Friday Night Jazz!

Weather Report - Birdland
Stadthalle Offenbach Concert 1978.  





Joseph Zawinul - Electric Piano
Wayne Shorter - Saxophones
Jaco Pastorius - Bass





Pat Metheny - Guitar
Jaco Pastorius - Bass


Donna Lee

Problem is that when ALL YOU HAVE is finger athleticism, and the 
content is sorely lacking, that virtuosity is of little consequence, as in 
Wooten's case and all of his brothers. It's all a race to the Wooten's 
without regard to content. They're playing is 100% patterns, riffs, 
sequences, and lie easily within the hand for their respective 
instrument. The Wooten's are all nothing more than typists, 
typing the same thing over and over in a sad effort to increase their 
letter count

+1  

It's sad that you can't tell the difference between a consummate
musician like Jaco and nothing more than an athlete, like Wooten.
The biggest difference is that Wooten is always thinking, "What can
I play here, how can I fit the most notes possible into the next 8 bars,
and of course, his TRAINED FINGERS find the necessary patterns.
Watch Jaco carefully. LISTEN to him. Every note, comped or solo
is perfect. It's perfect because they are the byproduct of his mind..
more

+1  

Jaco HEARS the music as he is playing it. Every note, every nuance.
Listening to Jaco, one gets the distinct impresion that even if he took
his hands off of the bass, the music would still play, directly from his
mind! Jaco is an INSTANT COMPOSER, always playing IN THE
MOMENT. This is the highestlevel of state of mindset that a musician
can attain, which is why his playing is NON-REPETIIVE.
Jaco ALWAYS finds the perfect thing to play because his taste is
impeccable and always heard.

How did you learn to do that?

Jaco Pastorius, Jazz Bassist, Dies of Injuries in a Beating

AP

Published: September 23, 1987

 John Francis (Jaco) Pastorius, an electric bassist whose brief career influenced jazz musicians worldwide, died Monday night at the Broward General Medical Center. He was 35 years old.

Mr. Pastorius had been comatose since being beaten during a fight at a local nightclub, according to Gary Cuccia, a nursing coordinator at the medical center.

Mr. Pastorius's rapid-fire fingering techniques and composing talent earned him a reputation in the late 1970's and early 80's as one of the top electric bass players. At the peak of his career he toured with Weather Report, Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock and Blood, Sweat and Tears.

The police said the beating occurred before dawn on Sept. 12 after Mr. Pastorius tried to enter a nightclub from which he had been barred. The manager of the club, Luc Havan, was arrested Friday on a charge of aggravated battery and released on $5,000 bond, the police said.

Early in his career, Mr. Pastorius had disdained drugs and alcohol, saying they impaired his playing. But colleagues said he later began to drink heavily and for months before his death was penniless and unemployed, often sleeping in a local park.