the time and if you made a case for AJ being influenced by those groove based solos, I'd take no exception to it. AJ was one of the first EB guys who's solos didn't sound like a collection of licks IMO.


I can't put this any more plainly than I already have so I'll leave you with your hypothesis.

 

[bottomzone]

But I admit that my knowledge of AJ is kind of hollow, but it's not like I haven't any of his music at all. I have heard his work with Weather Report... Some became so-called "Jaco-clones", some merely started playing the fretless, some chose to copy a few of his licks, some just focused on building speed, explore the possibilties of what could be done in a soloing context etc. A huge amount of bass-players changed their whole attitude towards bass-playing because of Jaco..... Maybe he thought to himself: "Even thugh I'm a respected player with a long list of merits and great chops, maybe I can become EVEN better? Perhaps there is even more to explore in bass-playing, maybe I can innovate the bass for the second time in my career and do something that even Jaco isn't doing".

Here is a link to an Alphonso Johnson discography which is evidence of his versatility and influence regarding his skills. There is a whole lot to him that what he did with Weather Report.

http://www.cduniverse.com/sresult.a...tist&HT_Search_Info=Alphonso+Johnson&seeall=1

Yes, there are a lot of Jaco clones, and that's all that they are-clones. Alphonso is not one of them-he is an original template.

All of us want to, or at least should, aspire to become even better. I highly doubt that Alphonso singled out Jaco as the gold standard to shoot for and overtake. He was already an established and respected bassist before Jaco came along. I'm sure that Alpjonso was influenced by those bassists that were already doing their thing before he came along.

Again, taking nothing away from Jaco and his legacy, but Alphonso stands on his own as a bassist, fretless or otherwise.

A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

 

[Jazzomaniac]

@Brad Johnson


You have to consider that there are about 6 billion
inhabitants on this planet so 10 or even 20 million people
isn't a very huge amount in proportion to that figure.


Anyway, I apologize for using a very narrow and partial
debate-technique in this particular discussion. Perhaps the original poster also think that I destroyed what was
intended with this thread, and I apologize for that. My appreciation for Jaco's music goes close to what might be perceived as idolization. But it's more complex than just the fact that I listen to his music for hours to an end practically every day. Even the first time I heard his music, I immediately understood that my life was changed. There was just something about his melodic lines, harmonics, groove, timing, amazing technique, choice of notes and beautiful compositions that was instantly appealing. This appreciation has grown proportionally to the amount of research I've done to acquire as many of his recordings as possible, both official ones and rare bootlegs. I've always found music to be highly meditative( I'm sure this applies to all genuine fans of music), but especially so with Jaco's music. At the time when I discovered Jaco's music( 2003), I was experiencing a really troubling time on this earth. I was actually staying at a psychiatric hospital at the time to recover from paranoia, delusions and hallucinations. It was a living nightmare and I found Jaco's music to have an incredibly therapeutic effect on me. I'm not attributing my recovery to his music alone, but it certainly had an immense role to play. I'm usually very objective when it comes to debating, but when it comes to Jaco I almost always get so clouded that I resort to desperate measures to defend whatever I'm discussing. I have to realize that( even though he was unusually talented as a musican) even he wasn't without weaknesses. He was a human being and didn't all of a sudden start playing like he did. It wasn't like he had been isolated from the rest of the world and all of sudden was released to society. Especially in his early years, his work-ethic and dicipline when it came to wanting to improve as musician was fantastic. He practiced a lot, and he would play with all kinds of bands. Often starting gigs from early evening playing until dawn next morning. All this combined with his openness to music and great ear made him the player he became around the time of his debut-album. I know he listed a lot of influences, but even though I know all this( and pretty much all that has ever been written and told about his life to the public) I seem to "forget" a lot of it whenever Jaco's impact on music and bass-playing is discussed.
So my appreciation can reach the extent of it appearing as I think Jaco was some kind deity who was above all others. I've read through this thread, and I can understand if my way of debating under this particular topic can be perceived as myopic. The more than ordinary appreciation I have for Jaco's music combined with the inclination I have towards being paranoid and delusional, is responsible for me often going way overboard when he's discussed even when there's almost a non-existent foundation to support my claims.


