Want to reply to one thing first; saying Jaco had no groove. I'm on my cell and can't link it, but do yourself a favor and listen to Weather Report's "Barbary Coast." It is a tune in straight 4/4 that is nothing but Jaco holding down funky grooves and not just repeating the same phrase over and over. I don't think it can be denied that he had groove, and that should be "Evidence A" for the defense.
As said before, Jaco is best looked at in context at his time. In the new Jaco documentary, people like Flea, Geddy Lee, Herbie Hancock, Robert Trujillo (don't write him off as just a Metallica bassist unless you've listened to Infectious Grooves and Suicidal Tendencies; he is a monster player), etc. describe how much of an emornous influence he was to them and the bass, in general. He is best viewed as a pioneer as to expanding the limits of the instrument, much like Hendrix. There are tons of guys who are technically better than Hendrix (Vai, Van Halen, etc.), and other guys who you could argue had better blues/rock feel (Steve Ray Vaughn...wait; all of those names end in "V." It's a conspiracy!). For what he was doing, he revolutionized the instrument. Which is why many serious (well known) bassists and musicians point to him as one of the best, if not the best, ever bassist. It's akin to Louis Armstrong. Many jazz experts will tell you that he was the most important factor i the development of jazz, and if you go back as far as him and Bix Biederbecke, you will see that it is very well the case, although for many, jazz starts with Charlie Parker.
Now, as far as taste goes: entirely subjective. I don't like The Who at all. Respect Entwhistle's ability, but not my kind of music. You will never catch me listening to Rush (totally respect that whole band's skill). There's a big difference between not liking someone's music and saying they're not good (not aimed at you, OP). I don't like the Allman Brothers, the Dead, pretty much any jam band... But my tastes in music vary greatly. My "stranded on an island album" is Soundgarden's "Superunknown." I love Slayer, Misfits, Mastodon, Jeff Buckley, Alice in Chains, Gershwin, Monk (pretty much all jazz), Mozart, deBussy, Stravinsky, etc. I appreciate a wide swath of genres and bands/musicians/composers.
I think as musicians, the worst thing any of us could do is say a genre sucks, not listen to it, and deprive ourselves about learning new things. I'm not an overall fan of country, but I'll give it a spin. Not a fan of Appalachian-country whatever you'd call it, but Sixteen Horsepower is awesome. Beck is a musical genius.
These pissing matches are almost always pointless, and the sad reason for that is because almost no one wants to hear anything different than their preconceived notions. Person A makes a statement, persons B-L argue against it, M-Z defend it, and I wonder how many people actually listen to the clips provided, or go seek out that music with an open mind and say "maybe I should give it another chance?" These posts end up becoming more an echo chamber than an opportunity to learn.
One should be open to everything as a musician. That is not subjective in my opinion.
Also, I caught Felix Pastorius live last week at the 55 Bar, and yes, he is a monster player with amazing chops and great instinct. He's also a giant and a really friendly guy. I started a thread in this sub-forum about him and posted a picture of him and I outside the club. I'm almost 5'11" and he makes me look like Mini-Me. We talked about me taking a lesson or two with him, which would be awesome.
Damn... Wall of text, and pardon any grammatical mistakes/misspellings. This would have been easier on a computer.
