What Really Made Jaco Revolutionary?

[Pings Bass]

Undeniable chops and a unique voice. He cast the mold for all the "smooth jazz" that followed. Not my favorite genre, so I'll leave it there.

 

[jim nolte]

I’m reading a rather large amount of misinformation in this thread.

First, Jaco did NOT solely use the bridge pickup for his “tone.” He certainly did roll off the neck pickup for many of his solos. But, his backing rhythm section parts were more along the lines of a really loud upright bass. Listen more carefully to his Word of Mouth and Joni Mitchell backing work.

I would have said that his tone was pretty much what you get with a Jazz Bass with round wounds into an Acoustic 360.

Second, Jaco was FAR more than some hotshot bass player. His Jazz compositions are timeless. Three Views of a Secret all by itself is a masterpiece of Jazz composition.

Third, Jaco was simply a crazy talented musician. Listen to to his recording of Charlie Parker’s Dexterity on upright; which, for an essentially self taught player, is compelling for the intonation and feel. I just returned from a 52nd Reunion with my high school band. The keyboard player had an amazing personal run-in years back with Jaco on the piano.

Jaco was a complicated guy, who vastly elevated our craft, and was gone too soon.

Totally agree, Jaco always talked about growing up in Florida and how it was a crossroads of different music styles especially Cuban and Latin music, he was a musical sponge that soaked up everything that he heard whether consciously or subconsciously, he made a comment that the train rolling by his house was music, and lest we forget he started out as a drummer and only stopped when he broke his wrist, he was always about the rhythms, when I saw WR in 1980 when the curtain rose I didn’t see Jaco on stage, the band was playing but his bass was next to his amp then I realized he was playing drums for the first song, his solo for that concert was Blackbird, amazing show.

 

[DWBass]

I get it. Jaco had a huge influence on many of you. I personally don't revere the man. I do recognize his talent and contributions to the instrument. Most definitely a great musician. As I said previously, he had zero influence in my playing. I grew up playing R&B, Soul, Funk and Motown music. I did buy a Weather Report album not even knowing who was playing bass. I just liked it, but it was a passing interest. I liked other jazz fusion bands more. As for fretless playing, I was more of a fan of Lamont Johnson from the band Brainstorm who was doing some incredible playing on fretless and fretted bass. Don't know if he was influenced by Jaco but he was around at the same time and was a pretty accomplished player.

 

[bass12]

The only curse I see is the countless imitators he's had over the years. It's practically impossible for anyone to play a fretless jazz bass without sounding like Jaco.

As for him, he was an unparalleled inventor in world music, and it's a shame he died the way he did. He seemed to have serious psychiatric problems and didn't treat them.

How was Jaco an unparalleled inventor in world music?

 

[depalm]

How was Jaco an unparalleled inventor in world music?

Speaking only about his approach to the electric bass, he invented a very unique way to make this instrument sound. After him, many others followed suit.

He changed the way bass was placed in mixes, not only in jazz but also in pop music, not only in US but all around the world.

But Jaco was also a unique composer.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

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.

I don’t think you can say there is an “exclusive reason” he was so revolutionary since most of the things he did were revolutionary in their own way.

Bridge pickup tone would for sure be on the list, but I think the list would contain multiple items, such as Jaco being one of the leaders in pushing the jazz genre from upright to electric; not the first, but definitely one of the most important. Another would be his compositions / note choices / performances. Jaco licks are about as unique as they come, especially at the time he introduced them.

A person that does multiple revolutionary things as Jaco did generally becomes a revolutionary themselves.

 

[Dr_Sleepy]

His weird bendy thumb

 

[lyonaudio]

It was the headband.

 

[MojoPin]

I don’t see him as the Hendrix of bass, I see him as the Jeff Beck.

My comparison was not in respect to the way he played but in the way he changed the way OTHER people played. Like it was said before, there was electric bass before Jaco and then there is electric bass AFTER Jaco. It was in reference to his influence much like Jamerson's etc... I had to give something to those knuckle head guitar players so they would understand his importance. I miss Jeff, he was my favorite guitar player of all time, even next to Hendrix honestly, the way he phrased and sounded was just unparalleled in the modern day.

