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Jaco a genius?

Jaco a genius?

  • Yes

    Votes: 162 65.6%

  • No

    Votes: 47 19.0%

  • Carrots

    Votes: 38 15.4%
  • Total voters
    247
#122
mozilla314 said:
Well, as far as sound and tone goes, Alphonso Johnson
(bassist before Jaco in Weather Report) used the fretless
while favoring the back pickup type sound BEFORE anyone
ever heard of Jaco. Jaco went on after that to add horn-like
phrasing for bass solos and songs written using only harmonics
and using guitar distortion on bass. But Jaco didn't "create" or
was the first to use that burpy bridge pickup sound.
Click to expand...

I've heard that Jaco had a very similar sound to his trademark fretless Jazz by the time he was playing with Ira Sullivan in the early 70s. By the time he hooked up with P. Metheny (late 1973) he already developed that sound we hear in Bright Size Life (1976)
 
#124
Hordehunterx said:
anyone would be stupid not
to consider him a genius, his knowledge of music is extensive, not just his amazing technique and intonation. it seems the smart ppl that are to smart for their pants get ****ed up, i know a guy with an IQ ( not related to music ) of 155 and he has severe isomnia and always hooked on some type of upper. and it didnt help that jaco was bi-polar,
he is one amazing human being
Click to expand...

Evidently Jacos's playing transfers his bipolarness to his worshipers...
 
#125
mozilla314 said:
Well, as far as sound and tone goes, Alphonso Johnson
(bassist before Jaco in Weather Report) used the fretless
while favoring the back pickup type sound BEFORE anyone
ever heard of Jaco. Jaco went on after that to add horn-like
phrasing for bass solos and songs written using only harmonics
and using guitar distortion on bass. But Jaco didn't "create" or
was the first to use that burpy bridge pickup sound.
Click to expand...

Sacrilege!

Prepare to be stoned by the True Believers...
 
#126
mozilla314 said:
P.S. Even though now that type of tone is
called a "Jaco" sound.
Click to expand...

Lol. This reminded me of the first time I ever heard of Jaco. I had a small synthesizer with all kinds of bass sounds. As I scrolled through them I came across one that said "Jaco bass" . It was a bright staccato sound and i thought it sounded funky. For years I thought man I'd like to play a real jaco bass,(I thought it was an exotic bass) later I find out its a real person. Lol so it just goes to show how much of a dent he made in the bass world- he had his own patch in keyboards.
 
#129
Jaco's tone was only one part of his contribution, and not the part that qualifies him (to me) as a genius. To me, it was his sense of time: He could play in tiny little cracks between the eighth notes, or between the 16th notes, or between the 32-notes, of whatever kind of groove he was playing at a given time. He could play any note just a few nanoseconds before or after where it was "supposed to" be, at exactly the right times, to propel the music forward. Many players have tried to emulate his tone and his riffs, but nobody can replicate his sense of swing.
 
#132
mozilla314 said:
Well, as far as sound and tone goes, Alphonso Johnson
(bassist before Jaco in Weather Report) used the fretless
while favoring the back pickup type sound BEFORE anyone
ever heard of Jaco. Jaco went on after that to add horn-like
phrasing for bass solos and songs written using only harmonics
and using guitar distortion on bass. But Jaco didn't "create" or
was the first to use that burpy bridge pickup sound.
Click to expand...

Here's a great comparison to the two tones back to back on the Black Market CD.
Here's Alphonso:

Very different approaches to me. I'm glad I got to see them both with the band.
 
#134
joe vegas said:
Comparing Jaco Pastorius to Serge Rachmaninoff, or Blues music to that written during the Baroque, Classical and Romantic eras, is ludicrous and hamfisted. These are extravagantly disparate genres of music. There's no winnable one-upmanship in comparing them.

Jaco had both great heights and bitter lows, as did your dear Sergei, who struggled with depression, writer's block and audience indifference, and who underwent therapy accordingly. None of these people are gods. They are, in the best sense, merely men who have the technique and insight to create deeply understood, enduring work.

As a young orchestra player, I had numerous opportunities to perform Rachmaninoff's works. I also heard the Russian Chamber Chorus of NY perform live his stunning 'Liturgy of St. John Chrynsotom' recently. This is a complex, mysterious work, full of dazzling harmonies. However, his First Symphony has flaws the the composer himself admitted, and the performance of which in fact almost derailed his career. I'm also very familiar with Sergei's "Bells" symphony, sections of which are eerily derivative of Stravinsky's "Firebird"- so we see that no one comes to the table without influences.
All Baroque, Classical and Romantic composers built on what came before- so your premise that what Jaco accomplished "was already done long before" can also be said with pinpoint accuracy and example about every composer you worship- and no doubt about your "Gojira" band as well.

There's no need for an axe to grind regarding Jaco and his contribution to the electric bass. Why not accept and enjoy the fact that he was undeniably the first one to take the electric bass (and its role within a jazz ensemble setting) to such technically skillful, sensual and lyrical places? "Donna Lee" soloed on an electric bass, in 3 keys, at a brisk tempo, accompanied only by congas, in a performance that's still being studied and approached by bassists? Yes, Bird wrote the tune. But Jaco was the first to turn it into an electric bass showcase.

If you're privy to some bass player who put all the elements together as Jaco did but who broke that ground previously, someone that the rest of the world isn't familiar with, then please share that game-changing information with us.

and now, it's time to split for tonight's gig.
Click to expand...
^^^^This.
 
#135
Ewo said:
Pre-Jaco, harmonics were for checking tuning (fifth and seventh fret).

Then Jaco did Portrait of Tracy: harmonics are for making music.

I'll call that genius.
Click to expand...

This!

How many bassists redefined the actual role of the instrument? Was there any bass-only song like Tracy before Jaco? Even if you put his incredible technique aside (which was mind-boggling in its own right) as well as his composition skills, the guy made people rethink the actual instrument itself, and if that isn't genius, I don't know what is.
 

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