Can anyone really play LIKE Jaco?

[KellyC]

Hadrien Feraud

Feraud is the best current jazz soloist on bass that I’m aware of. Deep well of musical understanding, technique that allows him to play at any tempo with subtlety and nuance. My only critique would be that these days, he seems to be focused on the bass solely as a soloing instrument rather than cooking up sick grooves for us. I wish he put in more time making music with the bass in a more traditional role.

 

[Pings Bass]

People are weirdly unoriginal

 

[Gluvhand]

Ladies with Voice and Stage Image (Brooklyn NY)








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This is his current ad for a singer. He left out the "White Pearls/Caucasians only" because it keeps getting flagged.

 

[MCF]

There are guys out there who have Jaco's chops because it's been 50 years since Jaco demonstrated for up and coming players the possibilities with the bass.

The "no vets" part is weird...do they mean no seasoned players, or no one who is ex-military?

Weird.

I also believe that any band with the chops to match a Jaco-esque bassist already knows a couple of Jaco-esque bassists. So if they are that good, why do they need Craigslist to find a professional player of that caliber?

They lost me at 15” 300 watt combo.

 

[Nek07]

Again, it’s not a matter of opinion or taste. Jaco was hands-down one of the most influential electric bass players of all time. Aside from James Jamerson, it’s hard to even name anyone else with a similar level of influence.

In many ways, Jaco is like the Louis Armstrong of bass. He changed the way people approach the instrument, especially in jazz. I prefer to listen to Freddie Hubbard on trumpet usually, but that in no way diminishes the breakthroughs and influence Louis achieved.

That is your opinion, and you are trying to enforce it on me.
I also know tons of bass player who would not care (or know) of Jaco, and that is also fine.
Jaco has influence over a little part of the bass world, the one who care for virtuoso playing and what is mostly free jazz to me played with a fretless bass.
There is plenty other genres with bass player as valuable as Jaco in their genre as Larry Graham or Markus Miller for funk and slap, Flea, Paul Simonon or even Mark Hoppus in the Punk or Rock genre...and tons of others who have way more reach in the mainstream music world than Jaco.
He is very important for a niche genre, that I am ok with, but more than that...well, I am not.
Anyway, this tread is not on is that guy important or not, but can someone can play as he do, do you?

 

[gln1955]

Ladies with Voice and Stage Image (Brooklyn NY)








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This is his current ad for a singer. He left out the "White Pearls/Caucasians only" because it keeps getting flagged.

I am shocked that he can't find a professional level singer with this ad.

 

[MuseChaser]

.... But with the advant of modern technology, it's really easy to become an amazing musician given enough dedication. And while people with a lot of dedication are somewhat rare, there are still millions of musicians out there....

I think, rather than technology making ".. it really easy to become an amazing musician," the definition of "musician" has changed... A great deal. The vast majority of today's "musicians" amaze me only in that so many consumers consider them to actually BE musicians.

Becoming an amazing musician takes decades of time, unwavering dedication, and hours of practice daily. Technology hasn't changed that one bit. As with so many things, we've changed the definition. I've done a lot of the maintenance and some pretty major repairs on my cars over the years. Does that make me a mechanic? I can sweat pipes and do all of our plumbing. Am I a plumber? I can do some rudimentary house wiring, do basic speaker and crossover design, and even repair the odd piece of audio gear. Am I an electrician or electrical engineer?

The answer to my questions, just in case it isn't obvious, is "NO." I do not have near the skills, expertise, nor experience of REAL mechanics, plumbers, electricians, and engineers. Yet... Everybody's a musician. It's easy.

Yeah. Right.

I do agree that Jaco was a one-off, incredible pioneer, and won't ever be duplicated, but that's not musicians do. We take the influences of the greats we admire absorbing as much as we can, and over decades our own new voices emerge. No point in trying to be Jaco... Jaco already has been. Lots of folks "steal" his stuff, and do it VERY well.. while not playing exactly like Jaco.

 

[J Wilson]

The funny thing is, IF you showed up and played like Jaco on most any other gig, you'd get run off fast.

 

[jsbarber]

Show them this

Thank you for posting. I was thinking of exactly this video as I was reading this thread.

 

[factory presets]

The "no vets" part is weird...do they mean no seasoned players, or no one who is ex-military?

Dog doctors. Their lead singer is a poodle with the usual aversions.

Got to say if you play like Jaco you're already not playing like him because the slavish copying.

 

[factory presets]

the Aquarium that a had a big musicians wanted/Craigslist style free ads in the back of the paper, it had some of the same delusional posts looking for players year after year.

Had a band with the feelers out for a good couple of years. First we wanted a drummer could play steppahs reggae and punk at the same time. Once we found that we needed not just any guitarist. Must've sent 30-40 competent players home wondering *** they'd just been playing. Along with an endless stream of power chord jockeys. Got what we wanted after a couple of false starts.

