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JACO PASTORIUS
Signature Licks
Trademark grooves and solos; structural, theoretical, and harmonic
analysis of: Birdland · Bright Size Life · Come On,
Come Over · Continuum · Donna Lee · God Must
Be a Boogie Man · Kuru · Liberty City · Night
Passage · Palladium · Port of Entry · Portrait
of Tracy · Rockin' in Rhythm · Talk to Me ·
Teen Town. With CD.
Read more
Inventory #HL 695544.
Book/CD $22.95 (US).
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Jaco Pastorius
As one drummer who played with Jaco Pastorius put it, "There’s
bass before Jaco, and there’s bass after Jaco." A virtuoso
jazz bassist who had crossover appeal with a rock audience, Jaco
shattered all previous conceptions of what a bass player was supposed
to do (hold down the groove) and elevated bass playing to an art
form where his creativity was limited only by his technical skills
- and those never seemed limited at all.
Growing up in Florida, he was originally a drummer but switched
to bass in high school, and he cut his teeth in the early ‘70s
in a band called Wayne Cochrane and the CC Riders before joining
Weather Report in 1976. Jaco took Weather Report to their next
level, bringing them a wider following than they’d previously
known. He also played on Joni Mitchell’s 1976, 1977 and 1979 releases,
Hejira, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter, and Mingus (the latter a tribute to the late jazz great Charles Mingus), dramatically
completing Mitchell’s journey from her folk roots to her
new jazz explorations.
1976 was a big year for Pastorius, as it was also the year he
released his self-titled solo album, a release that had enormous
impact on the spheres of jazz, fusion, and bass playing in general.
He continued with Weather Report and Joni Mitchell through the
‘70s, bringing to all his performances a stunning mix of
styles and ideas in his phrasing that was alternately beautiful,
twisted, scary, and transcendant. Add to that his penchant for
wild showmanship - such as doing flips off his amp or playing
his bass by whipping it with his guitar strap - and you have an
artist who was truly larger than life.
Jaco’s story ended in tragedy, however; he began to suffer from mental illness, which, had it been successully treated, would likely have been diagnosed as a bipolar affective disorder. In addition, he began to abuse alcohol and drugs, something he had strictly avoided earlier in his career. Friends, family and associates saw disturbing changes in his behavior, and he became increasingly alienated from them. In
1987, at the age of 35, he was beaten to death by a bouncer outside
of a nightclub in Florida, a brutal end to a brilliant career.
Click this link to read the full Jaco biography:
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