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Jaco

T

Timbo

Jun 14, 2004
972
5
#1
Alright,
Today I was talking to my bass teacher about Jaco and see if he could help me learn Donna Lee.. Well as soon as I mentione his name he started telling me how he used to be in the same Doorm as him at Berklee. ANd how like one day he heard a guy down the hall yelling " Jaco! We're late get ready " So he grabbed his bass and through it out the window to the guy ( he was on 3-4 floor ) on the ground, and said " Catch! ".. :eek: The guy managed to catch it though... Man I was cracking up when he told me that.
 
#7
Moved to Bassists (I considered Misc. but Bassists fits better) since it's a question about Jaco's CV.

IIRC he never strudied at Berklee.

When did he say did this happen? If he says 80s or later he's lying.
 
#8
I'm not a Jaco historian but I have read a lot about him and do not believe he ever attended formal school, either. He started playing professionally at a young age in Florida and never looked back. Though, he did, as stated above, teach in Miami for a short while.

Maybe you should ask your teacher what his roomate's Last Name was ;)
 
#9
Timbo said:
So he grabbed his bass and through it out the window to the guy ( he was on 3-4 floor ) on the ground, and said " Catch! ".. :eek: The guy managed to catch it though... Man I was cracking up when he told me that.
Click to expand...

I hate to be picky about spelling - mine is bad enough - but it's spelt "threw" - sorry dude - nice story though.

My fave Jaco story was told to me by Randy Brecker - who played in Jaco's big band and Word Of Mouth band. I interviewed Randy a while back, and as a bass nut/player, I had to ask him if he had a good story about Jaco and he said this:

"When we did that Montreal gig with me and Bob Mintzer, Peter Erskine et al (the one that is out there on video) we were playing this tune, when I suddenly noticed i couldn't hear the bass anymore. I looked round and I couldn't see Jaco anywhere, so I kind of panicked but I kept playing like nothing was wrong - but this was in front of 3,000 people, and the gig was being filmed as well! So anyway, I keep playing like it's this big extended solo, while one of the crew runs backstage to find Jaco. They looked in the dressing room and found him taking a shower! They grabbed him and got his clothes back on and got him back on stage - you'll notice in the video that after my massive solo break, Jaco returns but appears to be sopping wet!"

I love Jaco - but he did have his moments of inspiration!
 
#10
Kavorka said:
I'm not a Jaco historian but I have read a lot about him and do not believe he ever attended formal school, either. He started playing professionally at a young age in Florida and never looked back. Though, he did, as stated above, teach in Miami for a short while.

Maybe you should ask your teacher what his roomate's Last Name was ;)
Click to expand...

On his instructional video, Jaco says he's "formally self-taught" and I think that had Jaco ever attended Berklee, he would have mentioned it. Lots of respected bassists did go, though, like Anthony Jackson and Jeff Berlin, not to mention Michael Manring, although they didn't graduate. (They had no electric bass majors until later)

As for the dropping the bass off the third or fourth floor, I know Jaco was rough on his basses and I might believe the dropping out the window bit, but expecting someone to believe a person caught an awkwardly shaped 8-10 pound chunk of wood and metal hurled from 20-30 feet is asking way too much., sorry.
 
#16
Sonorous said:
Hasn't anyone told you? "Jaco" is an expletive at Berklee.
Click to expand...

David Hungate was at Berklee at the time when Jaco burst into the scene and by his account, the bassists in the school had two choices: quit the instrument or try to figure out what the heck he was doing.

I don't see why it would be different now.
 
#20
There are a lot of misconceptions about Jaco. One is that he was entirely "self-taught". Although Jaco didn't formally attend a music school, nor did he study electric bass privately, he studied music intensely in various ways. He could read and write music, had a vast knowledge of theory, harmony and arranging, composed mostly on piano, and wrote charts in a clear hand. He "picked up" much of his knowledge when he was on the road with Wayne Cochran and the C.C. Riders, learning loads about theory and arranging from Wayne's arranger (sorry, can't remember the cat's name). He learned more by playing with heavy cats like Ira Sullivan in south Florida when he came off the road. On the job training? Sure. But it was training none the less. Add to that what he must have learned from Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock...everyone I've talked to that new him said Jaco was a sponge. If you were doing something hip, Jaco wanted to be hip to it.

Jaco very well may have dug Berklee if he had attended when he was very young. Granted, he certainly wouldn't have stayed very long...none of the monster players did.
 

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