But regarding any other topic( under music, film, politics, history, science, religion etc.) my mindset is never myopic. I think you all can see that my other posts here on this site have been based on facts and an unbiased and objective manner of thinking. But if the majority of the people here think I'm a menace and that reading my posts is annoying then I will leave talkbass in peace and start discussing music and posting recordings elsewhere.
Sorry for taking so much of the attention in this thread, but I felt I had to explain why I sometimes act the way I do on talkbass. I hope you now understand that I'm not an arrogant ego-maniac without empathy or respect for others opinions.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

It's not about Jaco having "weaknesses." It's just that Jaco was a great bassist at a time when many great bassists were making an impact. During the Seventies there was Larry Graham who totally changed bass with his slap licks. Stanley Clarke turned the world upside down. Chris Squire and John Wetton blew up prog rock. Percy Jones was a monster fretless player. It was Percy who got me playing false harmonics, not Jaco. Anthony Jackson turned it out with his pick, flanger, and detuning. Marcus Miller took slapping to another level at the end of the Seventies. Jaco was certainly an influence on me, but certainly not the only one.

I think many of us from that era feel the same.

 

[bottomzone]

@Brad Johnson


You have to consider that there are about 6 billion
inhabitants on this planet so 10 or even 20 million people
isn't a very huge amount in proportion to that figure.


Anyway, I apologize for using a very narrow and partial
debate-technique in this particular discussion. Perhaps the original poster also think that I destroyed what was
intended with this thread, and I apologize for that. My appreciation for Jaco's music goes close to what might be perceived as idolization. But it's more complex than just the fact that I listen to his music for hours to an end practically every day. Even the first time I heard his music, I immediately understood that my life was changed. There was just something about his melodic lines, harmonics, groove, timing, amazing technique, choice of notes and beautiful compositions that was instantly appealing. This appreciation has grown proportionally to the amount of research I've done to acquire as many of his recordings as possible, both official ones and rare bootlegs. I've always found music to be highly meditative( I'm sure this applies to all genuine fans of music), but especially so with Jaco's music. At the time when I discovered Jaco's music( 2003), I was experiencing a really troubling time on this earth. I was actually staying at a psychiatric hospital at the time to recover from paranoia, delusions and hallucinations. It was a living nightmare and I found Jaco's music to have an incredibly therapeutic effect on me. I'm not attributing my recovery to his music alone, but it certainly had an immense role to play. I'm usually very objective when it comes to debating, but when it comes to Jaco I almost always get so clouded that I resort to desperate measures to defend whatever I'm discussing. I have to realize that( even though he was unusually talented as a musican) even he wasn't without weaknesses. He was a human being and didn't all of a sudden start playing like he did. It wasn't like he had been isolated from the rest of the world and all of sudden was released to society. Especially in his early years, his work-ethic and dicipline when it came to wanting to improve as musician was fantastic. He practiced a lot, and he would play with all kinds of bands. Often starting gigs from early evening playing until dawn next morning. All this combined with his openness to music and great ear made him the player he became around the time of his debut-album. I know he listed a lot of influences, but even though I know all this( and pretty much all that has ever been written and told about his life to the public) I seem to "forget" a lot of it whenever Jaco's impact on music and bass-playing is discussed.
So my appreciation can reach the extent of it appearing as I think Jaco was some kind deity who was above all others. I've read through this thread, and I can understand if my way of debating under this particular topic can be perceived as myopic. The more than ordinary appreciation I have for Jaco's music combined with the inclination I have towards being paranoid and delusional, is responsible for me often going way overboard when he's discussed even when there's almost a non-existent foundation to support my claims.


But regarding any other topic( under music, film, politics, history, science, religion etc.) my mindset is never myopic. I think you all can see that my other posts here on this site have been based on facts and an unbiased and objective manner of thinking. But if the majority of the people here think I'm a menace and that reading my posts is annoying then I will leave talkbass in peace and start discussing music and posting recordings elsewhere.
Sorry for taking so much of the attention in this thread, but I felt I had to explain why I sometimes act the way I do on talkbass. I hope you now understand that I'm not an arrogant ego-maniac without empathy or respect for others opinions.

I don't feel that an apology is necessary!!! One thing that seems to be expected here on TB is healthy debate-and I'm cool with that!

