# Jaco Pastorius, the man who revolutionized … Video, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2018/11/30/jaco-pastorius-the-man-who-revolutionized-video-photos/
- Published: 2018-11-30T20:38:37+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**01.12. – Happy Birthday !!! Jaco Pastorius, the man who revolutionized how the
bass guitar is played and who is, for many, the best and most influential bass guitarist
ever, didn’t start his musical life on the instrument. Instead, the man who would
be the master of the fretless electric bass was a drummer.**

⌊Jaco playing the drums⌉⌊Jaco playing the drums⌉A drummer, just like his dad, Jack
Pastorius, a big band player and singer. Jaco was the first of three children born
to Jack and his wife, Stephanie. He arrived on Dec. 1, 1951 in Norristown, Pennsylvania,
near Philadelphia. John Francis Anthony Pastorius III was quickly given a nickname
by his parents — “Jocko,” which transformed into “Jaco” in the early 1970s when 
a French-born musician friend and neighbor, Alex Darqui, spelled it that way by 
mistake. Jaco liked the alternate spelling, and kept it.

When Jaco was almost eight years old, his family moved to Oakland Park, Florida,
near Fort Lauderdale. Jaco was a sweet, competitive kid, who loved to play games,
including football. As the son of a musician, he was interested in music, too, and
bought a small drum kit with money earned as a newspaper delivery boy. His two interests
collided in 1964 during a youth league football practice in which Jaco’s wrist was
badly injured, so much so that it eventually required corrective surgery. Jaco continued
to play drums after that, but it was far more difficult that it had been prior to
that hit in practice.

**Jaco Becomes a Bassist**

⌊Jaco Pastorius with his first bass⌉⌊Jaco Pastorius with his first bass⌉Regardless,
he got gigs as a drummer, and in 1966, while still in high school, he joined the
soul cover band, Las Olas Brass. When a more experienced drummer presented himself
to the band, something fateful occurred: the band’s bassist decided to move on at
the same time. Although he wasn’t a bass player, Jaco slid into the empty slot. 
He used money he earned as a paperboy to make another musical purchase. This time,
he bought a new Fender Jazz bass.

It was during this era that an inkling of Jaco’s future abilities began to appear.
He couldn’t read music, but in 1968 he borrowed his friend Bob Bobbing’s reel-to-
reel tape recorder and created his version of “The Chicken” by Pee-Wee Ellis. Jaco
played all the instruments on the recording, which he sent to John Coltrane’s widow,
Alice, also an accomplished musician. She returned the favor by replying with an
encouraging letter. In later years, “The Chicken” became one of Jaco’s concert staples.
With his interest in jazz, Jaco also acquired an upright bass. But, it wasn’t easy
to maintain and he eventually traded it for another electric bass guitar. Later,
he would become known for getting an upright-like tone on his fretless electric.

Something else happened during this period of his life. He met a girl named Tracy
Lee, who was destined to become his first wife.

After the Las Olas Brass, Jaco moved on to playing in an R&B trio called Woodchuck.
His bass playing grew while he was in the trio. His younger brother Rory recalls
an exchange with Jaco, who was nearing his 18th birthday, detailed in Bill Milkowski’s
book, _Jaco: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius_. “He looked me
in the eye and said, real seriously, ‘Rory, man, I’m the best bass player on earth.’
I looked back at him and said, ‘I know.’”

While Jaco was confident, he could also be humble. In his later career, he was known
to say, “I’m doing a very bad imitation on the bass of Jerry Jemmott. . . .”

During his Woodchuck days, Jaco also grew in another way. He became a husband and
father. He and Tracy married in August 1970, and their daughter Mary was born in
December of that year, eight days after her father’s 19th birthday. He found a cruise
ship gig for a bit, and his young family traveled with him in the Caribbean. Soon,
another group came calling — a soul revue called Tommy Strand & the Upper Hand. 
His playing improved further with the group, but he really broke into new territory
with the next band he joined: Wayne Cochran and the C.C. Riders.

