Jaco Reincarnated?

[Dr. Cheese]

To be clear: I'm criticizing his teacher for teaching him how to play "Havona" without first teaching him to play in tune. Those lessons are out-of-order in my opinion.

A teacher's "prime directive" is to put the student in a position to succeed.

I am not sure if he really has a teacher. My guess is that folks have shown him some things, but this child is so gifted, he can play virtuoso music simply by listening. Think of Mohini Dey, she had similar ability as a young child, but her Dad is a professional bassist, and he connected her with even more knowledgeable teachers as she blossomed. Now she is an actual virtuoso, not “just” someone that can play virtuoso compositions.

 

[monsterthompson]

I appreciate his talent but can only listen to him for a little while and even then a lot of the stuff he does seems like overplaying to me, to me the stuff with Joni Mitchell is the easiest of his music to digest. I bought his first solo album and tried to like it. I mean he was a monster and took bass light years ahead of where it was problem is I like where it was. There was a song that was played on the radio with Joni and Jaco a lot but I can't remember the name of it and it would take me 2 hours to find it and they did 4 albums together.

I’ll give that a shot.
To be fair, I doubt Jaco would like listening my playing, though he might appreciate my liberal and creative exploration of alternative locations for the beat

 

[Mushroo]

(but, if I were his teacher, I'd make him slow it down for accuracy's sake.)

If I were his teacher, I'd suggest he doesn't have to sustain the octave B double-stops, for purposes of demonstrating to me that he's learned the song. He could play the low B staccato and roll his hand up to the octave B, as opposed to holding the stretch. I get that he knows how the song goes; he doesn't need to punish his growing little hands to prove it to me. It would be far better training for his neural plasticity to arpeggiate the octave B's, as in-tune single notes.

 

[skortch]

Fun stuff, great playing (and had me smiling like crazy!), but I kinda prefer his fretted playing.
Check out his channel. The Dirty Loops covers and his recent live work with drummers are pretty phenomenal.

Over the years there have been a few other fantastic child players or prodigies like him, including Dey, Pipoquinha, JuliePlaysGroove, Aronthebassist, etc. I think this kid gets it and will continue to improve over the next few years. I expect to be amazed...

 

[Wambemando]

How far is he going to take this?
Be careful, kid...

 

[cnltb]

Jaco Reincarnated?
...hardly.

The mini-stack looks interesting though.

To be fair; I think he is really quite good for his age and certainly 'on the way' to becoming good but would critizise the person suggesting, his 'Havona' was ready for public display. I thnk it isn't quite there but will be soon if he works on what's lacking.

and who knows...maybe his 'interesting' intopnation in places is partly down to nerves?

 

[Les BeeBee]

To be clear: I'm criticizing his teacher for teaching him how to play "Havona" without first teaching him to play in tune.

If there is a teacher, then I think that teacher has done very well.

We are witnessing a jaw-dropping moment... a child playing so incredibly well for his age. That's a job well done.

 

[cnltb]

Actually I looked at it and my description of it has been shown to not be that accurate anymore.

beat me to it

 

[Gorn]

Think of it this way. The kid is a prodigy. Whether he plays a short scale or not. So using him as an example for your crusade against short scale is a non sequitor and just shows you to be biased and probably of questionable intelligence given the fact there is nothing better or worse in using a short scale or long scale bass. So in the future what you should do is just create a thread where you and your kind can disparage people who choose a different instrument than you. I’m sure the moderators will love that one.

I don’t even understand what you’re saying. Must be my questionable intelligence. You know how my kind are.

 

[Yonni]

I have wasted my life

 

[WestyBassBob]

I’d be criticizing his parents. Don’t want to be a downer here and I am blown away by this kid’s skill, but this playing requires intensive practice in a oversized instrument, so I am sad for the many hours of playing-like-a-normal-kid this boy is missing so he can produce these videos.

I would be very happy with a kid that has this talent, but I wonder if I would be asking him to record all this material.

Sorry, I am one of those sensitive to any form of child labor, in any of its forms.

I don't know the kid but it seems like he's really having fun in the videos and I would guess it was his idea to record and publish them.

Kids these days expect anything important to be video'd and available for immediate watching. They all think of themselves as youtubers.

As for the debate of scale size, that's another question. We don't know, maybe that was all he had available and now that he knows how to play it he sees no need to switch?

 

[Spirit of Ox]

I love this kids playing and videos. I hope my son is a prodigy too. He loves watching and singing along to me playing bass and guitar.
He just turned 5 months last week and he can already hit the strings.

 

[roccobass]

I don't know the kid but it seems like he's really having fun in the videos and I would guess it was his idea to record and publish them.


Kids these days expect anything important to be video'd and available for immediate watching. They all think of themselves as youtubers.

As for the debate of scale size, that's another question. We don't know, maybe that was all he had available and now that he knows how to play it he sees no need to switch?

Your last paragraph hit it for me. Much as it is similar to the kids initially using the standard size basketball versus the smaller one, if it’s what they started on and they’re progressing and not causing any pain, why change?

Plus, we need to remember that nature is busy narrowing his reach gap as we speak. Well, unless he’s got some unknown pituitary gland issue.

 

[Biggbass]

there's a lot of thumping going on there.

 

[WestyBassBob]

Your last paragraph hit it for me. Much as it is similar to the kids initially using the standard size basketball versus the smaller one, if it’s what they started on and they’re progressing and not causing any pain, why change?

Plus, we need to remember that nature is busy narrowing his reach gap as we speak. Well, unless he’s got some unknown pituitary gland issue.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m very much against forcing kids to play full scale bass and I only play SS myself. But I’m just saying we don’t really know this kid or his circumstances so we shouldn’t assume anything. This may not be his best video but he’s a good player who seems to enjoy it.

 

[roccobass]

Don’t get me wrong. I’m very much against forcing kids to play full scale bass and I only play SS myself. But I’m just saying we don’t really know this kid or his circumstances so we shouldn’t assume anything. This may not be his best video but he’s a good player who seems to enjoy it.

No need to explain. I know where you’re coming from. Thank you, though.

Not being an SS player, I can still appreciate it. I started on a Jazz long scale and am so now used to those reference points, that I get turned around on an SS . So I must admit I’m slightly biased towards an LS.

Yes, the Jazz he’s playing looks incredibly huge on him, but he’ll grow into it. Don’t know if there’s any videos of him standing with it. And who knows? He just might be digging that Jazz growl above all else!

 

[Altitude]

I knew this thread was going to be about this exact kid before I clicked on the title.

He's got crazy chops and instinct, there's no getting around it.

There's a part of me that suspects his parents are the ones trotting him out over and over again on these YouTube videos to monetize his talent. Wouldn't be the first time, but would be a shame. Just not sure why an eight year old kid would be so driven to publish himself, and if he did it would be on TikTok, not YouTube.

I know there's a pandemic going on, but my usual public service announcement applies - playing with recordings is like punching a heavy bag. It's good exercise but it's not boxing.

When you can, go out and make music in real time with other human beings. It's a different, harder, and much more gratifying experience.

 

[Clark Dark]

I don't mind the kid playing all that awesome bass in my face, just don't be grinning at me while you do....you little whipper snapper, why I oughta

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Thats it....
I quit.....

 

[fourstringburn]

Scary to see kids playing a Jaco Bass playing masterpiece at such a young age. It's also interesting and refreshing to see the kids wanting to play music from their Grandparent's era and not wanting to he the next Justin Bieber.

Here's another kid playing the solo from Havona which I think this kid does it better. He rushes it towards the end of the solo but it sounds like the notes are mostly correct.