Jaco the world greatest bass player ...

[roccobass]

Oh, as a player, he had lots of amazing days.... No doubt.

As a person growing up, he was a kind of hyper. Even during his early professional years in South Florida. No drugs until about the WR years. Yes, he became impossible in the latter years of his life, early to middlin' he was still quite approachable. The interviews with a number of folks attest to that. No, he doesn't walk on water with me, but what you say isn't entirely true. Look beyond his bluster.

 

[Ross W. Lovell]

View attachment 3690953

Depends on how big your world is actually.

The guy was a powerhouse, but I'm not a fan of everything he did.

Still, pretty awesome.

 

[4001]

Oh, as a player, he had lots of amazing days.... No doubt.

We all know Jaco had these problems.... I try to not dwell so much on all of that.
I celebrate the music he created.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

An acoustic version of Teen Town, Jaco compositions hold up very well.

 

[StephnG]

Wow,
Unbelievable, that's the first time I've Checked him out, gave me "chills"
Thanks for sharing that!!

 

[Mili]

If You now music.

Exactly..., If...

 

[roccobass]

The studio version of this was my first exposure to harmonics! Thank you.

 

[Ellery]

This guy made his contributions but outside of the world of bass enthusiasts nobody even knows who he is.

 

[DeepThoughts]

Simply put .....Jaco was the Hendrix of the Electric Bass. His vision of rhythm, harmony and melody on the electric bass ( often simultaneously) are a complete paradigm shift in recorded music worldwide. His impact is still being felt just like Hendrix's. There is bass before Jaco and bass after Jaco.
Less Debate ....more "the chicken"

 

[Roger W]

This guy made his contributions but outside of the world of bass enthusiasts nobody even knows who he is.

Right and I'll bet if you asked 10 random people on the street who Duke Ellington was, 7 would think he was part of the British aristocracy, 2 would think he's a character from the Harry Potter series, and 1 would have some idea that he was a reggae musician.

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

I'll bet if you asked 10 random people on the street who Duke Ellington was, 7 would think he was part of the British aristocracy, 2 would think he's a character from the Harry Potter series, and 1 would have some idea that he was a reggae musician.

That is literary genius, thank you!

 

[zubrycky]

I love Jaco but, to me, Jack Bruce is the greatest.

 

[Signalsdrone]

That you may not have a deep musical vocabulary? Or maybe you focus on the music more than the musicians?
Whenever I bought an album or heard something I liked, I always wanted to know everything about the act or album. The musicians, producer, studio, cover art, instruments, everything. From my perspective (which is only mine of course) I can't imagine being a bass player of a certain age (I am in my 50's) and never having heard of Jaco Pastorius.
Then again, last year someone posted here that they never heard The Beatles!

I don't need to study acts, bands or albums. I listen to music so I guess I haven't listened to music that this Jaco plays. I like what I like and whatever he plays isn't it I guess

The GOAT would be a person that not only is a master of their instrument but also is known worldwide for their excellence. You can be a virtuoso and play solely in your parents basement. That might make you the GOAT in that limited sphere and no one has ever heard of you. But THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME to me is worldwide and crosses all types of music. So, unless you add an asterisk after the name, like Jaco Pastorius, GOAT* (*to those that admire his genre of music) you really should put someone much wider known at the top of the heap IMO.

 

[BurtMacklinFBI]

Don't be so pedestrian, TB. Everyone knows the one true GOAT is Bon Jovi touring bassist Alec John Such.

 

[Double E]

This guy made his contributions but outside of the world of bass enthusiasts nobody even knows who he is.

This isn't entirely true... there are plenty of non-bassist jazz musicians and fans of post-bop modern jazz, avant garde jazz and jazz fusion that know and respect Jaco... though admittedly that is still not a very wide swath of the population.

 

[klejst]

Amazing player/one of the best/legend? For sure! Worlds greatest? Perhaps...

 

[BarfanyShart]

This isn't entirely true... there are plenty of non-bassist jazz musicians and fans of post-bop modern jazz, avant garde jazz and jazz fusion that know and respect Jaco... though admittedly that is still not a very wide swath of the population.

I like to believe that most normies still know Birdland as a point of reference, if you have to explain who Jaco was.

 

[Stringly]

 

[red_rhino]

Let me preface this by saying that I think Jaco was a great bass player and that I enjoyed a lot of his playing and acknowledge his influence, (which you can see on display at almost any music store where someone is riding the bridge pickup of a jazz bass while attempting to find every harmonic known to man).

That said, I think many of the folks who believe Jaco is the greatest, and that all modern bass playing flows directly from him, are people who came of age as players during Jaco's career. There were a lot of players who came before Jaco that pushed the boundaries of bass playing and arguably had just as great an influence on the art. Not to belittle Jaco's accomplishments, but we all stand on the shoulders of giants.

 

[LBS-bass]

The GOAT? I'd never heard of Jaco before coming onto this website and I'm 48 yrs old and don't live under a rock. What does that tell you?

Mostly stuff about you. Not that it's bad, but it means you haven't researched the instrument very far. Which is fine if you want to be in one genre that wasn't particularly influenced by someone who was a groundbreaker back in the '70's. But it doesn't reflect well on you to be proud of a lack of knowledge.