**A Whirlwind Musical Education and Growth**

He spent just five months in the R&B group fronted by white soul singer Cochran,
and as he had on the cruise ship, he found a way for Tracy and their daughter, Mary,
to travel with him at times. The couple didn’t indulge in any wild behavior on the
tour bus. Jaco didn’t drink or do drugs, and instead practically lived with his 
bass in his hands. He learned to read music during his 1972 stint with the group.
Band member Charlie Brent also gave Jaco an influential crash course in arranging.
Brent remembers Jaco appearing with a chart for the band, just three days after 
he and Brent had a long talk about arranging. It was gorgeous, Brent said. “He was
this raw talent evolving before our eyes.” (Milkowski, pg. 45). Cochran’s long-running
revue was intense, and is said to have inspired the John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd’s
creation of the iconic comic bluesmen, The Blues Brothers.

![Wayne Cochran & the CC Riders](https://i0.wp.com/jacopastorius.com/admin/wp-content/
uploads/2014/10/jaco-with-wayne-cochran-cc-riders.jpg?resize=640%2C480)

As he developed as a player, Jaco had experimented with creating fretless basses.
In the early 1970s, he acquired a 1962 Fender Jazz bass, which either Jaco acquired
already fretless or from which he removed the frets with a butter knife (his recollections
varied over the years). Jaco filled in the areas where the frets had been with plastic
wood and coated the former fretboard with epoxy. This bass, which was the primary
fretless instrument he recorded with, and Jaco nicknamed it the Bass of Doom.

After his time with Cochran ended, he returned to Florida. He played with the Peter
Graves Orchestra, connected with saxophonist-trumpeter Ira Sullivan and met and 
first played jazz guitar great-to-be Pat Metheny. Jaco began playing a jazz group
with Sullivan, and the quartet’s sound — jazz, but with funk and R&B influences —
began to draw young fans. It also provided an outlet for Jaco’s compositions, several
of which, like “Continuum”, appeared on his first solo album.

In 1973, Jaco and Tracy added another child to the family — John Francis Pastorius
IV, and by that winter Jaco had connected with jazz pianist Paul Bley. The following
year, Jaco went into a studio and did a demo session featuring songs that would 
appear on his self-titled solo album.

Jaco, Metheny, Bley and drummer Bruce Ditmas created a joint album, called Jaco,
in 1974. And, during a trip to the famed Berklee College of Music in Boston, Jaco
showed the students how he achieved his upright-esque sound on an electric. He even
ended up teaching bass as an adjunct instructor in the University of Miami’s jazz
department, then headed by Bill Lee, father of another to-be-famous bassist: Will
Lee, best known to general audiences for his work in late-night TV host David Letterman’s
house band.

But Jaco didn’t love teaching, and something was about to happen that changed his
life. Bobby Colomby, the drummer and leader of Blood, Sweat & Tears, was in Fort
Lauderdale for a gig when he spotted Tracy Pastorius on the beach. He thought she
was cute and they began to talk. She told him that her husband “is the best bass
player in the world.” Colomby was also seeking out artists for Epic Records’ jazz
division. He decided to see Jaco play. After watching him in action, he quickly 
offered Jaco a record deal. Jaco signed it in September 1975 and a month later, 
he was recording _Jaco Pastorius_.

![Jaco Pastorius (1975)](https://i0.wp.com/jacopastorius.com/admin/wp-content/uploads/
2014/10/jaco-1975.jpg?resize=640%2C432)

**1976: Jaco’s Watershed Year**

The album showed off Jaco in a wide range of styles, from Latin jazz to R&B to funk.
Legendary R&B duo Sam & Dave handled vocals on “Come On, Come Over.” Herbie Hancock
appeared on the album throughout. The composition, “Portrait of Tracy,” featured
Jaco playing solo and making extraordinary use of harmonics. As the album was being
recorded, Jaco made a foray into the rock world after meeting British musician Ian
Hunter, of Mott the Hoople, and contributed the bass parts to Hunter’s _All-American
Alien Boy_ solo album, which, like Jaco’s solo debut, was released in 1976. America’s
bicentennial year also found Jaco being featured on Metheny’s album, _Bright Size
Life_, recorded at the end of 1975.

