Jaco was a beast

[caligula]

One of my all time favourite tunes with Jaco is Mike Stern's "Mood Swings" from Stern's first album "Upside Downside", probably one of the last pro recordings Jaco did.
Killer ... killer ... killer

 

[jerry]

Yeah, that track (Mood Swings) always blows me away, it's from his downslope period but he's lucid on that track. Such power! The way he ghosts Bob Berg's sax solo is incredible!

 

[Wiremessiah]

, so his intonation had to be dead on or it would have sounded off.

I have never owned a fretless, but is it really that hard, with the fretlines? When you are doubling, I think the brain with any musical training just naturally intonations pretty easily. Singers often have "just" rather than equal intonation even if they don't know it because that's where the brain wants to go.

 

[JohnDeereJack]

...and what does Jaco do? He makes himself a pickguard. Check out the pickguard for Jaco's commentary on the whole sordid affair.

Like a few folk here, I can't make out what it says on the pickguard (surprised anyone could, to be honest!) So, what does it say?

 

[JGbassman]

I have never owned a fretless, but is it really that hard, with the fretlines? When you are doubling, I think the brain with any musical training just naturally intonations pretty easily. Singers often have "just" rather than equal intonation even if they don't know it because that's where the brain wants to go.

To be brief, the lines are just reference points, and can't be relied on to be the end all for intonation. Without you playing a fretless much (assuming here, based on your question) it takes a long time to get your intonation good. Your ears and muscle memory are what will make you a good fretless player, not the lines. I honestly only use them when moving to second or third position, as a reference to a large hand movement. Once in place my ears are what I use for intonation, not the lines. When playing at the speed Jaco is, there is no time to look at the lines, and a note struck even a millimeter off will announce itself rather loudly, especially when doubling with another instrument. Anyone can play a fretted instrument fast, you really don't even have to be that accurate. The fretless is a whole other ball of wax.

I go from a fretless jazz to a fretted five string during my shows, and the concentration level needed to accurately play the fretless it at another level.

As an analogy, driving a car at 55 mph without cruise control would be playing fretless, where using cruise control would be a fretted bass.

 

[BassBrass]

...a very average song...

Oh yes very average, just an alternate tuning and some random words about who knows what, Jaco isn't on this one and it's so average (for Joni Mitchell songs)

 

[Dickie]

To be brief, the lines are just reference points, and can't be relied on to be the end all for intonation. Without you playing a fretless much (assuming here, based on your question) it takes a long time to get your intonation good. Your ears and muscle memory are what will make you a good fretless player, not the lines. I honestly only use them when moving to second or third position, as a reference to a large hand movement. Once in place my ears are what I use for intonation, not the lines. When playing at the speed Jaco is, there is no time to look at the lines, and a note struck even a millimeter off will announce itself rather loudly, especially when doubling with another instrument. Anyone can play a fretted instrument fast, you really don't even have to be that accurate. The fretless is a whole other ball of wax.

I go from a fretless jazz to a fretted five string during my shows, and the concentration level needed to accurately play the fretless it at another level.

As an analogy, driving a car at 55 mph without cruise control would be playing fretless, where using cruise control would be a fretted bass.

Or in Jaco's case, fretless = driving a car a 155 mph with no brakes

 

[Deleted member 165050]

My favorite Jaco playing is on Joni's album Hejira - the relative sparseness of the production really brings out what a great player he was.

 

[Dickie]

Pre-ordered this and it is fantastic. IMHO it's the best live recording of Jaco playing his songs and I have most every live album he ever did, even the notorious Live in NYC series.

 

[Ric5]

I just recently listened to Teen Town because i heard that Jaco was a beast. I´m really impressed, what other songs would you recommend?

Jaco was very talented ... but I find it hard to listen to him ... that constant noodling and burpy tone get old pretty fast

 

[cman227]

To me, Mingus is the pinnacle.

Mingus, to my knowledge, was the first bassist to step out of the rythm section. He set the pace for everyone that followed. Each bassist that came aftward built upon the last, so I think it's unfair to compare them.

