What Really Made Jaco Revolutionary?

[Dr. Cheese]

I say it was exclusively using the bridge pickup was what truly set him apart, secondly he was a very strong composer. Just think, many of Jaco’s most famous pieces were played on fretted like Come On, Come Over, River People, and Birdland. Every last one of those pieces has the Jaco sound. Think of people like Victor Bailey or Marcus Miller, who certainly could conjure Jaco on fretted. Also,
think of all of the people who were playing fretless at the same time Jaco was playing fretless like Mark Eagan, Alphonso Johnson, Ralphe Armstrong, Fernando Saunders, or Gary Willis, none of whom sounded like Jaco.

The bridge pickup simply makes the bass’ tone more receptive to melody, like a trombone as opposed to a tuba. It is rare to now to hear someone play in Jazz oriented setting and not favor the bridge pickup.

This occurred to me while listening to Hadrien Feraud and how much he owes Jaco for his tone.

 

[J-Bass RMR]

I say it was exclusively using the bridge pickup was what truly set him apart

There are several things that I would say weigh much heavier that his tone.

• Advanced knowledge of "theory" and mastery of the fingerboard.
• His lightning speed, precision and accuracy, all while having incredible phrasing and "feel" / groove.
• The ability to seamlessly combine styles.
• Incredible stamina.
• composition skills that are considered brilliant today

No one had ever approached the instrument like he had.
Simply, there was bass before Jaco, and bass after Jaco.


Those are the 1st things that quickly come to mind.

 

[Dlew919]

That’s pretty spot on I think. I’d also add his intentionality and authority. Sure Bruce and entwhistle played ‘lead bass’ (and I love both of them) but that point you made that he played it more like a trombone was an epiphany to me. With Jaco at his best no note was wasted. There were no ‘passing tones’ that didn’t need to be there. And he was playing a new kind of music.

 

[ddnidd1]

Donna Lee

 

[Dr. Cheese]

There are several things that I would say weigh much heavier that his tone.

• Advanced knowledge of "theory" and mastery of the fingerboard.
• His lightning speed, precision and accuracy, all while having incredible phrasing and "feel" / groove.
• The ability to seamlessly combine styles.
• Incredible stamina.
• composition skills that are considered brilliant today

No one had ever approached the instrument like he had.
Simply, there was bass before Jaco, and bass after Jaco.


Those are the 1st things that quickly come to mind.

I don’t think Jaco knew theory or harmony better than Stanley Clarke and I definitely don’t think he had more stamina, but how many people try to sound like Stanley Clarke? Jaco gave us a new way to hear the bass.

 

[Dlew919]

Love Stanley but there’s a sense in which he seemed like a guitarist stuck on bass … I don’t mean to be harsh on this. Just an observation not a criticism.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Love Stanley but there’s a sense in which he seemed like a guitarist stuck on bass … I don’t mean to be harsh on this. Just an observation not a criticism.

Clarke is a monster doubler. He can certainly lay down a bass line.

 

[DWBass]

I would use innovative over revolutionary. His use of the bridge pickup. His use of harmonics. Great compositions. He was surely different. There were a lot of great bassists around during the same time period all doing great things.

Stanley Clarke had way more influence on my playing than Jaco did. I loved Birdland though.

 

[JonathanPDX]

You really have to put Jaco into the context of his era. He was building compositions around the bass, with the bass guitar as either the primary melodic instrument or the central gravity around which the other instruments orbit within a composition.

Jaco was surely not the first guy to ever turn the knobs on his jazz bass in one particular direction. But he was the first to really put the bass up front in that context, and to compose around it without deferring to another more traditional melodic instrument.

Other guys had more solo/improv ability, or more technical facility, or put the bass up front in a dance band way as opposed to a jazz setting, but nobody did it all in the way Jaco did and with the harmonic palate he was painting with.