As far as my personal influences, Jaco is definitely one of them. If I had to cite the one bassist who drew me to playing bass, then I would have to say it's Stanley Clarke! Again, it's not just Stanley, either. Others who have hijacked my ear are Alphonso, Louis Johnson, Anthony Jackson, Danny Wilson (Jeff Lorber Fusion), Larry Graham, James Jamerson, Marcus, Bunney Brunnel, Abarham Laboriel, Mark Adams, Randy Jackson, Nathan East, John Patitucci, Adam Nitti, Norm Stockton, Lincoln Goines, Jimmy Earl, Fred Hammond, Reggie Young, Darrell Freeman, etc.

My original intent with this thread was to give props to Alphonso-that's it. Whatever tangential debates are spawned as a result of this post, so be it!!

A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

 

[Brad Johnson]

@Brad Johnson


You have to consider that there are about 6 billion
inhabitants on this planet so 10 or even 20 million people
isn't a very huge amount in proportion to that figure.

If you think MILLIONS know about Jaco I'm pretty sure you're mistaken. Sometimes we think our world reflects the world at large and often it doesn't. Jaco worked in a sub genre of a genre that had limited appeal, relatively speaking, to begin with.

Anyway, I apologize for using a very narrow and partial
debate-technique in this particular discussion. Perhaps the original poster also think that I destroyed what was
intended with this thread, and I apologize for that. My appreciation for Jaco's music goes close to what might be perceived as idolization.

Bingo! It appears to be more than close to... it's full blown. BTW no need to for an apology. Jaco had that affect on many people.

But it's more complex than just the fact that I listen to his music for hours to an end practically every day.

That in itself is telling. Here's a basic problem I see with that personally... if I did that I'd have little time to listen many of the other fantastic, diverse and quite interesting musicians out there.

Even the first time I heard his music, I immediately understood that my life was changed. There was just something about his melodic lines, harmonics, groove, timing, amazing technique, choice of notes and beautiful compositions that was instantly appealing. This appreciation has grown proportionally to the amount of research I've done to acquire as many of his recordings as possible, both official ones and rare bootlegs. I've always found music to be highly meditative( I'm sure this applies to all genuine fans of music), but especially so with Jaco's music. At the time when I discovered Jaco's music( 2003), I was experiencing a really troubling time on this earth. I was actually staying at a psychiatric hospital at the time to recover from paranoia, delusions and hallucinations. It was a living nightmare and I found Jaco's music to have an incredibly therapeutic effect on me. I'm not attributing my recovery to his music alone, but it certainly had an immense role to play. I'm usually very objective when it comes to debating, but when it comes to Jaco I almost always get so clouded that I resort to desperate measures to defend whatever I'm discussing. I have to realize that( even though he was unusually talented as a musican) even he wasn't without weaknesses. He was a human being and didn't all of a sudden start playing like he did. It wasn't like he had been isolated from the rest of the world and all of sudden was released to society. Especially in his early years, his work-ethic and dicipline when it came to wanting to improve as musician was fantastic. He practiced a lot, and he would play with all kinds of bands. Often starting gigs from early evening playing until dawn next morning. All this combined with his openness to music and great ear made him the player he became around the time of his debut-album. I know he listed a lot of influences, but even though I know all this( and pretty much all that has ever been written and told about his life to the public) I seem to "forget" a lot of it whenever Jaco's impact on music and bass-playing is discussed.

I'm genuinely happy that his work helped you. I'm not taking anything away from Jaco... I'm also not taking anything away from Alphonso. He was a big early influence on me. He wasn't doing what everyone else was doing, he had his own thing happening and I appreciated it. Jaco was also an influence. The thing I strove for was to be a clone of neither. We already had both of them.

So my appreciation can reach the extent of it appearing as I think Jaco was some kind deity who was above all others. I've read through this thread, and I can understand if my way of debating under this particular topic can be perceived as myopic. The more than ordinary appreciation I have for Jaco's music combined with the inclination I have towards being paranoid and delusional, is responsible for me often going way overboard when he's discussed even when there's almost a non-existent foundation to support my claims.


But regarding any other topic( under music, film, politics, history, science, religion etc.) my mindset is never myopic. I think you all can see that my other posts here on this site have been based on facts and an unbiased and objective manner of thinking. But if the majority of the people here think I'm a menace and that reading my posts is annoying then I will leave talkbass in peace and start discussing music and posting recordings elsewhere.
Sorry for taking so much of the attention in this thread, but I felt I had to explain why I sometimes act the way I do on talkbass. I hope you now understand that I'm not an arrogant ego-maniac without empathy or respect for others opinions.

