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Is Jaco Pastorius for us what Jimi Hendrix is to guitar players?

#21
Originally posted by Matthew West
I would posit that most bass players do not even know who Jaco Pastorius is. I've been playing for almost ten years now, and even I have never actually heard anything by Jaco.

(putting on flame retardant suit)
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...no flames from me, Matt, though I believe most bassists do "know" Jaco, certainly bassists from my generation. IMHO, not being famaliar with the greats/pioneers like Jaco, Stanley Clarke, Graham, Bootsy, etc would be like a sax player not knowing Bird, 'Trane, Coleman, etc. But whadda I know.
From my little corner of the world, almost every bassist I've heard warming up pre-show/pre-gig is doing some kinda Jaco-esque fuque. ;)
 
#23
i love jaco, but here is a thought, when i was taking classes in Boston for bass the teacher who was an avid jazz fan asked us all to bring in a track from our favorite bass player so we could talk about it. geddy lee was the bass player that was brought in the most that day, i brought in digital man, i think geezer was the second most popular with NIB.
my point being that i think it is really in what you are exposed to, after litening to different geddy tracks the teacher said, he is good but you should listen to more Jaco, he will be a household name after this geddy lee guy is far gone.

still makes me giggle, because at that time i hardly knew who jaco was and geddy lee was a household name.

:D
 
#24
Yes! Jaco is definately on the same level as Jimi, both of them are pioneers and thier names will live on well past me and my grandchilderen.




Originally posted by DarkMazda
Do you guys remember that Jam that Eric Clapton and Jaco did? That something in B Minor or something like that.. well yeah, when i first heard that, i was like "OH MY GOD!! THAT MUST BE SOO COOL" but it wasn't really anything great :) Jaco wasn't relaly leading! Clapton was mainly
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DM,
Did you hear that on Napster or somethin? Cause there was a recording going around thats labeled Jaco and Clapton but it wasnt Jaco at all! It was someones' sad attempt at bassplaying in general.
 
#26
Originally posted by Matthew West
Interesting... From my background and contemporaries, Mike Watt is what Jaco must be to a lot of other folks.
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Mike Watt? Who's he?
(Seriously, I don't think I've ever listened to Watt; read his interview in BP awhile back...he seems cool, I just haven't gotten around to him, yet).
 
#27
I'm with Jim - I have no idea who Mike Watt is or what he's done. But every bassist I meet in the UK has heard of Jaco and this is usually one of the common talking points. Anyone who was actually playing in the late 70s/early 80s was hugely influenced and those people have since passed on their enthusiasm to their students and so on ..

What I do find is that people who can actually play bass well and know a fair amount of theory, a bit of Jazz etc. always appreciate what Jaco contributed to bass playing. So, if I hear somebody playing at a workshop, or in a shop etc and they are a reasonably good player, then they will always know a bit about Jaco and have a favourite tune or piece to play.

This may be becuase I favour Jazz and so am more likely to meet Jazz players - but you often find that teachers will recommend that anyone wanting to improve should learn some Jazz, even if they don't actually want to play Jazz eventually. I think this is the point - that Jaco has so much to teach us and anybody ignoring his legacy is just missing out on so much great material for learning how to play our instrument better.

In the same way, if you understand what Jimi Hendrix was doing with chords and various techniques, again this can help you be a better player and this for me is where the similarity lies - they both have useful lessons for players and help your development if you study what they were doing; whereas other players may play well for the music they are/were doing but don't have so much to teach you - they don't have so many ideas going on and can't teach you so much.
 
#29
Originally posted by TheFrizzleFry

Heh, I'm sorry, but everyone is always like "ohhh jaco is the best" I've listened to some of his stuff, it's groovy, but he wasn't the best. Give me Les Claypool, Victor Wooten, or Geddy Lee.
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Why does anyone have to be the "best" - I would never say this - I like hundreds of bass players and feel no need to "rank" them in any order. I have favourite albums - but again hundreds and hundreds of them - why limit your self?

Music is not a competitive sport and that's one of the main reasons that most musicians like it. I do think that Jaco had a lot to teach us as bass players and I love a lot of the albums on which he plays - I listen to them a lot. But I also listen to albums by Dave Holland, Avishai Cohen, Christian McBride etc etc. ...and even maybe Jimi Hendrix.

We can like and learn from them all - I feel no need to say who is "best" though.
 
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#32
There are a lot of canny similarities, that's for sure. I wouldn' have said so because they're in different musical leagues (jazz hired gun that wrote some great music versus rock sensation who was a frontman and ultimately a pop star to some degree), but they do both play fundamentally different instruments with different places in music, so maybe that could serve as a moot point. They were both hugely influential and burned bright, but also burned out too soon, but such is the nature of burning brightly. I personally think that, aside from being still alive and not likely to die until older age, Flea is more the "Hendrix" of the bass world.
 
#34
Blue_Whistle88 said:
There are a lot of canny similarities, that's for sure. I wouldn' have said so because they're in different musical leagues (jazz hired gun that wrote some great music versus rock sensation who was a frontman and ultimately a pop star to some degree), but they do both play fundamentally different instruments with different places in music, so maybe that could serve as a moot point. They were both hugely influential and burned bright, but also burned out too soon, but such is the nature of burning brightly. I personally think that, aside from being still alive and not likely to die until older age, Flea is more the "Hendrix" of the bass world.
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I'd also say Flea, or one of the old funk cats like Bootsy or Graham.
 
#36
I don't think Jaco is quite THAT influential. There are a bunch of bass players in the world who do not even know who he is, and his playing has never done anything special for me personally.

I think Flea is probably the closest thing to a universal icon on the bass, but still not what Hendrix is.
 
#37
ZeroSymbolic said:
I don't think Jaco is quite THAT influential. There are a bunch of bass players in the world who do not even know who he is, and his playing has never done anything special for me personally.

I think Flea is probably the closest thing to a universal icon on the bass, but still not what Hendrix is.
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That too. Ask most younger bass players, or bass players outside the jazz realm, who Jaco is and you'll get blank stares. EVERYONE knows who Flea is, though.
 
#38
Dave Castelo said:
this is no popularity contest... i´m talking about influence... i mean look a Steve Vai and other guitarist, they all admit heavy influence by Hendrix... then look a Marcus Miller, Wooten, etc... they all admit Jaco influence...

see my point?... i totally agree that Hendrix is more popular and known than Jaco... but that´s NOT the point :)
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Well it should be the point. I never ever herd of Jaco until TB, and still could not sit and listen to him for more than 5 minutes. I am thinking Hendrix had way more influence on guitar players because even people that hated that loud devil music knew who Hendrix was, but Jaco was not as popular to normal folk and therefor could not have influenced as many people..so I say NO IMO.:hiding:
 
#40
cole said:
Jaco had a secretary named Jimi. Jimi had a secretary named Jaco.
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LOL! :D

Don't tell me I'm the only one who got that.

Anyway... Sure, Jaco and Jimi are influential. But honestly, not everyone considers them their heroes. It all depends on what type of music you're into. I respect what Jaco did, but I don't consider him an influence necessarily. Same with Jimi.
 

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