 

[DWBass]

Speaking only about his approach to the electric bass, he invented a very unique way to make this instrument sound. After him, many others followed suit.

He changed the way bass was placed in mixes, not only in jazz but also in pop music, not only in US but all around the world.

Let's agree to disagree. He was an anomaly for sure, but he didn't invent anything. Please give me examples of a bassist that tried to sound like Jaco. He may have influenced some to incorporate fretless bass and his heavy use of harmonics. I just never heard anyone try to sound like him at least on the professional level.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I get it. Jaco had a huge influence on many of you. I personally don't revere the man. I do recognize his talent and contributions to the instrument. Most definitely a great musician. As I said previously, he had zero influence in my playing. I grew up playing R&B, Soul, Funk and Motown music. I did buy a Weather Report album not even knowing who was playing bass. I just liked it, but it was a passing interest. I liked other jazz fusion bands more. As for fretless playing, I was more of a fan of Lamont Johnson from the band Brainstorm who was doing some incredible playing on fretless and fretted bass. Don't know if he was influenced by Jaco but he was around at the same time and was a pretty accomplished player.

I don’t think any of the Detroit fretless players were influenced by Jaco. I think their most powerful influence was the great music education available in Detroit public schools at that time. Ralphe Armstrong played classical double bass in high school and Michael Henderson played cello before he quit school around eighth grade. Fernando Saunders was a Detroit guy too and Lamont Johnson told me on Facebook that he self-taught.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I forgot about an important contemporary of Jaco also exclusively used the bridge pickup: Jeff Berlin. I think Berlin is probably a better improviser than Jaco, but Jaco was a much better composer.

 

[blastoff]

Birdland has a bassline? ...
for me, a big key to his unique style was his study of saxophone players and in particular how sax players phrase and play melodically. he even played sax himself apparently. so taking that sensibility and translating it to bass guitar and doing it impeccably was what made him stand out from other low enders.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Birdland has a bassline? ...
for me, a big key to his unique style was his study of saxophone players and in particular how sax players phrase and play melodically. he even played sax himself apparently. so taking that sensibility and translating it to bass guitar and doing it impeccably was what made him stand out from other low enders.

At the end of Birdland, Jaco swings and does a bit of walking.

 

[J Wilson]

What made Jaco revolutionary was Jaco himself, a once in a lifetime one-off blessed with a completely unique take on music coupled to a ferocious technique and a completely personal method not rooted to many conventions. I think of Ed Van Halen the same way, a complete original. We think of music in 'before' and 'after' their careers.

 

[Michedelic]

Undeniable chops and a unique voice. He cast the mold for all the "smooth jazz" that followed. Not my favorite genre, so I'll leave it there.

Yeah…no. I’d say that the responsibility for that rests with players like Grover Washington, Jr. and Chuck Mangione. The only Weather Report(as an entire band)track that I ever heard in the Fern Bars of the era(the incubators of the yuppie mating ritual social scene that would embrace “smooth jazz”)is their token mainstream hit, “Birdland”.

I never heard any solo Jaco in those kinds of places, which I generally tried to avoid, but still ended up in occasionally. You know, girlfriends working as hostesses or waitresses, certain friends insisting on drinking there, the food was sometimes decent, etc, etc.

 

[BassicJazzy]

Yeah…no. I’d say that the responsibility for that rests with players like Grover Washington, Jr. and Chuck Mangione. The only Weather Report(as an entire band)track that I ever heard in the Fern Bars of the era(the incubators of the yuppie mating ritual social scene that would embrace “smooth jazz”)is their token mainstream hit, “Birdland”.

I never heard any solo Jaco in those kinds of places, which I generally tried to avoid, but still ended up in occasionally. You know, girlfriends working as hostesses or waitresses, certain friends insisting on drinking there, the food was sometimes decent, etc, etc.

