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Seeing Jaco live
- Thread starter Warwickthumb
- Start date
...maybe from a live show angle, otherwise, I would say Wooten is more from the Stanley skool(BTW, Vic was already a pretty decent player when Jaco first hit in the mid-'70s).
I would say Gary Willis, for me, has picked up the pieces post-Jaco...like Jaco, Willis can play & compose(unlike many of the Jaco wannabes).
I LOVE WILLIS!! One of the strongest voices period and deffinetly THE man on fretless.I think he is truly nasty, Grooveing ,funky, soloing, beautiful, great tone, taste.....
But, I havent heard one compasition by him him that does a thing for me. The only tribal tech songs I like are Henderson's and I usually dont like most of those Im just listen to the groove and waiting for the solo.
Now liberty city on the other hand If I get that one in my head its chillin thier like a mcartney hook and makin its self right at home.
AJ
But, I havent heard one compasition by him him that does a thing for me. The only tribal tech songs I like are Henderson's and I usually dont like most of those Im just listen to the groove and waiting for the solo.
Now liberty city on the other hand If I get that one in my head its chillin thier like a mcartney hook and makin its self right at home.
AJ
T
temp5897
Guest
Originally posted by JimK
...maybe from a live show angle, otherwise, I would say Wooten is more from the Stanley skool(BTW, Vic was already a pretty decent player when Jaco first hit in the mid-'70s).
I would say Gary Willis, for me, has picked up the pieces post-Jaco...like Jaco, Willis can play & compose(unlike many of the Jaco wannabes).
You know what really gets me about Vic is that on his bass day dvd, in the special interview, he talks about the first time he heard portrait of tracy and how he could not believe it was played on a bass. He says he must have been about 7 or 8 I believe (maybe 9) when he first heard it and he "stayed up all night figuring out how to play it and he didnt stop until he did." Now who can imagine someone that age figuring out how to play portrait of tracy OVERNIGHT when he first heard it? That is some serious ability.
Saw Jaco with Weather Report at the Whiskey, here in LA-Can't remember the year, but it was their initial appearance I believe.
Jaco was ....mobile!
I remember well his "distressed" axe, the Acoustics, and the fact that he did a jump/flip off one of the speaker cabs.
To be honest, my attentions were captured mostly by Wayne Shorter's work-it was unreal, as was the personality/demeanor/playing of Zawinul.
Like the genius that he was, Jaco's playing I'm sure went over my head, those many years ago.
No matter what, he made his mark and is an absolute seminal figure in the genesis of the Fender Bass- From Jamerson-to Jaco- to .....
(fill in the blank) Don't think that person has been heard yet! Maybe Manring?? in his own incredible way??
Jaco was ....mobile!
I remember well his "distressed" axe, the Acoustics, and the fact that he did a jump/flip off one of the speaker cabs.
To be honest, my attentions were captured mostly by Wayne Shorter's work-it was unreal, as was the personality/demeanor/playing of Zawinul.
Like the genius that he was, Jaco's playing I'm sure went over my head, those many years ago.
No matter what, he made his mark and is an absolute seminal figure in the genesis of the Fender Bass- From Jamerson-to Jaco- to .....
(fill in the blank) Don't think that person has been heard yet! Maybe Manring?? in his own incredible way??
I've listened to Gary Willis, and Caron, and Percy Jones, and many, many other fretless players, and while they all are staggering talents, not one of them has that soaring, vocal-like expression that Jaco had. There are many players in this day and age who have developed a facility as good or better than Jaco's, but none touch your soul like he did. His bass was a human voice and more. His expression matched that of any gypsy violinist, or any great cellist, and I'm sorry, but his replacement has yet to be found. He said everything we know so far on the fretless, and no one has yet added anything to that vocabulary. IMO, the same applies to his compositional skills, which were truly amazing. I consider him to be one of the great composers of the modern age.
Well-said, Marty. I'll second that!
So: here's the question then...
Jamerson ------Jaco -------------
-----------------------------------
(Fill in the Blank!)
There are incredible players out there!
Bona, Willis, Caron, Hamm, Sheehan, Sabal-Leco,
Trip, Dimin, Dave Parlato (my teacher! Zappa Streisand, Shelly Manne-The best!!!!!!!!!!)
all on Fender, but outside of the incredible Manring,
I gotta say, I think the bass world awaits the next one-
Shoot, I wish it were me, but-it ain't!
Happy New Year.
So: here's the question then...
Jamerson ------Jaco -------------
-----------------------------------
(Fill in the Blank!)
There are incredible players out there!
Bona, Willis, Caron, Hamm, Sheehan, Sabal-Leco,
Trip, Dimin, Dave Parlato (my teacher! Zappa Streisand, Shelly Manne-The best!!!!!!!!!!)
all on Fender, but outside of the incredible Manring,
I gotta say, I think the bass world awaits the next one-
Shoot, I wish it were me, but-it ain't!
Happy New Year.
To me, Jaco just didn't write enough great stuff to be a truly great composer. Not to say that he wasn't talented in that way, 'cause he was, but there just isn't that much stuff. Compare his compositional track record with, say, Shorter's track record--yes, even at comparable ages--and to me it's not at the same level. This isn't a knock on Jaco; I was as blown away by him as a player as anyone. As you said, he invented the modern fretless language. I just don't think he reached the same level as a composer that he did as a player.
