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Jaco playing upright
- Thread starter odin70
- Start date
There is a double CD "Portrait of Jaco" the early years and track 16 of the 1st CD has Jaco playing his acoustic bass and it sounds just like Jaco on BG to me!! 
Famously - Jaco gave Joe Zawinul a demo tape of his playing on his Fender Jazz and Zawinul asked " do you play electric bass as well" as he thought it was upright he was hearing!!
Famously - Jaco gave Joe Zawinul a demo tape of his playing on his Fender Jazz and Zawinul asked " do you play electric bass as well" as he thought it was upright he was hearing!!
I've heard some. It's interesting, but I much prefer his electric playing, honestly. I wouldn't say you're missing much.
I believe that Jaco started out playing upright. When his upright bass "blew up" because of the humid Florida weather, he gave up the instrument and switched to exclusively electric bass.
An old teacher of mine (a well known piano player here in Norway) once played a jazz a gig in Oslo. In the middle of a song he looks at the audience, and there was Jaco sitting in the first row 
I bet the bass player got nervous. He sat in on a couple of tunes on upright bass. According to my teacher Jaco missede all the harmonics he tried to play, but sounded really good. In the middle of the first song he leaned over to to the piano player and told him: I havent slept for a week.
I wonder if he would have revolutionized the upright the same way as he did with the electric if he had kept on playing it.
I bet the bass player got nervous. He sat in on a couple of tunes on upright bass. According to my teacher Jaco missede all the harmonics he tried to play, but sounded really good. In the middle of the first song he leaned over to to the piano player and told him: I havent slept for a week.I wonder if he would have revolutionized the upright the same way as he did with the electric if he had kept on playing it.
- Dec 13, 1999
- 11,737
- 8,947
- 70
- Disclosures
- Chuck Sher publishes my book, WALKING BASSICS:The Fundamentals of Jazz Bass Playing.
I wouldn't be surprised if he did because that was his original intention before he got to playing electric. IIRC, he got a DB at one point but left it in florida for a few months, and the humidity warped the bass beyond recognition. So I guess he still wanted to play DB so he defretted his fender jazz and the rest is history.
- Dec 13, 1999
- 11,737
- 8,947
- 70
- Disclosures
- Chuck Sher publishes my book, WALKING BASSICS:The Fundamentals of Jazz Bass Playing.
His does seem to the the only bass in Florida that this has happened to, I wouldn't put too much credence in it.
To my knowledge, no recording of this exists. He plays electric on the Bley record and his 5-string ABG on the tracks on the Early Years box.
he started playing bass on an upright. then one day it practically exploded cause of the humidity in florida. so he bought a fender and took the frets out
he started playing bass on an upright. then one day it practically exploded cause of the humidity in florida. so he bought a fender and took the frets out
Err..have you read the rest of the thread...
Anyway - none of this particular topic, answers the original question - about what he sounded like in these acoustic moments...?
I suggest buying the CD set "Portrait of Jaco" if you are really intrested in how he started out and listen to that.
You will also be giving money to Jaco's family, which is a very worthy thing to do!
http://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Jaco-Early-Years/dp/B000EE6Y9I
As an Amazon Associate, TalkBass may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via links on this site.
Nope..when i click on the buy mp3 link, i get this:
http://www.amazon.com/Serenity-from...d_album_lnk_alt?ie=UTF8&qid=1268048618&sr=1-1
Maybe i must start a new thread now. Did Jaco ever play the harp.
http://www.amazon.com/Serenity-from...d_album_lnk_alt?ie=UTF8&qid=1268048618&sr=1-1
Maybe i must start a new thread now. Did Jaco ever play the harp.
As an Amazon Associate, TalkBass may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via links on this site.
Ah well - not my fault - query this with Amazon - I buy from Amazon.co.uk as I live in the UK, but I thought I'd add the more general link!
I can't be held responsible for Amazon's site!
I can't be held responsible for Amazon's site!
There is a double CD "Portrait of Jaco" the early years and track 16 of the 1st CD has Jaco playing his acoustic bass and it sounds just like Jaco on BG to me!!
Famously - Jaco gave Joe Zawinul a demo tape of his playing on his Fender Jazz and Zawinul asked " do you play electric bass as well" as he thought it was upright he was hearing!!
he plays idd an Acoustic Bass Guitar an that cd not an upright!
