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What do you like about Jaco Pastorius' playing?

#45
What I like about Jaco is, firstly, the way he grooves. I also love his melodic sensibility, his creativity, his articulation of notes. Check this out:

His style doesn't always sit well with me. There are times when what he is doing seems directionless and pointless when he is playing on his own.

Another great thing is he wasn't scared at all of the avant-garde, he embraced it, like on the 'Trilogue' album, the album with Paul Bley, Pat Metheny and Bruce Ditmas. Not to mention the ways he embraces it and it shows even in much more conventional playing.
 
#47
#1 His ridiculously precise right hand articulation, and #2 the fact that he basically destroyed a perfectly good Jazz Bass and rebuilt it into a tone machine that has never been replicated with complete success since.

His was a singular "voice" on the instrument and while I dont choose to listen to his stuff (or fusion in general) very often, I am always inspired when I do.
 
#49
oboylebass said:
Plain and simple, there is electric bass before Jaco, and electric bass after Jaco. He changed the way the instrument was played, and also achieved something few musicians have: a singular voice.
Click to expand...

Finally! This is the deal. Not unlike Hendrix. There is a passage that takes an instrument to the next level. Jaco did this. And, please, the man was only in his mid thirtys when he died. He was the single force that made all others before him sound ordinary and it was he who sent every serious bassist to the woodshed. For his time, he was the cat, period. His playing still stands up and most of the current greats pay homage to Jacos influence.
 
#50
See, I on the other hand, don't get all of the modern "bass heroes" like Wooten, Marcus Miller and pick any of a half dozen so called modern "greats", yet I get Jaco completely...

He was on a different level musically than most any other player out there. I will admit some of the live video of him playing solos doesn't always do it to me, but take Joni Mitchel's Don Juan's Reckless Daughter/Hejira and his first solo album and oh yeah, Bright Sized Life from Pat Metheny and i get that stuff completely, brilliant stuff.
 
#52
Also, check out Joni Mitchell's album, Mingus.
Jaco is just amazing on this! No doubt some of his best work was with Joni. And, if you haven't listened to Heavy weather, as a bass player, you haven't lived.
 
#54
I like the ideas, the intent, the approach, and the beauty and sensitivity of his playing, like everybody else. My favorite part of the Jaco experience is that you only need to hear a few notes to know it's him and it's not even in the realm of possibility that it could be anyone else. There are many players with a distinctive, personal sound, but Jaco is at the top of that pyramid, IMO.

This has thinned out a little over time as there are many notable players with a strong Jaco influence, but the genuine article still remains the genuine article.
 
#56
Like other players have noted, I could go on and on about his tone, his endurance, his incredible musicality, his ability to grove at super-fast speeds (no one to this day can groove at the speed he did, sure, players can play as fast as him or faster, but no one can play at his speed with that groove). But in the end, what makes Jaco the most important bassist of all-time is he liberated the instrument, he basically made it possible for anything to be possible on the instrument.
 
#57
bassinplace said:
I haven't checked out Jaco's solo album, I need to get that.
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Agreed. That's probably the most complete statement of the man and it was a landmark at the time. Here's some of my favorites from it:

Nobody had ever played like this before in 1975. There were some great players (Alphonso Johnson, Willie Weeks, Stanley Clarke, Bob Cranshaw, Jamerson, Carol Kaye, Chuck Rainey, Mervin Brunson) out there on electric bass but no one played like this. I was a freshman at UNT when it came out and the effect on bassists at school was profound. IMHO every bassist should check out this whole recording at one time or another.
 
#59
Word of Mouth is great! Bright Size Life is amazing as well.

I think part of what may make his tone seem weedly (or whatever) is because he is bringing the bass to the forefront - as a solo instrument - a thumpy sound won't work. And besides, now it's only one aspect of bass playing. Any instrument that's "supposed" to be in the background being pushed out front - well, imagine a solo tuba player - what kind of tone would make it stand out? Not something so low and farty - that's why there will only be one Jaco - he revolutionized not just the role of the electric bass, but the sound - he made it hip and accepted for bassists to stand out. That being said, I just can't imagine a P bass thump with flats would've done the trick - it has to sound different and daring and new.
 

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