Rick Beato: Jaco Analysis

[bluesblaster]

I just learned that crazy lick in "Havona" my first thought was "who thinks up stuff like this ? this is nuts" I can play the notes but I no longer have the agility to play it at that tempo. I see youtube vids of younger players doing it pretty well though

 

[JimK]

Jaco was truly an original. He had influences, like Jerry Jemmott and Tommy Cogbill, but by the time they went through the Jaco blender, they were remade in his image.

...there was also a local bassist, Carlos Garcia, that Jaco checked out. Apparently, Garcia was adept at 1/16th note staccato/finger funk. In that day, we had a local guy, same thing. Staccato finger funk on a P-bass. I didn't know jack...except it sounded so cool.

Anyway, "Donna Lee" is a Bebop tune written over the changes to a Standard ("Indiana").
I think Beato mentions this. Jaco obviously studied horn players; the phrasing & interval "leaps"/choices are odd for players of stringed instruments. That is, more than a few of the lines in "Donna Lee" don't really flow so nice on a bass. Fingers go in contrary motion to our muscle memory...at least for me.

 

[JimK]

Thanks for posting that. GREAT breakdown.

I remember the first time I heard that tune...it was just kind of...a well f$%^ moment. Completely beyond anything I’d ever heard or could conceive of. FWIW, in the intervening years, I’ve been able to get “close;” but, a re-listen to Crisis always puts me back in my place.

Another thing is that I strongly object to characterization of that tone as “farting,” which seems to be a popular epithet here on TB. Tunes like Donna Lee live through the Acoustic 360 were just simply breathtaking. No, the cat was pure genius; and there will never be another like him.

"Crisis" is disturbing. Even today...same album has the haunting & beautiful "Three Views Of A Secret".
Word Of Mouth was (& is?) a very underappreciated album.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

...there was also a local bassist, Carlos Garcia, that Jaco checked out. Apparently, Garcia was adept at 1/16th note staccato/finger funk. In that day, we had a local guy, same thing. Staccato finger funk on a P-bass. I didn't know jack...except it sounded so cool.

Anyway, "Donna Lee" is a Bebop tune written over the changes to a Standard ("Indiana").
I think Beato mentions this. Jaco obviously studied horn players; the phrasing & interval "leaps"/choices are odd for players of stringed instruments. That is, more than a few of the lines in "Donna Lee" don't really flow so nice on a bass. Fingers go in contrary motion to our muscle memory...at least for me.

I think this is an important point. Donna Lee is a Charlie Parker tune that was based on a standard. What Jaco played was essentially a transcription of the solo a Parker played. Being able to play it fluidly was an impressive feat, and Jaco surely knew exactly what he was doing harmonically, but he did not create the tune or the structure of the solo.

 

[WillieB]

Thanks for the post Doc!

 

[IamGroot]

I think this is an important point. Donna Lee is a Charlie Parker tune that was based on a standard. What Jaco played was essentially a transcription of the solo a Parker played. Being able to play it fluidly was an impressive feat, and Jaco surely knew exactly what he was doing harmonically, but he did not create the tune or the structure of the solo.

THANK YOU!

I may add that Jaco owned and studied the Parker Omnibook extensively. Most sax players choose to copy Parkers solos exactly and that was expected from me in my Jazz class. Jaco's version has the notes but not Parkers phrasing.

 

[Novarocker]

Thanks Doc! I saw that yesterday but didn't have the time. I'll definitely go back and check it out.

He was something else. Not only did he have amazing stuff in his head, but the chops and know how to play it.

IIRC, in one of his interviews he said something about his upright like "I woke up one morning and it had blew up into a thousand pieces, from the crazy humidity."

 

[jerry]

"Crisis" is disturbing. Even today...same album has the haunting & beautiful "Three Views Of A Secret".
Word Of Mouth was (& is?) a very underappreciated album.

I've always thought Crisis might have been one of the most personal of Jaco's compositions, I reflection of the inner turmoil I think he suffered.

 

[OnTheOneBaby]

What we know about Jaco's capabilities for theory? Could he have easily understood Rick Beato's clip.

When Jaco worked 'Donna Lee' did he conceive it by analysis and ear or just by ear. Playing jazz requires plenty of ear and knowing theory surely helps you. But then there are guys like Django Reinhardt. And a certain Sir Paul has achieved fame and fortune solely by ear only.

 

[JimK]

What we know about Jaco's capabilities for theory? Could he have easily understood Rick Beato's clip.

When Jaco worked 'Donna Lee' did he conceive it by analysis and ear or just by ear. Playing jazz requires plenty of ear and knowing theory surely helps you. But then there are guys like Django Reinhardt. And a certain Sir Paul has achieved fame and fortune solely by ear only.