Worth the wait.

 

[okabass]

Local band in my area asking for a Jaco like bass player and I just thought it was funny. Asking for someone like Jaco is a big ask imo. Slightly unrealistic?

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Bireli Lagrene is quite close. He played guitar with Jaco.

 

[Fynn]

I think, rather than technology making ".. it really easy to become an amazing musician," the definition of "musician" has changed... A great deal. The vast majority of today's "musicians" amaze me only in that so many consumers consider them to actually BE musicians.

Becoming an amazing musician takes decades of time, unwavering dedication, and hours of practice daily. Technology hasn't changed that one bit. As with so many things, we've changed the definition. I've done a lot of the maintenance and some pretty major repairs on my cars over the years. Does that make me a mechanic? I can sweat pipes and do all of our plumbing. Am I a plumber? I can do some rudimentary house wiring, do basic speaker and crossover design, and even repair the odd piece of audio gear. Am I an electrician or electrical engineer?

The answer to my questions, just in case it isn't obvious, is "NO." I do not have near the skills, expertise, nor experience of REAL mechanics, plumbers, electricians, and engineers. Yet... Everybody's a musician. It's easy.

Yeah. Right.

I do agree that Jaco was a one-off, incredible pioneer, and won't ever be duplicated, but that's not musicians do. We take the influences of the greats we admire absorbing as much as we can, and over decades our own new voices emerge. No point in trying to be Jaco... Jaco already has been. Lots of folks "steal" his stuff, and do it VERY well.. while not playing exactly like Jaco.

Well, I never really thought about the definition of musician, but I would call myself a musician. To me a musician is one of two things. It's either someone who works professionally as a musician, i.e. someone who gets paid to play, or someone who consciously plays music. Meaning people that care about playing music, not just about an instrument. Maybe it's a matter of intent. When you look at some of those hobby guitarists, they're exactly that, hobby guitarists. They may dream about being a rock star, or imagine playing infront of thousands of people like Van Halen did, but they don't actually intent on being a musician.

Also, when I said it's easy to become an amazing musician, I didn't mean that there's a lot of amazing musicians out there. But definitely more than 50 years ago, not only, but also, because of the technology. A couple decades ago you would have to go to a library to get a book on music, get a teacher, buy single records with your hard earned money, all that just to learn about what music is even out there, and what music means to people. Nowadays I can listen to, and LOOK at, what people for the past 100 years have been playing. And with the millions of people who some might call musicians, there's bound to be hundreds, if not thousands, who are really amazing.
I mean, if I would have to save up a month to be able to buy a Weather Report record, then of course it's gonna take more time for me to learn about this great music, than if I were to right now go on Spotify and listen to the whole discography. You just need the dedication and attention span for that. And as I said, there's bound to be plenty of people like that around, who will learn, and who will more quickly get to their own voice as well.

I've only ever seen very few people who very clearly try to be someone else. Especially with Primus fans, you find a couple who copy not only Les Claypools playing, but his whole attire, attitude, speech patterns, so on. But they're definitely far and few between.

 

[Freekmagnet]

Has anyone else on Talkbass noticed that “Jaco” rhymes with “taco”? Mmmm… I could really go for a taco.

 

[5StringBlues]

Could you post some flacco?

 

[Michedelic]

Could you post some flacco?

Here you go, ese….

 

[Nashrakh]

Has anyone else on Talkbass noticed that “Jaco” rhymes with “taco”? Mmmm… I could really go for a taco.

But is it Jaco Tuesday yet?

 

[Jogobass]

Plenty of bassists out there who like to solo. Most bands want pocket players.

I don't think they are mutually exclusive. Just because a bassist likes to solo doesn't mean he's unable to play in the pocket.

But to answer the question, I don't think anyone can really play like anyone else. I'm a big Gary Willis fan and I copy his tone with his signature bass. But I am always going to be me, with my influences and my own note choices.

Can someone play in the style of a Jaco, or a Gary, or a Marcus, or a Victor? Yes, with some practice.

 

[buldog5151bass]

I don't think they are mutually exclusive. Just because a bassist likes to solo doesn't mean he's unable to play in the pocket.

But to answer the question, I don't think anyone can really play like anyone else. I'm a big Gary Willis fan and I copy his tone with his signature bass. But I am always going to be me, with my influences and my own note choices.

Can someone play in the style of a Jaco, or a Gary, or a Marcus, or a Victor? Yes, with some practice.

No one is saying they can't (Jaco clearly had great time). I was responding to OP. IMO, whoever made that ad is clearly looking for someone who wants to (and can) solo like a bad@$$, as opposed to what most bands want. Same reason you see ads with someone looking for a Charlie Watts, as opposed to Neal Peart.

 

[crobasster]

This is similar to Jaco, Paco de Lucia, or Django Rheinhardt, today you'll found people who play or outplay those monsters, in a technical way, but knobody will play like them, they're unique !