 

[Dickie]

Jaco was very talented ... but I find it hard to listen to him ... that constant noodling and burpy tone get old pretty fast

I completely understand, you have to be in the mood to listen to him take the instrument to the extreme, he was changing the game every time he played. We all love Hendrix too but one could make a case that all that feedback and heavy over-driven tone gets old sometimes. I prefer Jimmy Vaughn to Stevie Ray, but I have to admit Stevie Ray was a monster. My favorite bass players play the bass as an accompaniment instrument, Jaco played it like a lead instrument, he was the best of all time and the most skilled but perhaps not for everyday listening. I would rather listen to the Meters or Parliament most days

 

[socialleper]

I enjoy his work on Heavy Weather and his self titled solo album. I don't care for his punk jazz stuff or other solo work. I can appreciate the man's skills, but his tastes in music don't always sit well with me.

 

[Wiremessiah]

To be brief, the lines are just reference points, and can't be relied on to be the end all for intonation. Without you playing a fretless much (assuming here, based on your question) it takes a long time to get your intonation good. Your ears and muscle memory are what will make you a good fretless player, not the lines. I honestly only use them when moving to second or third position, as a reference to a large hand movement. Once in place my ears are what I use for intonation, not the lines. When playing at the speed Jaco is, there is no time to look at the lines, and a note struck even a millimeter off will announce itself rather loudly, especially when doubling with another instrument. Anyone can play a fretted instrument fast, you really don't even have to be that accurate. The fretless is a whole other ball of wax.

I go from a fretless jazz to a fretted five string during my shows, and the concentration level needed to accurately play the fretless it at another level.

As an analogy, driving a car at 55 mph without cruise control would be playing fretless, where using cruise control would be a fretted bass.

I haven't played a fretless bass much, but i studied Indian Sarod and vocal, so understand intonations (they have a few versions of almost each note, each of which evokes a different sounding interval). Yes it's difficult, you don't even have fretlines and you have to land in the right place when doing all the slides. I played a fretless though a few times, and had some trouble without fretlines, but not too much with. Especially when playing with other instruments like keys. I don't have perfect pitch at all, but when playing with other instruments or a drone I don't think it's that hard. I alos have played around with sitar and scalloped fret guitar. Scalloped frets really make you get exact left hand pressure, because it will bend up or down so easily, but you can do i think even more precise intonation than fretless instuments.

 

[bass.slinger]

Havona w Weather Report is probably his most succinct and propulsive solo.

As much as I love his chops monster playing in jazz fusion contexts, his playing with Joni Mitchell is def. my favorite= so supportive of the song yet virtuosic and emotional.

Same - I love his playing with Joni Mitchell. This would be followed by his solo albums and then Weather Report. The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines (on Mitchell's Mingus album) is my favorite - killer intro.

 

[Pbassmanca]

My buddy's dad played "Donna Lee" from Jaco's 1975 debut album, on vinyl for me back in the mid 90's and blew my mind. That fact that someone could play that tune, that way on a fretless electric bass was just unbelievable to me.

 

[monkeyfinger]

Gotta give props to "Word of Mouth" too. That is such a great album. Jaco's pinnacle effort as composer, arranger, and performer. Apparently it got produced because the execs at Warner Bros weren't paying attention to what he was doing. Had they learned what was going on, they probably would have squashed the project.

 

[Steadfast]

Jaco at his worst was still brilliant.

I personally like "watching" videos of him playing live. He makes me smile.

 

[monkeyfinger]

Jaco at his worst was still brilliant.

I personally like "watching" videos of him playing live. He makes me smile.

I wouldn't go that far. He "played" a concert at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, RI. He had to borrow a bass from the opening act. The show started with Jaco playing the "Star Spangled Banner" like Hendrix. Towards the end, he laid the bass out on the floor and kneeled before it. He then started sing happy birthday to his kids while sobbing uncontrollably. Then he walked off stage. My brother, Joe, was at the show. (I missed it unfortunately.) He followed Jaco into the green room to get an autograph. He said Jaco circled the room by jumping from couch to couch while blurting paranoid rants. He wasn't even aware Joe was in the room for several minutes. Mental illness is a B*TCH!

 

[D-Smith]

In 1983 I was SO fortunate to see him at the original Tralfamadore Cafe in Buffalo.

I was at that show! Saw him there twice. Was it the show where he had the guitar player or without? I think the '83 show was the second one I saw with the guitar player.