• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Is it wrong?

#104
It's not really all that much to do with what bass you play. I think some players have such an initial impact, followed by an all-pervasive influence, that they change people's approach to their instrument in subtle, labyrinthine, untraceable ways.

Jaco was such a player. If you play electric bass, it's pretty much impossible not to be influenced by the culture in which you play it, and Jaco changed that culture.

I'm not saying everybody is going to like his style or his music. That's pretty much an impossibility. But if you think you're playing hasn't been influenced by him in any way at all, then in my opinion you're mistaken. He's just affected too many people for any of us to be completely immunised from his influence.

EDIT Just read beggar98's post - pretty much along the same lines as what I'm saying here.
 
#105
artiseasy said:
I used to think Jaco was no big deal - didn't influence me - and didn't kick as much ass as GEDDY or CLIFF!!

It's been said here before - I think the people with this mentality just haven't really digested much of his work.

I had a bass teacher show me Jaco's cover of Charlie Parker's "Donna Lee" when I was about 16 - and it just sounded RANDOM to me - totally non-musical.

And of course, it wasn't until I started learning about jazz and slowly learning the head to Donna Lee did I get it - Jaco was mindnumbing in the way he deftly moved through that tune. Turns out, it wasn't random at all - it was just way over my head when I was 16 and new to the instrument.
Click to expand...

Yes - this is what I was saying earlier - it is easy enough to get a 3-minute pop song - but a lot of Jaco's music requires an understanding of Jazz and the Jazz tradition.

If you had heard Charlie Parker and Miles Davis play Donna Lee (or any Bebop like this) - then you will get a whole lot more out of what Jaco did with this and will probably be thinking - wow, he did that on BG with no chordal support! :eek:

Whereas, if you come to this 'cold', with no prior knowledge, then it's just going to sound "random"...:confused:
 
#106
JAUQO III-X said:
there are some super talented bassist out here that have never heard of Jaco and there are some who have and could care less about his playing and his contribution to the instrument][/QUOTE

But they are inspired by his legacy and the influence he left on others, even if they have never heard Jaco.
To be influenced doesn't mean to sound like Jaco, it means that he opened lots of doors for us bass players and one way or another we are going to pass through those doors one day.
Click to expand...
 
#107
JAUQO III-X said:
If I commit murder does that mean that I'm influenced by others that have committed such an act before me?
Click to expand...

Yes, if you lived in a world where nobody murders, and nobody knows or talk about it, why would you even think about muder in the first place?
Commiting murder wouldn't be in your mind.
BTW, i totally respect you and don't want to come across as attacking you, or saying anything bad about you. :cool:
 
#108
Rano Bass said:
Yes, if you lived in a world where nobody murders, and nobody knows or talk about it, why would you even think about muder in the first place?
Commiting murder wouldn't be in your mind.
BTW, i totally respect you and don't want to come across as attacking you, or saying anything bad about you. :cool:
Click to expand...

I was asking a question based off of my own personal journeys thru life,I've lived with rapist(some being serial) and I weren't the least influenced to be one and I don't take your comment as attacking me at all.

I just don't agree with the fact that every bassist who even touches one is or has been influenced by Jaco.

it's just not fact.

Is every Bassist that plays upright Bass in a jazz setting influenced by Milt Hinton?
 
#112
Being absolutely honest, I cannot remember what Jaco's playing even sounds like. I only remember buying one of Weather Report's albums that I was recommended and putting it on. It very swiftly came off.

Do I hate him? well no, because I never met him let alone have the chance to get to form an opinion of him.

Do I hate his music? No, because there are people who are clearly enjoying the work he has done so it is important to someone.

Has he influenced me? No, as I said I cannot remember anything he has done.

Do I listen to players who have been influenced by him? I'll give you a list of my favourite players and maybe someone can tell me if any one of them are - Jack Bruce, Larry graham, Chris Squire, Norwood Fisher, Flea, John Deacon, Bernard Edwards, Roger Glover.

