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What do you like about Jaco Pastorius' playing?

#101
Listen to some of the Joni Mitchell stuff. He had the skill to lay back. He did his Jaco thing, but he never got in Joni's way.

I like Jaco because even though his music wasn't always an easy listen, it always had a sense of fun and adventure. Plus he was near flawless in his prime. Wouldn't have been my first choice for a hardcore funk band, but the guy made some really interesting jazz music.
 
#104
I saw Jaco play many years back with Weather Report-He was a blast; he climbed on & leaped off one of his cabinets, never missing a beat of Weather Report's very complex passages.

I have to admit, way back then, I didn't appreciate Jaco, I was more of a Duck Dunn/Jamerson/Rainey fan, but it's become very apparent to me as my own playing advanced just how high a level he took the instrument to.

The other thing about him is that although he was blessed with natural talent, he practiced his A** off!

Gotta like/Respect that.
 
#108
Having grown up in Ft Lauderdale Jaco is a home town hero. Having met Ingrid and his twins, I'll admit I'm not very objective when it comes to Jaco. What I loved about Jaco was the warmth of his tone and the funk he brought to jazz. The stuff he learned when he was playing r&b and soul with Little Beaver, and listening to the great Jerry Jemmott, etc. Its no accident, IMO that Jerry was the fellow that did the video with Jaco and if you listen to Jerry's playing you can track much of Jaco's style right back to him. In fact, you can go to youtube and find videos of Jerry playing long before Jaco was known and see Jerry using his own jazz bass sans pick guard. Wonder where Jaco got the idea?

Jaco took things to the next level. And though I don't listen much to jazz these days I'm still proud of what the kid from Ft Lauderdale accomplished.
 
#109
I too saw him with Weather Report in the late 70s. He was a wild man on stage, wearing orange parachute pants and ripping his shirt off after the first few songs. But, getting back on topic, what I like the most about his playing was his Funk. His tone and groove are beyond words IMHO.
 
#110
punkjazzben said:
Jaco was, arguably first and foremost, a songwriter and a trail-blazing one at that. A bass was simply the tool he used to express his music, and that's where I think people get turned off. They see four strings and think 'bass line', not harmony and melody; the electric bass not a lead instrument in a lot of people's eyes. All the same, it's precisely because Jaco used the bass in a different way that you cannot compare a Jamerson line to a Jaco line - they weren't using the instrument for the same purpose. It's like saying you prefer Christian McBride on double bass to Gary Karr, simply because Karr is playing too many notes, isn't taking the backseat, isn't playing in the pocket. or something. Apples and oranges.
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Nailed it.
 
#111
punkjazzben said:
Jaco was, arguably first and foremost, a songwriter and a trail-blazing one at that.
Click to expand...
I get the gist of what you're saying...though the composing/arranging came later.
A bass was simply the tool he used to express his music, and that's where I think people get turned off.
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Been around TB since 1999 or so...Jaco is the lightning rod around here.
IMO, the majority that don't like him? It's because they "hear" him as a "wanker"...though some of those in this camp will admit Jaco is a good writer...but they don't like that style of music. So, FME here, the "anti-fans" like his writing...not his bass playing.

All the same, it's precisely because Jaco used the bass in a different way that you cannot compare a Jamerson line to a Jaco line - they weren't using the instrument for the same purpose.
Click to expand...
I don't see it as apples & oranges.
Jaco is an R&B hound (check out his pre-Weather Report recordings)...as mentioned, maybe more in the Jemmott-school vs. Jamerson, nevertheless, something like "Darling Dear"...sped up...will sound Jaco-esque.


If I can remember-
I am diggin' through some of my old Downbeat magazines (mid-late '70s)...in one, is a Stanley Clarke Blindfold Test. One of the tunes Leonard Feather spun for him was "Opus Pocus". At this time, Jaco's debut was pretty new...I will post Clarke's critique (if I can remember).
;)
 
#112
JimK said:
I get the gist of what you're saying...though the composing/arranging came later.

Been around TB since 1999 or so...Jaco is the lightning rod around here.
IMO, the majority that don't like him? It's because they "hear" him as a "wanker"...though some of those in this camp will admit Jaco is a good writer...but they don't like that style of music. So, FME here, the "anti-fans" like his writing...not his bass playing.


I don't see it as apples & oranges.
Jaco is an R&B hound (check out his pre-Weather Report recordings)...as mentioned, maybe more in the Jemmott-school vs. Jamerson, nevertheless, something like "Darling Dear"...sped up...will sound Jaco-esque.


If I can remember-
I am diggin' through some of my old Downbeat magazines (mid-late '70s)...in one, is a Stanley Clarke Blindfold Test. One of the tunes Leonard Feather spun for him was "Opus Pocus". At this time, Jaco's debut was pretty new...I will post Clarke's critique (if I can remember).
;)
Click to expand...

Right around this time, there was also a Blindfold Test with the fine upright bassist David Friesen. He listened to Jaco's version of "Donna Lee" and was rather unimpressed. I seem to remember that he was critical of Jaco's intonation. :rolleyes:
 
#114
dougjwray said:
Right around this time, there was also a Blindfold Test with the fine upright bassist David Friesen. He listened to Jaco's version of "Donna Lee" and was rather unimpressed. I seem to remember that he was critical of Jaco's intonation. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Did a quick search-
Looks like it's June 01, 1978 (pg. 31).
Joe Zawinul is on the cover. I kinda recall seeing that issue in my pile. Will check it out.
Something funny (IMO) about these Tests & especially the Record Reviews- The critics pull no punches. If an iconic Jazz player put out something with "electrcity"...look out!
 
#116
qervo said:
At the time (and now) nobody was playing funk /soul with a fretless basses like this groovy little number
Invalid Link Removed
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This!!!!!

It sums up what I like most about his playing (yet, not the only thing) without trying to put into words, which is so difficult when trying to describe music, songs, and tone.

Here is another one I am fond of, and he isn't on fretless this time.

 
#120
JimK
Registered User

Quote:
Originally Posted by punkjazzben
"Jaco was, arguably first and foremost, a songwriter and a trail-blazing one at that".

I get the gist of what you're saying...though the composing/arranging came later.


I disagree. Even the early recorded stuff that you can find has a deep sense of composition and harmony in the lines he played. That was rare and dare I say almost non-exsistant on electric bass in jazz at the time. And that sense, coupled with his superior technique propelled him to the front of the line.
 

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