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You guys need to know where you came from

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#21
On the OP's defense I am always amazed when "musicians" say they don't like Jaco... I mean that man was pure music bubbling through innovation. Well, I don't understand how "musicians" can not listen to and appreciate the classical composers either.

I know I'm going to get flamed to hell for this one, but I do believe there to be a huge distinction between "bass player" and "musician/artist".
 
#22
ashtray9 said:
On the OP's defense I am always amazed when "musicians" say they don't like Jaco... I mean that man was pure music bubbling through innovation. Well, I don't understand how "musicians" can not listen to and appreciate the classical composers either.

I know I'm going to get flamed to hell for this one, but I do believe there to be a huge distinction between "bass player" and "musician/artist".
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So do I. But even among fans of classical, there are lots of different tastes and opinions. I don't like much at all from the Baroque period, but I love Renaissance and Romantic era music.

I like Bach's chorales, but I couldn't give two s**t's about the Brandenburgs.
 
#26
More like a giant, uninformed teenage rant. Oh, to be 15 and know everything again.
Thank Jaco if you play fusion jazz, like the artists OP mentionned. That's like 2 % of bass playing.
For most other styles there are more important figures who defined bass playing. OP just hasn't discovered them yet or chooses to ignore them.
On a side note, Jaco's supposed mental illness never was diagnozed. It was supposed, there is evidence going toward it but nobody can tell for sure.
 
#28
hot-buttered-popcorn.jpg
 
#33
I appreciate that Jaco could play really well, but as far as him being the single greatest influence on modern bass playing?

I find it strange how a large number of bassists preach the "gospel of Jaco" even though 99.99999999% of the general public have absolutely no idea as to who he was, and couldn't name a single one of the tunes he played on. As for his influence on bass players, the VAST majority of bassists work their way through songs they like rather than seeing it as some sort of academic exercise.

The original post was extremely arrogant. I have a few Jaco featured albums in my collection, but I prefer to listen to songs - that is what moves me and inspires me.

Give me James Jamerson, Sting, Paul McCartney, Pino Palladino or Tony Levin over Jaco any day of the week.
 
#34
I think it boils down to whether you experienced the phenomenon while it was unfolding. Those who heard Jaco live in the mid 70's had a barometer of knowing what the state of the art for bass was before Jaco and after Jaco. He was just so far ahead of the curve, it was frightening. Before Louis Armstrong, nobody played like Satchmo, afterwards everyone did. In the same vein, those who experienced the breakthrough of Jaco were able to separate his contributions to music from the general maturing of jazz fusion. Those who caught on afterwards hear "fusion" and assume the bass style just evolved to what it is and cite the many great bassists who added to the lexicon. They can't see that point in time where jaco busted through and like Armstrong, Yardbird, Jimi and others before him, everyone else absorbed his influences into their playing. Or, if you were there when it happened, you're going to have a stronger attachment to the event and be able to place it historically.
 
#35
▲ Good post. That's how I feel about it, too. It's the same as with Hendrix, whom many guys who weren't born then would consider to be "overrated" by those of us who were there to witness the incredible qualitative difference he made in his short career. - Note that "qualitative" doesn't mean there were no equally skilled players around. There were, but they were stuck.
 
#38
I preferred Alphonso Johnson's work with Weather Report, but Oakley , Jones, Jamerson and Entwistle were bigger influences on me than either AJ or JP.
As far as Jazz bass, Mingus was the man.
All opinions stated above are just that. You are equally entitled to yours, however misguided and wrong-headed they may be.
 
#39
pmgleenis said:
I was recently blown away by the # of ill informed posts concerning my friend and THE biggest innovator of the electric bass, Jaco Pastorius.
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Who are you? You're referring to him like you knew Jaco personally.

pmgleenis said:
Most of the comments were either, "I have not heard him," or " I saw him on You Tube." Wake up people. You Tube is a joke. This is a fact whether you like it or not, Jaco single handedly changed the way the electric bass was played and approached.
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For starters, the kind of music Jaco played and was largely known for made him pretty inaccessible to folk who like the Billboard 100. Secondly, as much as I admire Jaco, I'd say Jamerson was the biggest influence on electric bass ever. Jaco even cites him as an influence on the "Electric Bass" DVD.

pmgleenis said:
I remember as kid listening to Jaco and Stanley Clarke around 1977 or so.
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So you didn't know Jaco personally then?

pmgleenis said:
If you play the electric bass and don't have Jaco as a major influence, you will NEVER work as a musician.
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Nonsense.

pmgleenis said:
Jaco died because of a mental illness.
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Jaco died as the result of a beating he took, brought about because of his behaviour (either right or wrong) on that night. The behaviour was a symptom of his illness.

pmgleenis said:
Jaco changed the electric bass more than almost any other musician has changed his instrument in ALL of history.
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What rubbish! Again, I'd say Jamerson has been the most influential bassist of all time, and one of the most influential musicians of all time, having influenced bassists from every genre right across the board.

When you come back to reply to all these posts, be honest with us.......were you drunk/high when you wrote the initial post?:eyebrow:
 
#40
pmgleenis said:
...my friend and THE biggest innovator of the electric bass, Jaco Pastorius.
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You Sound as if you knew him personally. Did you grow up with him? Did you live next door?


pmgleenis said:
You Tube is a joke.
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Look everyone, It's captain obvious. I'd imagine we all have the jist of that.


pmgleenis said:
99% hide behind phoney names and have zero accountability, but tell me, why would Victor Wooten, Victor Bailey, Steve Bailey, Brian Bromberg, John Pattitucci, Jimmy Haslip etc. all think the same way?
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I don't know why don't you tell me more about that, you seem to know so much.

pmgleenis said:
Go buy a copy of Jaco's first solo album just called "Jaco Pastorius." Then get a copy of Weather Report's "Heavy Weather" and Joni Michtel's "Mingus" alsbum.
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Don't need to, I already own each album you speak of and also you forget some others, Word of mouth, Invitation (live).....should I go on?

pmgleenis said:
Jaco died because of a mental illness.
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No, Jaco died because of a massive brain hemorrhage, from having been severely beaten. Technically correct.


pmgleenis said:
Until you know the history of your instrument, you have no right to comment on it.
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And for the record, only a Jackass would let other people get at your "goat" like that.
 
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