He played a fretless bass, and he coated the fingerboard with an epoxy resin. This allowed him to use roundwound strings, which led to a big, bright, open sound. Further, he was rarely content to be relegated to the backline rhythm responsibilities.
He pushed forward to be heard as prominently as frontline instruments like horns and keyboards. With Pastorius in the band, it was often as if he filled the two roles simultaneously. I was always taught to lead from the back!
Early life and solo debut Pastorius was born in Pennsylvania in , but his family moved to Florida when he was eight. His father was a drummer and educator, and he imbued his son with a passion for music. He began playing in bands led by Wayne Cochran and the C. Riders, who were part of the thriving Florida rhythm and blues scene.
Via his father, Pastorius began teaching bass at the University of Miami where he met then-up-and-coming guitarist Pat Metheny. He had seen them play in Miami, and never one to be bashful, he introduced himself to band co-leader Joe Zawinul with his line about being the greatest bass player in the world.
The two stayed in touch, and when the group needed a new bassist, Zawinul and Shorter brought him in. And that's what nobody understands. You see, I grew up on the tracks; to me, white and black — there's no difference, bro.
What about Jaco's contribution to the electric bass? He took time to talk about the fantastic Chromatic Fantasy — a transcription of a Bach organ piece he performed on electric bass on Word of Mouth. The Chromatic Fantasy , that don't mean shit. I just want to play the blues — in F," he laughed. Victor: "But when you listen to someone like a Jaco, and you're a musician, you hear the music. I think his objective was to learn the piece, not 'I'm gonna play this fast.
Jaco: "I practiced Donna Lee [his version of Charlie Parker's chop-busting bebop standard is on his eponymous first LP] and the Chromatic Fantasy for eight years before I would play them in front of anybody.
It was so hard, but I did it because I was such a purist and people were always putting me down for being an 'electric bass player,' though I was so pure. I'm an acoustic musician. Mister V. The bass is the number one instrument in the world, because it hits the sound right where it belongs.
It's the City of Brotherly Love! Since we were talking about bassists, I asked him about the famous Fender he uses, sunburst with the frets pulled out. That bass, although looking rather abused, sounds like no electric bass before it. Even other bassists had thought it was an acoustic bass, when their backs were turned away from the stage or recording booth. Jaco played it during the photo session "You never know, one of these shots might work!
I tried to get him to discuss his instrument — it's almost a Jaco trademark. That was in Europe. When I got this bass, I'll show you right here, these are the only scars I put on, just my thumbs. Everything else was exactly like this, just like I got it. I throw this thing around, I do flips on it, but I've never, ever, hurt this bass, ever!
It looks like I demolish it every night, but I've never touched it; I've had it now for eleven years. In performance I have three or four basses on stage nobody knows about — not even Zawinul knows it sometimes. I'll take a bass I bought for fifteen bucks that day and nobody knows it and do a Pete Townshend or Jimi Hendrix routine, lighter fluid it and all that. Man, that's the easiest thing in the world! I asked him if there were any special tricks to the bass that made it sound that way — acoustic — since live he uses an effects rack — basically a compressor, a fuzz tone and a digital delay, put on infinite repeat for his climactic renditions of Purple Haze.
See this shit that looks like somebody chewed it up? That's the way it was when I got it. Petit's Poly-Poxy, that's what I put on the neck, but that shit won't go away. Jaco hasn't put out a solo album since Word of Mouth and the last Weather Report album with him on it was released over a year ago. He has recorded much more than he has released, so he does have a backlog of tapes, some of which must be interesting, indeed.
And I have about 24 master tapes that I paid for myself. I am commercial. I don't complain anymore 'cause I can deal with it. Then, a turnabout: "The reason I don't record enough is because I don't record enough, I'm an American Indian; I don't believe in photography or recording, I like to play everyday live! Again, a switcheroo: "Sometimes I have a very bad point of being too obnoxious. I am not too obnoxious. I mean, I just try to make things more peaceful.
Me being obnoxious makes a lot of things more peaceful. Jaco was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder in , and the drug use only exacerbated his fragile mental condition. He was committed to a psychiatric facility and put on lithium in an attempt to neutralize his unpredictable behavior. On September 11th, , after trying and failing to sneak onstage at a Santana concert in Florida and being ejected from the show in the process , Pastorius made his way to a nightclub in Wilton Manors, FL, where he reportedly kicked in a glass door after being refused entry.
The severe injuries he sustained in the fight caused him to fall into a coma in the hospital that night. While his prognosis looked positive in the ensuing days, he suffered a massive brain hemorrhage a few days later that left him brain-dead.
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