In the very active days of 1974 and 1975, Jaco also communicated with Joe Zawinul,
leader of jazz fusion band Weather Report. Upon meeting Zawinul after a 1974 Weather
Report gig, Jaco introduced himself by calling himself “the greatest bass player
in the world.” Zawinul didn’t bite that time out, but after receiving an early mix
of Jaco’s solo album, he decided to call on the bassist when Weather Report needed
a bass player in late 1975. Jaco joined the group and was destined to add another
significant record release to his 1976 watershed year — he played on two tracks 
on Weather Report’s _Black Market_: “Cannonball,” and his own “Barbary Coast.”

He remained in Weather Report through 1981, displaying both incredible musicianship
and onstage showmanship. He was also a famed session player, most notably appearing
on Joni Mitchell’s _Hejira_ (1976) and _Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter_ (1977). In
Mark Bego’s biography _Joni Mitchell_, the legendary singer-songwriter comments 
on her musical connection with Jaco: “In a way, I feel like I dreamed Jaco. I mean,
he was exactly what I was waiting for, sonically. . . .” (Bego, pg. 158).

**Weather Report: Bright Skies and Impending Storms**

⌊Joe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius and Wayne Shorter⌉⌊Joe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius and 
Wayne Shorter⌉With Weather Report, Jaco extended his musical reach. He was credited
as a co-producer on the band’s 1977 album, Heavy Weather, best known for the tunes“
Birdland” and Jaco’s “Teen Town.” The album made a huge splash, and became a Gold
record in the year of its release. Unfortunately, by this time, Jaco’s avoidance
of alcohol and drugs came to an end. He began drinking and using cocaine. In 1978,
Weather Report released _Mr. Gone_, which didn’t receive the same accolades _Heavy
Weather_ saw. However, Jaco’s reputation as a bassist was sterling — Down Beat magazine
readers and critics voted him their No. 1 electric bassist that year.

Jaco’s and Tracy’s marriage also ended in this period, with their divorce becoming
final in early 1979. Jaco started exhibiting erratic behavior, evidenced by an extremely
rough set at the February 1979 Havana Jam concert in Havana, Cuba, as part of the“
Trio of Doom”: guitarist John McLaughlin, Jaco, and drummer Tony Williams. The year
included the release of the live Weather Report album, _8:30_, which showed off 
Jaco’s chops in a concert setting. The year also featured a new beginning for Jaco.
He married girlfriend Ingrid Horn-Müller in July before heading out on tour with
Joni Mitchell, whose touring band also included Metheny. While in Berlin that fall
with Weather Report, he played a legendary solo bass concert on a day off. He was
at the top of the bass world.

In 1980, Weather Report released _Night Passage_, which included Jaco’s classic 
ballad, “Three Views of a Secret.” He also signed a new solo deal, this time with
Warner Brothers Records, and began recording his second solo album in August. Jaco’s
erratic stage behavior marred a performance with Weather Report in Japan in 1981,
however. The year saw Jaco make his last recordings with Weather Report, for the
album _Weather Report_. His second solo album, _Word of Mouth_, also appeared that
year. In this period, the psychiatrist father of Weather Report drummer Peter Erskine
also suggested that Jaco might be manic-depressive.

By early 1982, Jaco had debuted his Word of Mouth big band, and on June 9, his and
Ingrid’s twins, Julius Josef and Felix Xavier, were born. Unfortunately, he and 
Ingrid began growing apart, and Jaco began spending more time in New York City, 
instead of the Florida world he knew better. The New York version of Jaco was different.
His drinking and drug use continued, unabated. His onstage behavior turned wild.
During a tour of Japan, he threw his bass into Hiroshima Bay. Although Jaco contended
he was fine, he went to Coral Ridge Psychiatric Hospital in Fort Lauderdale that
September for a week’s observation. He went out on tour not long after his release,
and his combative behavior at an Italian concert turned the crowd hostile, with 
the event deteriorating into a riot in the middle of the show.