Re the original question, I saw him three times live--once in London in '76, once in Santa Monica in '78 (I think), and once in New York in about '85. The first two were great, the last one was depressing--he was a shadow of himself. I even met him very briefly in Greenwich Village once not long before he died. Man, that was sad.
I actually liked his studio recordings as much as than the live shows I saw. It sometimes seemed that, at least when healthy, he had a discipline in the studio that sometimes got buried in the demands of a big live show.
im a pretty big tribal tech nut and scott is a big influence on me (ive trancribed his solo's rather than any of willis') but ive always dug gary's tunes a lot more than henderson's. nite club,speak,the necessary blonde,and the big wave are some of my favorites. then the stuff on his solo albums, whew!
with jaco, there's only a few that i think are really strong.three views of a secret and punk jazz played by his band rather than zawinul's synths come to mind.
i also think willis is way funkier than jaco. jaco's 16ths strike me as clinical and white sounding at times while willis reminds me of that jaco precision mixed with paul jackson's stank funk.
i actually prefer willis over jaco and would rather listen to any of his stuff but dont get me wrong. im one of those morons that actually spent the 80 bucks on that holiday for pans boxset when it came out
Way back- saw Gary Willis play with Phil Upchurch-
Straight-up jazz, little bit of R&B-
Made my jaw drop he was so in the pocket-
No pyrotechnics, no soloing, no being out-front-
But Gary played the Fender Bass as it was meant to be (one way anyway). He was solid beyond any words that I could lay down here, and held down the bottom so well in that quintet that any bass player just has to give props.
I later saw Gary with Scott, who is not only an amazing player, but a real gentleman and fine mind!
Waaay back, before Jean-Luc Ponty & Tribal, Scott was playing at a bar-gig, top 40, for something to do. They had a chick singer and were, well, your totally average bar band (they were playing Clapton's "Cocaine"). Scott WAILED. During break, my friend introduced me to Scott-while the band was hob-nobbing, drinking, etc, he was a a table by himself, in the club, with a music theory book,
reading-studying. I was impressed, and learned something about him & his music from that scenario. Tribal plays regularly at a small venue in LA, & the time I saw them with Gary- all I can say is ---time to practice!!!!
Jaco -no matter what we say-
is a Bass God who changed the direction of the instrument and we all must play in his great shadow-Like Picasso, Miles, etc. You may/may not dig some things, but, Man- they are THERE!
Peace/Happy NY
(I better practice some more
!)
Straight-up jazz, little bit of R&B-
Made my jaw drop he was so in the pocket-
No pyrotechnics, no soloing, no being out-front-
But Gary played the Fender Bass as it was meant to be (one way anyway). He was solid beyond any words that I could lay down here, and held down the bottom so well in that quintet that any bass player just has to give props.
I later saw Gary with Scott, who is not only an amazing player, but a real gentleman and fine mind!
Waaay back, before Jean-Luc Ponty & Tribal, Scott was playing at a bar-gig, top 40, for something to do. They had a chick singer and were, well, your totally average bar band (they were playing Clapton's "Cocaine"). Scott WAILED. During break, my friend introduced me to Scott-while the band was hob-nobbing, drinking, etc, he was a a table by himself, in the club, with a music theory book,
reading-studying. I was impressed, and learned something about him & his music from that scenario. Tribal plays regularly at a small venue in LA, & the time I saw them with Gary- all I can say is ---time to practice!!!!
Jaco -no matter what we say-
is a Bass God who changed the direction of the instrument and we all must play in his great shadow-Like Picasso, Miles, etc. You may/may not dig some things, but, Man- they are THERE!
Peace/Happy NY
(I better practice some more
!)"White sounding" = the punk component of "punkjazz"(the term Jaco coined to describe the bag he was comin' out of). He is what he is...
To my ears, nothing Jaco performed ever sounded "clinical". I've seen/heard too may clones/wannabes over the years.
Just my opinion.
Wayne IS the man. Bar none.
Since we're also veering into Willis-ville...
It's too bad Willis' tenure with Shorter isn't better documented; Phantom Navigator didn't do it for me. Supposedly, the 4-tet(Shorter, Willis, Tommy Brechtlein, & Tom Canning) cooked in a LIVE setting.
Regarding Henderson-
I do like Dog Party & Torn Down House...anyone have his latest?
BTW, I believe Henderson was the Elektric Band's "original" guitarist(or was it Carlos Rios?).
Well I guess we agree to disagree.
I do love the tribrel tech grooveing much more than than not.I have to admit that I heard willis play more in a lesson situation than recorded. I had a weekly hour with him for a year. Also allmost all of my time checking him out is his early stuff. like 93 and earlier
AJ
I heard that band. They burned. Though IIRC the keyboard player was Jim beard. But I could be wrong.
If anyone else out there has Kazaa on their computer, they may want to search out a video file of Weather Report in 1978 playing 'Black Market' and 'Scarlet Woman'. I've just finished downloading it (it took a long time). Very cool stuff, although Jaco gets less time on camera than the others (Zawinul, Shorter & Erskine).
There are another two videos available - Elegant People 1976 and Teen Town 1977 - I haven't managed to get these yet, as I am constantly "remotely queued".
There are another two videos available - Elegant People 1976 and Teen Town 1977 - I haven't managed to get these yet, as I am constantly "remotely queued".
to my medical knowledge, you should pray for Pancreas Cancer... it's VERY PAINFUL and it should kill him in less than 2 years.