I think it's similar to looking at Victor Wooten's first solo record, "A Show of Hands." Sure, guys had played technical bass stuff before, but nobody had ever done it like THAT before, in both the technical and compositional arena. And that's why people are still trying to copy it all these years later, just like Jaco.

 

[logdrum]

He had the Che Guevara look was what I was going to say.

Aren't there other players before him that played on the bridge pickup too before he did? Stanley certainly had that bright sound as well. It was taking the frets off would be my gut answer though. I do not think TB in all honesty puts him up there. I may be but I saw the guy once when I was 19 and his persona had an effect on me more than anything else. Small place in NC and I that close up experience not knowing who he was or knowing anything about his music or weather report definitely hit my soul so to speak. I did not even know that he was playing a fretless bass. Broke all concepts I knew about bass and music in general.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I would use innovative over revolutionary. His use of the bridge pickup. His use of harmonics. Great compositions. He was surely different. There were a lot of great bassists around during the same time period all doing great things.

Stanley Clarke had way more influence on my playing than Jaco did. I loved Birdland though.

I always thought Jaco was cool, but back in the day I was a much bigger fan of Stanley Clarke. Now, I learn more towards Jaco, but Clarke will always be a certified OG.

 

[depalm]

Jaco found his own voice.

This is the most important thing and most difficult as well in arts in general.

 

[Dlew919]

Jaco found his own voice.

The most important thing a jazz person can do. Or any musician really. Photocopiers get thrown out. Sometimes, like Holdsworth, you’re a head of your time. Sometimes, like Sinatra, you’re right on it. Sometimes, like Miles Davis, you have a few voices. But Jaco and Stanley, like Bird, Herbie, Ornette, Wes, Joe, Dizzy, Ella, Chet, and many others found a voice and developed it.

 

[Wasnex]

Zeitgeist?

Per Google AI:

The Zeitgeist theory argues that a "genius" might be just one person who was in the right place at the right time to articulate or discover what society was already poised to accept.

Basically if Jaco didn't do it, it's assumed somebody else would have...or maybe multiple people.

I haven't really listened to Jaco all that much; so his playing probably did not have much of a direct impact on me. I do think he had a pretty strong influence on my early tone concept. I am sure his playing had a lot of indirect impact on me.

I used to think of his bassline on Birdland (1977) as sort of the epitome of awesome! All these years later; still never performed it. I doubt I ever will.

 

[rylie]

Too many song title examples to list. Jaco was the first mainstream player to introduce "percussive bass." He was as much a percussion player as a bass player. Requires a special talent to do both.

 

[ImTheOnlyOne]

Too many song title examples to list. Jaco was the first mainstream player to introduce "percussive bass." He was as much a percussion player as a bass player. Requires a special talent to do both.

Listening to a soloed Jaco part feels more like listening to a quality percussion part than a traditional foundational bass line.

Imagine him playing a solo rendition of "Spirit of Radio" or "Sunshine of Your Love". How might he recompose each instrument's part into solo bass?

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Too many song title examples to list. Jaco was the first mainstream player to introduce "percussive bass." He was as much a percussion player as a bass player. Requires a special talent to do both.

When think of percussive bass, I think slap. Jaco had a great feel for Latin and Caribbean music, but I hear his playing as capable of being really groovy or melodic, not percussive.

 

[Topkat13]

His playing.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

To my ears, within a Funk, Fusion, or Jazz, context, the most original players I can of are Jaco, Anthony Jackson, Larry Graham, and Victor Wooten. I think Bobby Vega is really unique, but he has not been on that many well known recordings.

 

[Jakeman]

Much has already been said in regard to his playing, technique, and gear, but I’d like to point out his stage presence and general persona. He had a rock and roll charisma and charm that wasn’t really seen in jazz - not just the stage antics, jumping around and all that, but also the small stuff, like dressing like he’s in a rock band, the feeling you get that he was a little crazy, maybe a little dangerous. That’s all rock and roll, but he applied it to jazz. For me at least, that x-factor played a huge part in elevating him above the rest.