Jaco Pastorius
Jaco Pastorius (born John Francis Pastorius III) was one of the most influential electric bass players in all times. He inspired a whole generation of bass players with his unique sound and an extremely good technique. He is most known for his work with fusion pioneers Weather Report and his own band Word of Mouth. He was killed in a bar fight 1987, and is an all-time legend amongst all serious bass-players. He was borned in Norristown, Pennsylvania on December 1, 1951, but the family moved to Fort Lauerdale, Florida when he was about 7 years old. He died September 21, 1987 after the injurys in the bar fight.
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Childhood
Jaco was one of three son's in the family of John Francis Pastorius II and Stephanie Haapala Pastorius. He had Finnish, German, Swedish, and Irish blood in his vains, even though there has been rumours of his afro-american ancestry. In school he was very fond of sports, especially basketball that also gave him his nickname. Jaco and his father used to watch basketball together, and by that time a player named Jocko Conlan was around. Some adopted this and started to call Jaco for "Jocko", which later on was changed to Jaco when a friend from France called him Jaco in a letter. Jaco dug the spelling, and used that instead after this.
Like his father he adopted music at an early age and similar to his father he played stand-up drums, but switched to electric bass at 15 when a wrist injury stopped him from playing drums. It is no coincidence that he's outstanding rhytmic approach on the electric bass came from playing drums at an early age.
Another story tells that he actually was a drummer, but got booted by another drummer and the band needed a bass player, so therefore Jaco was switching to electric bass.
His early influences according to himself included James Jamerson, James Brown, The Beatles, Miles Davis, and Stravinsky. Favourite bass players included Jerry Jemmott, James Jamerson, Paul Chambers, Harvey Brooks and Tommy Cogbill. He stated in an interview that singers was his biggest influence - "they have the ability to get personal".
Early career
Jaco started to play with local bands and were jamming late night's with visiting rhythm & blues artist, and soon got a reputation as a "local hero". One of his first real bands was Las Olas Brass, which was a nine-piece brass band playing covers of Aretha Franklin, Wilson Picket, Otis Redding and James Brown.
Jaco was gigging a lot with Wayne Cochran and The C.C. Riders, which he also wrote music for. He was also appearing on local R & B / Jazz recordings with artists such as Ira Sullivan's Quintet and Woodchuck. he also met big-band leader Peter Graves and started to write arrangements for big bands, which later in his career was reflected by his own band "Word of Mouth".
When he was nineteen, his oldest daughter was born and he stated: "I started playing the bass because it was so easy, and then I had to go and make it hard for myself. When I was nineteen, my daughter was born, and I gave up music". That was actually not true, since he continueed to play nearly every night and actually made his living out of music.
Meeting the right people
In 1974 he met Pat Metheny, who was studying at the University of Florida. They became close friends and were jamming a lot together and discussing music late nights until the sunrise. At this time he also met drummer Bobby Colomby (Blood, Sweat & Tears) who was searching for new talents for CBS Records.
Weather Report with Joe Zawinul was playing in Miami, and as stated by Zawinul Jaco came backstage after a show, telling him "It was alright, but I've expected more". Zawinul was telling the young musician to "getta hell out of here", but Jaco persisted Zawinul to listen to a demo-tape and the two of them started a conversation. Jaco was never a man of small words, neither considered as shy but his friends reported that's the way he was - always telling what he actually thought.
One of the first "real" records Jaco made was with Paul Bley, Pat Metheny and Bruce Ditmas entitled "Jaco". He was also teaching at Frost School of Music.
When Pat Metheny got the opportunity to record his first album "Bright Size Life", he asked Jaco and drummer Bob Moses, to join him on the record. After this album, which was a breakthrough in the world of modern jazz and were highly acclaimed, Jacos stardom was grewing rapidly.
Joining Weather Report
After Pat Metheny moved from Florida, Jaco was invited to New York by Joe Zawinul to rehearse with Wether Report, one of the biggest so called Jazzrock bands at that time. Jaco and Pat Metheny always said that they hated the label "Jazzrock" since none of them liked to put a label on music. Ironically, both was/is considered as leaders of the genre.
Jaco was hired in Weather Report by Zawinul (replacing Alphonso Johnson), and they recorded the legendary "Black Market" -album 1976, he was present on two of the songs. Ironically, it is reported that Jaco never touched drugs before N.Y and Weather Report, but it is believable that his widely known drug abuse started when he joined Weather Report.
The same year his first solo-album were recorded by Bobby Colomby, entitled just "Jaco Pastorius" and featured stars like Herbie Hancock, David Sanborn, Lenny White, Don Alias, and Michael Brecker among others. The other musicians merely acted as back-up musicians and the album is considered as one of the finest ever in the history of the electric bass. The album features Jacos version of "Donna Lee" - a Charlie Parker tune, as well as "Continuum" which showcases Jacos unusual (by that time) technique using harmonics creating chord voicings on the bass. This release made Jaco Grammy-nominated for both "Best Jazz Album " and "Best Jazz Soloist", and now Jaco's name was on everyones tongue.
He also recorded with Al di Meola and Ian Hunter, but most noticeable is his work on Joni Mitchell's album "Hejira", where he seems to use the bass as a human voice rather than a back-up instrument.
Heavy Weather and Teen Town
In 1977 the most succesful album of all times from Weather Report was recorded. Several of the tunes was co-written with Zawinul and he also got co-producing credits. On his own composition "Teen Town", he even played the drums by himself. The album opens up with "Birdland", that is one of the most well-known songs in this era. The album was one of Columbias top-sellers and still is in this genre.
By this time his illness started to show. Zawinul had offered Jaco a drink before a gig, and Jaco was behaving strange. Zawinul later said that he was'nt responsible for Jacos alcohol abuse: "I gave Jaco a drink one time. If one drink does it, you're a goner anyhow - believe me."
Jaco was diagnosed "Bipolar disorder", which is also known as "Manic Depression" in 1982, but according to his relatives & friends he had the symptoms long before. It is also widely known that this disorder in some phases make's the disorded extremely creative.
The same year he followed up his work with Joni Mitchell on the album "Don Juans Reckless Daughter". He was also featured on an album from the jazz day's in Berlin with Albert Mangelsdorf and Alphonse Mouzon.
Working full time
By now Weather Report was one of the biggest bands in the world of Jazzrock/Jazz and were constantly touring. Jaco was trying to spend time with his family, recording with other artists and writing music at the same time. He stated in a interview at Hammersmith in London 1978:
"I'm a father, my daughter's almost eight, and from when she was born, I've had no time to listen to music, so I don't know that much about what's going on. I knew Miles Davis' music and Coltrane, and James Brown and the Beatles. I know that stuff dead, Frank Sinatra's too; that was what I was listening to, but once my kids were born I was working around the clock, didn't have time to listen to music."
The same year Weather Report was releasing "Mr.Gone", which was a minor success compared to "Heavy Weather".
Related GMC Lessons
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See also
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