Is this a stupid thread and have I just wasted 5 minutes of my life? Yes
 
#113
If you dont like jaco, or you do whatever. but he is one of the fathers of the bass guitar, you might not be directly influenced by him, but to say your not at all, that is ridiculous, that is like saying he did not affect bass playing at all, and no matter how much you hate him, you can't say he hasnt done atleast that.
 
#114
Jaco was an important figure in electric bass history (esp in the fretless one). He was not the first to play electric fretless but he really advanced the frontiers. Do I find all his works inspiring? no. I prefer Mick Karn over Jaco in terms of approach to play the fretless, but then again it's MY opinion. I am not putting Jaco down but it's a matter of taste, just like I prefer Zuzo Moussauer over Victor Wooten (both players are super great players with ideas and melodies of their own). It's sad to generalize that this or that player has been (or is) God, or unsurpassed. It's great to have players setting the standard higher and higher (in terms of MELODY, HARMONY, TECHNIQUE and SOUND) so the next generation will have more opened doors to choose their paths from
 
#116
fullrangebass said:
Jaco was an important figure in electric bass history (esp in the fretless one). He was not the first to play electric fretless but he really advanced the frontiers. Do I find all his works inspiring? no. I prefer Mick Karn over Jaco in terms of approach to play the fretless, but then again it's MY opinion. I am not putting Jaco down but it's a matter of taste, just like I prefer Zuzo Moussauer over Victor Wooten (both players are super great players with ideas and melodies of their own). It's sad to generalize that this or that player has been (or is) God, or unsurpassed. It's great to have players setting the standard higher and higher (in terms of MELODY, HARMONY, TECHNIQUE and SOUND) so the next generation will have more opened doors to choose their paths from
Click to expand...

+1 very well said.
 
#117
Well now you're saying that if I play electric bass today, than I must be influenced by him?

Thats my biggest gripe. Most of my bass influences were BEFORE Jaco, and I don't listen to modern bass playing for the most part.

So technically, if you only listen to the recordings that were made oh... 100 years ago (example) you're still influenced by Jaco? Use your head.

And I'm a big Charlie Parker fan, and I like his version of Donna Lee tons better.
 
#118
I think everyone has heard that hideous "Hollaback Girl" song by Gwen Stefani. Does that mean we're all influenced by it? I'm certainly not. But for some reason, there's a faction on here that thinks everyone's influenced by Jaco even if they haven't heard him. And I guarantee you that more people have heard "Hollaback Girl" than the music Jaco played. I don't get people sometimes.
 
#119
JimmyM said:
I think everyone has heard that hideous "Hollaback Girl" song by Gwen Stefani. Does that mean we're all influenced by it? I'm certainly not.
Click to expand...

you're influenced by it even if you just use it as a model of what NOT to do.

also, i don't know why some people don't think you can be influenced indirectly. if Jaco influenced (for the sake of argument) 20 prominent bassists, even if only slightly, chances are, if you haven't heard Jaco, you've heard at least one of those other 20 bassists. Or the 100 bassists that those 20 then influenced. I think it's fair to say not all of his contemporaries were influenced by him, but I think at this point everyone has been, in some small way. I'm not even saying I'm a fan of his. I'm just talking about a principle here.

ok, i'm done posting in this thread now. if anyone wants to carry on a friendly debate, please PM me.
 
#120
At the time of Jaco,other players like Alphonso Johnson, Tony Levin,Percy Jones, (help me with some more names guys)were also changing
the role of bass.And all the unknown players who's creativity got put in the mix but were left out of the "Famous Game". Jaco got a lot of press.
When I was searching for my own voice I did NOT try to play
like Jaco. Everybody talkin about Jaco. I got so bad that any
time I played with a little vibrato on my fretless, people would say "Hey Jaco" man it was crazy.
Hate you bet.(but I liked his music)
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back