I have no problem with your participation in this thread, we just disagree on some points. It happens. I look forward to conversing with you on other topics, some we might even agree on, who knows? Take care.

 

[Brad Johnson]

I don't feel that an apology is necessary!!! One thing that seems to be expected here on TB is healthy debate-and I'm cool with that!

As far as my personal influences, Jaco is definitely one of them. If I had to cite the one bassist who drew me to playing bass, then I would have to say it's Stanley Clarke! Again, it's not just Stanley, either. Others who have hijacked my ear are Alphonso, Louis Johnson, Anthony Jackson, Danny Wilson (Jeff Lorber Fusion), Larry Graham, James Jamerson, Marcus, Bunney Brunnel, Abarham Laboriel, Mark Adams, Randy Jackson, Nathan East, John Patitucci, Adam Nitti, Norm Stockton, Lincoln Goines, Jimmy Earl, Fred Hammond, Reggie Young, Darrell Freeman, etc.

My original intent with this thread was to give props to Alphonso-that's it. Whatever tangential debates are spawned as a result of this post, so be it!!

A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

Props to Danny Wilson, a real unsung killer ensemble player. I always wondered what happened to him and Dennis Bradford from the JLF. I think most people know where the sax player ended up

And I'd add Nathaniel Phillips to that list that mirrors my own.

 

[jerry]

Props to Danny Wilson, a real unsung killer ensemble player. I always wondered what happened to him and Dennis Bradford from the JLF. I think most people know where the sax player ended up

Danny is living out here and giving lessons.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

And I'd add Nathaniel Phillips to that list that mirrors my own.

Pleasure indeed! Nathaniel Phillips played one of the best solos I have ever heard to this day in 1980. He even overshadowed Mark Adams and Slave that evening.

 

[JimK]

Danny is living out here and giving lessons.

Life is good!

 

[Jazzomaniac]

If you think MILLIONS know about Jaco I'm pretty sure you're mistaken. Sometimes we think our world reflects the world at large and often it doesn't. Jaco worked in a sub genre of a genre that had limited appeal, relatively speaking, to begin with.


That in itself is telling. Here's a basic problem I see with that personally... if I did that I'd have little time to listen many of the other fantastic, diverse and quite interesting musicians out there.



I'm genuinely happy that his work helped you. I'm not taking anything away from Jaco... I'm also not taking anything away from Alphonso. He was a big early influence on me. He wasn't doing what everyone else was doing, he had his own thing happening and I appreciated it. Jaco was also an influence. The thing I strove for was to be a clone of neither. We already had both of them.




I have no problem with your participation in this thread, we just disagree on some points. It happens. I look forward to conversing with you on other topics, some we might even agree on, who knows? Take care.

I think that there are millions in only Japan alone. Think about it. Japan consists of about 127 million inhabitants, and the Japanese are in general a very cultivated people. And given that jazz is immensely popular there( probably more popular than in any other country) and that Jaco is one of the most popular artists in that genre with an almost royal status,
it is highly likely that the amount of people who are not only aware of Jaco but also fans exceeds many millions. And then there's the rest of the world...
I think that Jaco's fan-base is larger than what you might think. He just doesn't get that much attention in the cynical and overly commercialized part of music-promotion which dominates the music-scene of today.


And about the huge amounts of time I've spent listening to his music: You must remember from when I was about 16 til very recently I've had various stays at psychiatric hospitals, and even when I wasn't admitted there I was usually in a psychotic state. Sometimes my hallucinations deprived me of sleep for days to an end so I would even listen to music all night including most of the daytime. I basically had a LOT of time to listen to music, so even if a few hours a day devoted exclusively to Jaco seems a lot to you it really isn't that much if you look at it from that perspective. My record-collection is extensive and diverse, with everything from Art Tatum to Steely Dan. I have 3000+ plus cd's in my collection either on my computer or in shelves( both official and unofficial), and of course there's a lot of artists I'm familar with and have listened to even though I don't necessarily have full cd's or concert-recordings of them. I listen a lot to music from youtube, I download individual songs, I tune in to various internet radio-stations and I listen to music that friends and family play when I'm in their company. So I consider myself well studied in music. But of course it's not possible to be familiar with every single artist and recording in music-history, even if you were to devote all the time you had to that cause for the rest of your life. But I try to explore as much music as possible, and I do not only limit myself to jazz or jazz-oriented genres. Sometimes I come across music that I absolutely love, sometimes not.


