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jaco pastorius, goose fat or fried chicken?

#8
I also heard the rumor he would eat fried chicken (as you stated) so his fingers would be greasy.

I think it's pointless, I think it would screw you up more. He played a fretless bass, it's not that hard to slide around on a fretless bass.

I don't know, I think it's silly. I doubt having greasy hands would help that much.

Besides, where do you go to get bulk goose fat?
 
#12
Jaco was pretty good at self promoting himself, and he certainly never suffered from a lack of confidence.

Goose fat/chicken fat is probably something that jaco did once or twice and which was picked up by the press and blown out of proportion...I think if you look at Jaco's wifes website you will see her talking about how this story is probably a myth.

It aint the fried chicken, the hamburger, the fancy studio or even the bass guitar...its all about the player.
 
#13
Wow, that's a new one to me. I do remember him saying frets slow him down. I remember him talking about how critically important it is to master you're rudiments and for that I'm ever grateful. Lubricant, well I've seen guitarists use it, maybe a more refined better smelling one. The punters would smell and take off to get something to eat!

By todays standards sure there is countless bassists that can do what he did, but then he pioneered, not mimicked.

I believe he's worth his dues.
 
#15
I think it's just rubbish and blown out of all proportion on here - there are plenty of videos out there and his fingers don't look greasy - I know many people who saw him play live and never mentioned this.

So at his prime he looks very precise and clean - but of course he went into terminal decline and then he was living on the streets and wouldn't have been able to wash - maybe that's where it comes from - but would you want to emulate somebody who is suffering with an untreated and eventually terminal, mental illness...:hmm:
 
#19
Just the Facts:

While Jaco was sitting for an interview with Guitar Player magazine in the middle '70s, he was asked about his basses. He made the casual reply that he'd had them a long time and they "still had every bit of chicken grease that had ever been on them" (paraphrased, but very close). In the same interview he also revealed that he'd used Petit's Poly Poxy on his fretless fingerboard to seal it up, and that his sound came "from my hands and fingers", not from any effects or gimmicks. Please keep in mind that he was still very young in those days and tended to be full of "blue mud" All of Jaco's playing buddies and pals from Ft. Lauderdale could not only play great, but were all World Class B-Essers. In short, no grease, no goose, no way.
 
#20
Koki said:
no one knows and we will never know. it isn't going anywhere with asking questions. ok. it's over. stop
Click to expand...

I know. Jaco never, ever, rubbed chicken grease, goose fat, or any other substance on his hands or fingers, at least not before playing bass.

I have personal experience, as I heard him play in an intimate setting at the Univ of Miami in 1979, literally sat at his feet, met him afterwards and shook his hand immediately after he played. Hands dry as a bone, large, and quite soft. Also saw inside his open bass case...not a chicken bone or tub of goose fat in sight. Did see his hand-written charts to "Punk Jazz" though.

Can we please kill this "urban legend" once and for all? Please?
 

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