Jaco intended for the record _Holiday for Pans_ to be his Word of Mouth follow-up
in 1983. The album demos featured steel pan music, and no bass from Jaco. Warner
Bros. declined to release the record and dropped him from the company’s roster. 
And instead of _Holiday for Pans_, it released the live album, _Invitation_. Jaco,
performing with the Word of Mouth band, turned in a confused performance at the 
1984 Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl. Depending on the night, he could
turn in an inspired performance, or a messy one as he played gigs with the Word 
of Mouth big band or other artists. His mood swings came with the territory for 
those who knew him. By the following year, he and Ingrid were divorced.

**Losing the “Bass of Doom” and a Mental Decline**

In this disjointed era, Jaco’s “Bass of Doom” was effectively destroyed. Jaco sent
it to Kevin Kaufman and fellow luthier Jim Hamilton in 1986 for refurbishment. Shortly
after it was returned to him, again in working order, it was stolen in Greenwich
Village. Jaco, who often left the bass unattended as he played basketball games 
or slept in a New York park, never saw it again. The bass was only recovered in 
2007. It is now owned by Metallica bassist Rob Trujillo. Jaco’s bassist son, Felix,
had the opportunity to play it on a couple of tracks on the Yellowjackets’ album,
_A Rise in the Road_. “It was a bit of a struggle to get through, just emotionally
and because of what was involved,” Pastorius said in an interview with Wayne Lockwood
of The New York Daily News. Trujillo has told the family it can buy the bass for
the same undisclosed price he paid for it. In the meantime, Trujillo, who has also
produced a documentary about Jaco, is keeping the bass safe, under lock and key,
in a Northern California vault.

The mid-1980s were difficult for Jaco and those who loved him. He was evicted from
his New York City apartment and crashed with friends for as long as he could. After
a tumultuous visit to his father’s home in Pennsylvania, Jaco briefly entered a 
psychiatric facility. The bassist didn’t like the effects of the lithium given to
him as treatment. Jaco returned to New York and continued to play, but with his 
reputation for performances that could be inspiring one night but dispiriting the
next work was hard to find. Friends were saddened by his severe decline. In July
1986, Jaco was encouraged to check into the psychiatric ward of Bellevue Hospital.
The diagnosis: Jaco was bipolar (manic-depressive). He stayed at Bellevue for eight
weeks and was released into the custody of a musician friend, who took Jaco back
to the San Francisco area with him, where the two worked on a record.

At this time, Jaco’s relationship with his girlfriend, Teresa, grew more volatile
and Jaco began drinking more. Teresa returned to New York after visiting San Francisco
and Jaco soon followed. Jaco played in New York and toured in Europe with a guitarist/
bassist.

**1987: Jaco’s Final Year**

Jaco started the year by moving back to Fort Lauderdale with his girlfriend, Teresa.
Although he tried to regain stability, the old demons of mental illness reappeared,
leading to many strange performances and even short stints in jail. Everything came
to its tragic head on in the early morning hours of Sept. 12, 1987, when Jaco went
to a bar called the Midnight Bottle Club, where he was ejected for his behavior.
When he tried to kick the door back in, the club’s manager, a third-degree black
belt in karate, hit Jaco several times. Jaco’s skull was fractured, and he suffered
massive internal bleeding. Jaco never left the hospital. On Sept. 19, he had a brain
hemorrhage and went on a respirator. His family decided to remove him from life 
support on Sept. 21 and he died a little more than three hours later, with Tracy
holding his hand. Jaco Pastorius was 35 years old. His assailant pled guilty to 
manslaughter charges and ultimately only spent four months in prison.

Jaco is buried in Our Lady Queen of Heaven Cemetery in North Lauderdale and Jaco
Pastorius Park opened in 2008 in Oakland Park. While his legacy lives on there, 
it’s even more present in the legions of bassists inspired to play the instrument
in a new way — or to play it at all — after hearing the work Jaco created during
his prolific, but all too short career.

![Картинки по запросу Jaco Pastorius](https://i0.wp.com/s3-eu-west-
1.amazonaws.com/snjo.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/38e3c316e7ad1f51dde19b9843954.jpg?
w=640&ssl=1)

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