As a sidenote:

I think humanity as a whole all agree that music is the most important way of expression in art, and is very effective in terms of bringing people together. Of course some of it goes beyond mere taste and cannot be truly understood other than by people who have been brought up in a certain culture from birth. For example, I doubt that I would ever truly understand something that people from an isolated village in the middle of nowhere in Papua New Guinea were playing on some rare handcrafted instrument while singing some melodies that could be traced back to ancient times. Some things are just culturally determined. Anyway, point is that music is invaluable as a communicative tool. Sometimes I wonder if it is the glue of this planet.

 

[Eggman]

Wow - thanks for sharing the video in the original post. Believe it or not - I saw that performance live. Was 16 and traveled to Montreux with a jazz-big band. We played at the Hall of Congress as part of the festival. Had tickets to the main stage all week. An awesome experience. The video brought back some great memories.

 

[narud]

Wow - thanks for sharing the video in the original post. Believe it or not - I saw that performance live. Was 16 and traveled to Montreux with a jazz-big band. We played at the Hall of Congress as part of the festival. Had tickets to the main stage all week. An awesome experience. The video brought back some great memories.

Awesome! my old community college jazz band teacher would show the weather report video from montreux that year in the jazz appreciation class and talk about that being the first year the school went out to montreux and watching it from the audience.

 

[Hoover]

Yes, AJ didn't/doesn't sound remotely like Jaco.

Great, finally got that outta the way...

 

[Joebone]

Sheesh!

Everbody influences everybody; like it or not, we are all the sum total of all that we've heard before.

Who cares who came first? Actually it's not an entirely puerile question. But the real issue is how do we each resolve and manifest all that we've heard, synthesizing it into our own thing. And our own thing is gonna reflect not only our musical influences, but all other aspects of our physical, psychic and intellectual being.

Me, I don't hear any major Jaco influence in Alphonso Johnson's playing. And having spent some time around Jaco in the mid-'80s as he was sliding into a bad mental place, and having met Alphonso Johnson twice, I'm here to tell you I can't imagine two more different folks. So I'm not surprised that they don't at all sound alike to me!

Which is not to take anything away from either of them - each exceptional musicians, pursuing different directions, as befits us all.

The good news is that this thread has hopefully elevated awareness of Alphonso Johnson.

And it's also made me realize that "AJ from Philly" could be either Alphonso Johnson or Anthony Jackson. Ponder that one for a while!

 

[Eggman]

Awesome! my old community college jazz band teacher would show the weather report video from montreux that year in the jazz appreciation class and talk about that being the first year the school went out to montreux and watching it from the audience.

Saw them live too!

 

[bottomzone]

Props to Danny Wilson, a real unsung killer ensemble player. I always wondered what happened to him and Dennis Bradford from the JLF. I think most people know where the sax player ended up

And I'd add Nathaniel Phillips to that list that mirrors my own.

I had the pleasure of seeing Danny and Dennis with the JLF on a number of occasions-they put it down!!!

+100 on Nate Phillips! As much time as I spent listening to Pleasure, how could I have forgotten to mention him??? While I'm lucid, I'll also give props to Dexter Redding, Byron Miller, Michael Wiley (Dazz Band), Jimmy Johnson, Aaron Mills, Derrick Graves, Cedric Napoleon, Sean O'Brien Smith, Nelson Braxton, Mike Arnopol and Jeff Berlin. I know I'm forgetting somebody, but you get my point.

A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

 

[JimK]

And given that jazz is immensely popular there( probably more popular than in any other country) and that Jaco is one of the most popular artists in that genre with an almost royal status...

Someone once gave me an issue of Ad Lib (a music mag from Japan)...in it were the fan polls of "Best" this & "Best" that. Something akin to the Downbeat Readers' Poll.
Jaco was still #1 on electric bass...years after his death. C'mon, folks...

No one has mentioned that Jaco's gig with Weather Report required that he play some AJ Weather Report tunes. "Elegant People" is one that comes to mind...not sure if JP ever did "Cucumber Slumber". Seems like that one woulda been a natural.

And 100% agree that AJ & JP were about as different as two earthilings could get.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

Sean O'Brien Smith,

Which Sean O'Brien Smith?