I'm going to agree with you here. I don't understand the connection between Jaco and smooth jazz, that does not compute for me. Jaco on upright was similar in a way to a spectacular upright and electric bassist who graduated from my university's music school (Northwestern U) back in mid-70's and went on to play with many jazz greats, guys who were pushing contemporary jazz into the fusion areas. Similar style. Stanley was not a similar style and Weather Report was certainly not smooth jazz. As for all the other stuff Jaco did, I have no comment, I may not have heard it, or listened to his compositions. What I observed was a savant at work in his WR playing, just genius level stuff. Who cares what his tone setting was? Jeez! At least he left some lessons for us mortals to consume, and be eternally frustrated with?

You know, when you talk about greatness, it is highly relevant to the period and the band they were playing with. Maybe even to the performance? Jimi was apparently at his best before anyone heard him recorded on guitar, back when he showed up in England and blew them all away. That sound never made it to his albums, or so those who saw him then in those clubs now say. Years later, on drugs, Jimi not so tight anymore, "lost his fire." So it's pretty subjective when you start picking them apart. At least ifs you heard them in their greatness, and can remember it well, you will always know what I mean by that.

Like I said, I will gladly settle for 1% of what they had.

 

[Pings Bass]

Yeah…no. I’d say that the responsibility for that rests with players like Grover Washington, Jr. and Chuck Mangione. The only Weather Report(as an entire band)track that I ever heard in the Fern Bars of the era(the incubators of the yuppie mating ritual social scene that would embrace “smooth jazz”)is their token mainstream hit, “Birdland”.

I never heard any solo Jaco in those kinds of places, which I generally tried to avoid, but still ended up in occasionally. You know, girlfriends working as hostesses or waitresses, certain friends insisting on drinking there, the food was sometimes decent, etc, etc.

I'm just talking as a bassist, I don't think he invented "fern bar" music ( ), but he definitely invented the fretless tone that was emulated on a lot of the tracks heard on "full spectrum of jazz" type radio stations in the 80s and 90s. I guess I'm thinking of Michael Manring in particular. I couldn't name other players cuz I don't listen to that kind of stuff, but I've always been careful to avoid that pewpewpew kind of tone when playing fretless up high on the neck. Back to the OP's point about the tone being more trombone than tuba. Just not my Jam.

 

[BassicJazzy]

I'm going to agree with you here. I don't understand the connection between Jaco and smooth jazz, that does not compute for me. Jaco on upright was similar in a way to a spectacular upright and electric bassist who graduated from my university's music school (Northwestern U) back in mid-70's and went on to play with many jazz greats, guys who were pushing contemporary jazz into the fusion areas. Similar style. Stanley was not a similar style and Weather Report was certainly not smooth jazz. As for all the other stuff Jaco did, I have no comment, I may not have heard it, or listened to his compositions. What I observed was a savant at work in his WR playing, just genius level stuff. Who cares what his tone setting was? Jeez! At least he left some lessons for us mortals to consume, and be eternally frustrated with?

You know, when you talk about greatness, it is highly relevant to the period and the band they were playing with. Maybe even to the performance? Jimi was apparently at his best before anyone heard him recorded on guitar, back when he showed up in England and blew them all away. That sound never made it to his albums, or so those who saw him then in those clubs now say. Years later, on drugs, Jimi not so tight anymore, "lost his fire." So it's pretty subjective when you start picking them apart. At least ifs you heard them in their greatness, and can remember it well, you will always know what I mean by that.

Like I said, I will gladly settle for 1% of what they had.

I had forgotten my old school-mate's name, had to look him up. Steve Rodby. Played with Pat Metheny group. Jaco also played with Pat Metheny group, interesting that they had similar styles?

 

[depalm]

Let's agree to disagree. He was an anomaly for sure, but he didn't invent anything. Please give me examples of a bassist that tried to sound like Jaco. He may have influenced some to incorporate fretless bass and his heavy use of harmonics. I just never heard anyone try to sound like him at least on the professional level.

We don’t have to agree on anything.
This is my opinion and I’m not trying to change anybody’s mind.

Have never heard anyone trying to sound like him? C’mon…

I work as a bassist for many decades and have seen too many Jaco influenced bass players, too many Jaco imitators, dozens of Jaco wannabes, etc… won’t say names.

Sounds like some people lives under a rock.