• 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 freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Jaco a genius?

Jaco a genius?

  • Yes

    Votes: 162 65.6%
  • No

    Votes: 47 19.0%
  • Carrots

    Votes: 38 15.4%

  • Total voters
    247
Here's an article from bass player magazine talking about this subject:
Invalid Link Removed

I really like this and quite agree with Ed. That's my experience as well.
Regarding studying what Jaco did, I can't recommend The Jaco Pastorius Bass Method by Ray Peterson enough! It's possibly as close as any one of us can get to really studying with him. That and the DCI video fill in a lot of blanks.
http://www.amazon.com/Jaco-Pastorius-Bass-Method-CD/dp/0634020315
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Electric-Bass-Jaco-Pastorius/dp/B00007D5JQ
 
As an Amazon Associate, TalkBass may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via links on this site.
I can remember having a conversation with the late Eric Fuchsman of Cort/Groovetools at the Messe in Frankfurt in 2001. We were right next to Jeff Berlin at the Dean Booth and there were great bassists everywhere. He opined that the state of Bass in 2001 was about where the state of Guitar had been a couple of decades back after the innovations of players like Hendrix, McLaughlin, Martino and Montgomery had become commonplace. I think the early innovators are tending to get lost in the shuffle because everyone is so much more aware of the great players who have taken the innovations and run with it.
I can teach most Freshman Bass Students at Belmont to play Teen Town. Composing something like that is another thing entirely.
The guys I'm paying attention to are the new "ramp guys" like Hadrien Feraud, Damien Erskine and Matt Garrison. There's a young player here in Nashville named Scott Fernandez that I think people will be hearing about very, very soon if they haven't already. Very innovative and definitely pursuing his own vision.
 


as a bass player you owe it to yourself to put the headphone on and spend 1:24 mins in study


I'm about 3 minutes in and it's amazing. I am not a fan of the style Jaco played in, but his talent is impossible to ignore.

I don't know why there's this need to take Jaco down. His influence on our instrument is gigantic. His mental illness is unfortunately a common companion to artistic excellence and does not diminish his contribution to the state of the art.

Also I'm enjoying seeing his fretless before it got all torn up. It looks about like my Squier copy does right now (I have a few dents, but I don't drag my fretless around on the ground without a case, either).
 
I can remember having a conversation with the late Eric Fuchsman of Cort/Groovetools at the Messe in Frankfurt in 2001. We were right next to Jeff Berlin at the Dean Booth and there were great bassists everywhere. He opined that the state of Bass in 2001 was about where the state of Guitar had been a couple of decades back after the innovations of players like Hendrix, McLaughlin, Martino and Montgomery had become commonplace. I think the early innovators are tending to get lost in the shuffle because everyone is so much more aware of the great players who have taken the innovations and run with it.
I can teach most Freshman Bass Students at Belmont to play Teen Town. Composing something like that is another thing entirely.
The guys I'm paying attention to are the new "ramp guys" like Hadrien Feraud, Damien Erskine and Matt Garrison. There's a young player here in Nashville named Scott Fernandez that I think people will be hearing about very, very soon if they haven't already. Very innovative and definitely pursuing his own vision.

Roy

Keep your eyes peeled for a fellow by the name of Dane Alderson, a young Australian bass player who's been tearing it up over here for years ( I think he might have moved to NYC)...anyway. I've seen him live several times and suffice to say he's an astonishingly great player



Ps...always enjoy reading your posts
 
Roy

Keep your eyes peeled for a fellow by the name of Dane Alderson, a young Australian bass player who's been tearing it up over here for years ( I think he might have moved to NYC)...anyway. I've seen him live several times and suffice to say he's an astonishingly great player

 
This is a great thread.. In my mind he is a genius .. or was.. because he pulled this stuff out of his head.. He took whatever inspiration he got and came up with this .. and it was just so different from what other folks were doing..
I
find it difficult to deal with terms like "best" and "greatest" as well .. because there are just too many great musicians that have come on and gone but he changed what peop0le thought was possible with the instrument like no other that I know of.. and at the time no one else was doing what he did the way he did it..
 
Jaco as I understand it was bi polar and suffered mental illness ?? Someone correct me if I am wrong. I am not saying this to criticise him. He was of his time. If he doesn't mean anything to people now then so be it. R.I.P. but love him or hate him he left a legacy. A legacy for us to respect or disrespect. Yeah he played bridge pick up and all of that and yeah he could go on and on. I am by no means a Jaco fan but that he is still causing contention in the bass community is part of his legacy. I also ask of all the Jaco critics, how many of you can play Jaco lines. I certainly can't and whilst I don't pursue his music I at least don't harp on on criticism of someone who is dead!! Fair dinkum....
 
By definition... yes

Genius =
talent, wisdom, faculty, aptitude, ability, ingenuity, capacity, cleverness and superior gifts as a natural.

I don't use the word. It causes arguments that never conclude.

I really like his debut LP.
It blew my mind. I can hardly play any of his stuff.
Weather Report was great.
He was amazing.
I just don't know if you can really put a label on what he did.
 
A genius is a person who displays exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight.
And then opinions, opinions, opinions. When I listen to guys like Jaco I wish bass never got out of the first octave. He didn't bring anything new to music, all he's done has been done a dozen of times long before he was born or was simply not good enough to warrant any sort of popularity, but he has given a lot on insight regarding technique. In order to be innovative in music it's not enough to transpose old lines to a new instrument. It's also my opinion that in order to truly enjoy his music, one must take a similar amount of drugs to what he was using. There's absolutely no doubt he was an amazing player. He had the great feel for rhythm and dynamics. However, composer? Meh. Arranger? Meh. Person? Meh. Drug abuser? Yeah. Being a genius would have to include far more than what he was and would require that you create something that's truly amazing while sober.
 
And then opinions, opinions, opinions. When I listen to guys like Jaco I wish bass never got out of the first octave. He didn't bring anything new to music, all he's done has been done a dozen of times long before he was born or was simply not good enough to warrant any sort of popularity, but he has given a lot on insight regarding technique. In order to be innovative in music it's not enough to transpose old lines to a new instrument. It's also my opinion that in order to truly enjoy his music, one must take a similar amount of drugs to what he was using. There's absolutely no doubt he was an amazing player. He had the great feel for rhythm and dynamics. However, composer? Meh. Arranger? Meh. Person? Meh. Drug abuser? Yeah. Being a genius would have to include far more than what he was and would require that you create something that's truly amazing while sober.

Your Wrong!!!! Jaco was stone sober when he did his most creative work, it's only when he mixed the drugs and alcohol with his Bi polar condition that things went sideways.
 

Latest posts