Mention great electric bassists to any bass player and Jaco Pastorius’s name will come up 99 times out of every 100 players you ask.
After moving on from playing drums and double bass, Jaco went electric and redefined the electric bass. He could play rhythm, melody and harmony with equal dexterity and was as quick to play a “constructed harmonic” on his fretless Fender Jazz Bass, as he was to play a naturally occurring one.
He adapted his instrument and used distortion and loops like no-one before him. Jaco was the king. As he introduced himself to Joe Zawinul, the leader of Weather Report, jazz fusion’s primary collective at the time, “I am Jaco Pastorius, the greatest bass player in the world.” Jaco was not short on confidence, but he joined Weather Report and showed that he could match his swagger with technique, speed and feel.
Of Jaco, fan and collaborator Joni Mitchell declared that Jaco could play anything she could think of. “He came in like a meteor” and “he played like he had wings”, she said.
But Jaco was a wreck too; alcohol and drug abuse, combined with a bipolar disorder, made him increasingly unreliable, left him penniless and homeless at times and ultimately, made tragic trouble one time too many. He died after a beating by a bouncer at a club in Florida, aged just 35.
Today’s Friday song is Punk Jazz, a Pastorius composition from Mr Gone, a Weather Report album released in 1978 that divided critics as it took a more commercial tack, but united everyone around Jaco’s playing. Listen to Jaco showing his range and versatility as he duets on the explosive opening with ex-Miles Davis and temporary Weather Report session drummer Tony Williams.
Williams dazzles and bombs before the band settles into a mix of styles from Wayne Shorter’s saxophone lyricism, to syncopated 4/4, all held down by the great Jaco Pastorius. Good weekend all!
I started a music WhatsApp group in 2023. I send one song a week on a Friday, with links to both Apple and Spotify, and an accompanying narrative/capsule piece. You’ll read it here on a Sunday. If you want to engage about a song, get a playlist or just get in touch, email me on [email protected].
Listen to Punk Jazz on Spotify here and on YouTube here.
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