I thought this was talked about here...
Jaco on Donna Lee. Is it improvised or not?

IMHO-
Jaco is, first & foremost, a player. A musical sponge.
2nd, a composer.
Last, a theorist.

Beato's analyses are cool...he really goes deep.
Like The Beatles' anaysis he just did.
Do I think they thought about the chords in a theoretical way? No, I don't.
Beato even goes as far as saying George Martin musta suggested some of the voicings & some of the changes.

Going back & using Music Theory to explain things is fun. Personally, I never wanted to get anal about it...play what sounds good & let others explain it.

 

[J_Bass]

"Too much effort for too little sound", was what Jaco used to say about the double bass. But he played it.

 

[OnTheOneBaby]

I thought this was talked about here...
Jaco on Donna Lee. Is it improvised or not?

IMHO-
Jaco is, first & foremost, a player. A musical sponge.
2nd, a composer.
Last, a theorist.

Beato's analyses are cool...he really goes deep.
Like The Beatles' anaysis he just did.
Do I think they thought about the chords in a theoretical way? No, I don't.
Beato even goes as far as saying George Martin musta suggested some of the voicings & some of the changes.

Going back & using Music Theory to explain things is fun. Personally, I never wanted to get anal about it...play what sounds good & let others explain it.

Thanks for the link, Jim.

 

[consectaneus]

I can't help but think Portrait Of Tracy started one day when Jaco was tuning his bass with harmonics.

Jaco was definitely an ear player (at leas at first). He talked about how hard it was to go back and learn to read music, because he could already play. He tells a story about his dad giving him an assignment to know all the notes of the bass before he came back off the road (he was a drummer, as was Jaco at first). I think the early experience drumming is what got him started on such a solid rhythmic foundation which he always seemed to have. On the video with Jerry Jemmott he mentions being "formally self taught", which I take to mean he was systematic about his personal development. He gives a lot of scale exercises on that video and knew what he was teaching, so I think he knew theory but wouldn't necessarily be able to explain it like Rick Beato can. Few musicians probably can who aren't theory teachers like him.

 

[dougjwray]

Excellent breakdown. I know I've never had the patience to do what Beato did. I just kind of listen in awe, and leave it at that!
I've mentioned before that I had a few lessons with Jaco. I remember trying to articulate a question about how he created his solo on "Donna Lee", meaning "What were your thought processes behind your improvising?" His reply was that he began with a quote from "Kim" by Charlie Parker, and then "went into my own stuff." I've never been able to really hear the bit from "Kim" which he referred to (maybe my ears don't work quickly enough); I also didn't ask whether his solo was composed or not... that didn't even occur to me at the time.

 

[deckard]

What we know about Jaco's capabilities for theory? Could he have easily understood Rick Beato's clip.

When Jaco worked 'Donna Lee' did he conceive it by analysis and ear or just by ear. Playing jazz requires plenty of ear and knowing theory surely helps you. But then there are guys like Django Reinhardt. And a certain Sir Paul has achieved fame and fortune solely by ear only.

To say nothing of Erroll Garner, who could play his butt off yet apparently never learned to read...

 

[deckard]

...there was also a local bassist, Carlos Garcia, that Jaco checked out. Apparently, Garcia was adept at 1/16th note staccato/finger funk. In that day, we had a local guy, same thing. Staccato finger funk on a P-bass. I didn't know jack...except it sounded so cool.

Anyway, "Donna Lee" is a Bebop tune written over the changes to a Standard ("Indiana").
I think Beato mentions this. Jaco obviously studied horn players; the phrasing & interval "leaps"/choices are odd for players of stringed instruments. That is, more than a few of the lines in "Donna Lee" don't really flow so nice on a bass. Fingers go in contrary motion to our muscle memory...at least for me.

Wouldn't surprise me if out Jaco was heavily influenced by Mr. 1/16th note staccato/finger funk himself: Rocco Prestia, say what?

 

[kesslari]

I just learned that crazy lick in "Havona" my first thought was "who thinks up stuff like this ? this is nuts" I can play the notes but I no longer have the agility to play it at that tempo. I see youtube vids of younger players doing it pretty well though

That was my take as well. "who thinks up stuff like this ? this is nuts"
Most "crazy" stuff that I hear I can either makes sense to me from a theory perspective or from a "how it lays on the instrument" perspective, but that line - I just do not grok the process that produced it.
Genius, IMO.

 

[jerry]

I just learned that crazy lick in "Havona" my first thought was "who thinks up stuff like this ? this is nuts" I can play the notes but I no longer have the agility to play it at that tempo. I see youtube vids of younger players doing it pretty well though

Jimmy Haslip even mentioned having to work on getting Havona up to speed on the Jaco tribute album.