bassists who don't like jaco

[werbo1]

He is Good.

I find, though, that it always takes a few listens for real "good" tunes to shine through. It's just a brain overload at first

 

[Fred Hammon]

OK.
I also downloaded the two videos in question.
They are truly disappointing.
This is why I asked that question earlier.
There are many times (most actually) that Hendrix sucked live. He would totally blow off a huge stadium full of people with a lackluster ( stoned out - out of tune etc.) performance and then go burn the house down at a local club jamming with friends afterword.
What was most uncomfortable to me about Jaco's performances here was how hungry the crowd was for him to do his "stuff". They were BEGGING and having to be grateful (which I suppose they were) with whatever bone he felt like throwing them.

You're right Harps. If this was the only exposure I had to Pastorius I'd have to say.."I don't get it"......except for one thing. His tone and style came through if even a little bit. Nobody does (did) Jaco like Jaco. Even on his worst day.

 

[Thunderbird91]

Every time I hear some one cutting down another musician I love to refer to the quote "In The Arena" by Teddy Roosevelt. Here it is.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Now I realize you said that his songs are good but just try to think about this before you critize another musician or anyone for that matter.

 

[dabass]

What's really sad is that Jaco probably had so much more to give musically....

 

[Tbirdbassist]

Most definitely.

 

[Matt Till]

Hey! It's the weekly anti Jaco thread!! These are always.......... stupid

 

[Mystic Michael]

I downloaded 2 videos of Jaco solo's called "Montreal Jazz Festival 80" and "Live under the sky 84" and all he does for 5 minutes is play some little tunes that only last about 3 seconds. Then he slaps his bass a bit and goes for a wonder around for a bit,then plays some more random 3 second tunes. I thought he was supposed to be good but although his songs are good these solos are terrible.

Wait, don't tell me: You're 15 years old, you never heard of Jaco until just a few weeks ago, and you don't understand what the big deal is, because "heck, everybody can play like that, can't they?"

There's nothing anybody can tell ya. Maybe Fieldy has an instructional video you can buy...

MM

 

[jerry]

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

I was going to post the Marcus Miller quote form The Word Is Out album, but that's even better! That wouldn't been a bad sticky for this forum. Thanks for that!

 

[steve66]

I am always inspired to play after I hear something from Jaco. When I first heard River People, I knew I had to listen to everything he done. To bad your first impression was unfavorable. There are a few books out there on Jaco's life that is worth reading. You will understand what he was going through mentally. His life ended tragically because of his. Some say he was genius. I remember listening to some Weather Report CD with Jaco on Bass. My 8 yr old son asked me who was on bass. I said Jaco. I told him that Jaco claimed to be "the best bass player in the world", my son replied "I believe that".

 

[bigtexashonk]

"Brilliant goods in a damaged package."

 

[jerry]

"Brilliant goods in a damaged package."

Nice title for a CD!

 

[FaithNoMan]

Hey! It's the weekly anti Jaco thread!! These are always.......... stupid

Haha, yeah..

 

[machine gewehr]

I have these 2 videos and like he says Jaco plays short bass parts,not too fancy stuff,but cool anyway 'cause it's JACO
You shouldn't have said they are terrible,thats wrong attitude to have.If we want something tasty with my brother we sit and watch these videos.And he's asking why he plays like that short parts he is not bashing Jaco.Well if he's bashing Jaco...well....Who the hell are "WE" to bash Jaco in forums???

 

[ras1983]

someone should post a link to the america the beautiful solo vid. fantastic.

i never liked jaco's playing at first, but after i started getting lessons and learned some theory, i saw jaco's playing in a different way. before lessons i saw his music as random notes that anyone could play. after lessons i realise he was actually following the chord changes, and his plucking/fretting speed really is something to be amazed at.

but what defines jaco for me is his use of pinch and open harmonics. this guy was WWWAAAAAAYYYYYY ahead of the game in this regard. he was an absolute genius.

the more i learn, the more i appreciate jaco's playing.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

I think that there's no doubt that Jaco really deteriorated towards the end of his short life (many stories ) and he was taken into Mental Hospitals and his mental state finally ended up getting him killed.

It's a truly tragic story as nowadays, this kind of condition can be treated and controlled ...

Everybody who has written disparagingly in this thread needs to read Jaco's daughter's article here :

Invalid Link Removed

"Just Daddy to me..."

 

[Marcus Willett]

I downloaded 2 videos of Jaco solo's called "Montreal Jazz Festival 80" and "Live under the sky 84" and all he does for 5 minutes is play some little tunes that only last about 3 seconds. Then he slaps his bass a bit and goes for a wonder around for a bit,then plays some more random 3 second tunes. I thought he was supposed to be good but although his songs are good these solos are terrible.

If you're talking about the videos I think you are (The Montreal Jazz Fest is from '82 AFAIK and as you said, "Live under the sky" with the Gil Evans Orchestra is from '84) the you are watching Jaco past his glory days. At this point, his condition had deteriorated to the point where he was indeed just rambling and rehashing old licks and cliches.

If you are able, check out (what I consider to be some of Jaco's baddest playing ever) the Trilogue:Live! DVD. This is a concert of Jaco with Alphonse Mouzon (drums) and Albert Mangelsdorff (trombone) in Nov 1976. Jaco in his prime baby, and he is SMOKIN'. This DVD has recently re-surfaced...a google search will turn one up. Still good, but not quite as much is the 1978 Weather Report show in Germany shown on the Rockpalast show (now being sold as "Young and fine"). There is also a 1976 Montreux show, but his playing is more reserved...this is allegedly one of Jaco's first shows with WR.

I have the "Live under the sky" vid, and agree it is not one of his finer moments. There is also a vid of his Word of Mouth big band in Japan in late 1982. Jaco has some moments of brilliance on this, though this is around the time that Erskine says (in Milkowski's book) that Jaco started getting weird.

In summary, Jaco is as bad-ass as you've heard. Finding video documentation of this is tough, but it's out there.

 

[Funkzfly]

In fairness though, even if he made 2 poor solos (when he wasn't in his prime I might add), the 3459034575 brilliant solos he took kind of outweighs most of the poor playing on just two occasions.

You might not like his style, but Jaco was incredible.

 

[TheJimster]

Hey Jaco is the best bass player to roam teh earth in most people's opinions. If you're looking for a good song to listen to try Punk Jazz Revisited.

is Jaco good?

 

[FunkKing]

Theres a sweet vid of him performing 'Portrait of Tracy' at Link Removed.

It's ace.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

I've been as inspired and influenced by Jaco as nearly anybody here, I think, and somewhere I even wrote a lengthy defense of his legacy ... but I think we're maybe being a tad too hard on our young original poster. Clearly, he hasn't heard that much of the "good stuff"--or hasn't quite gotten it if he has heard it--but he has a perfect right to watch a couple of videos and say, hey, I didn't think that was very good. Anybody does. It's not a crime or anything.

And you know what? Bruce is right, by that time in his life Jaco's tragic deterioration had started, by all accounts, and he really wasn't playing as well as he once had, certainly not consistently. In fact, by the end of his life, he was sometimes playing, IMHO, flat-out LOUSY. Lousy by his own standards, and lousy by general good bass playing standards. I'll never forget being so excited to go see him live in a small NYC club (I'd already seen him in bigger halls a number of times), and then being so disappointed I felt like weeping.

To me, and I'm sure to many others, some of the Jaco material out there just isn't that good. There's nothing wrong with saying so, if you think so. It doesn't change the beauty and importance of his best work.