Remembering Jaco Pastorius (1951-1987).

Jaco Pastorius, John Francis Pastorius, (December 1, 1951, Pennsylvania, United States – September 21, 1987, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States), was the son of a renowned Jazz drummer, and from his childhood black sounds were at his disposal. around.

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At the age of 7, Jaco Pastorius moved with his family to Fort Lauderdale (Florida). In that town, he had the opportunity to enrich himself with a wide range of musical styles, including Caribbean sounds, Cuban percussion and Rhythm & Blues. Jaco was originally a drummer, but took up electric bass after breaking his wrist at the age of 13. One of his first bands as a bassist was “Las Olas Brass”, which he joined when he was 15 years old.

After that, other local Florida bands followed, some of them being “Soul Incorporated”, “Woodchuck” and the “CC Riders Band”. Jaco Pastorius left the latter band and immediately joined Peter Graves, the trombonist and leader of the “Bachelors III.” that I had already heard about him.

Jaco was with Graves for five years and shared his time performing and studying the perfection of the instrument at the University of Miami. Jaco Pastorius was discovered by the general public when he joined Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter’s group “Weather Report” in a recording at the Guzmán Theater in Miami in 1975. That same year, Jaco Pastorius appeared as a guest on an album by guitarist Pat Metheny, and since then, Jaco became a charismatic figure on stage and critics spoke of him as an extraordinary musician.

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In 1976, Weather Report bassist Alphonso Johnson left the band and Zawinul called him in to replace him. It was April 1 when Jaco officially joined Weather Report, and later, he used his influence in the band to incorporate Peter Erskine into the band, with whom he recorded the album: “Heavy Weather.”

In 1982, Jaco left Weather Report, leaving behind a special contribution to the band’s repertoire and sound. Pastorius formed his own group: “Word of Mouth”, with which he spent two years recording for Warner Bross, the album titled after the name of his group. If musical success was already consolidated forever, drugs also crossed into his life. Several police arrests, erratic and disorderly behavior, a defiant and almost violent attitude towards the rest of the musicians in his group, were a constant in his life in these early years of the eighties.

The summer of 1986 was a complete nightmare that culminated, thanks to the efforts of his brothers, with Jaco Pastorius, admitted to the Psychiatric Clinic of Bellevue Hospital, in New York. He remained there for six weeks, but when he left, it was only a short time before his physical and psychological condition worsened. Alcohol and drugs only caused doctors to diagnose him with a manic-depressive state of mind, and his actions were totally unexpected.

The end came abruptly in the early hours of September 12, 1987. After being thrown out of a Santana concert for trying to get on stage, Jaco appeared at the Midnight Bottle Club, a seedy club in Wilton Manor, a dangerous suburb of Fort Lauderdale. When Jaco was denied entry, he tried to force his way in and Luc Hava, then the club’s manager and an expert in Martial Arts, violently prevented him from doing so and fractured his skull.

Jaco Pastorius arrived in a coma at the Broward General Medical Center, where after a few days, on September 21, 1987, his condition worsened and he died. He was only 35 years old, and with his disappearance left one of the great musicians of contemporary jazz and certainly an extraordinary, creative, innovative instrumentalist and with a mastery of the electric bass like until now, no one has been able to match him.

Jaco Pastorius – Jaco Pastorius (1976) full album

We are facing one of those albums that conceptually revolutionize the world of jazz. Jaco Pastorius, who had just been part, along with the keyboardist, Joe Zawinul, in the founding of the group “Wheater Report”, made it clearly clear in this work, in case there were not enough examples of it, of course that jazz and rock They could be two adjacent plots of land.

It is impossible to listen today to this album with which Jaco Pastorius debuted as leader (although two years before, Paul Bley already gave him the opportunity to record his first work), as it sounded when it was first released in 1976. The opening song , “Donna Lee,” a bebop standard, was a riot of virtuosity; the next song, “Come On, Come Over”, a nod to the great masters of soul and R&B, and two protagonists of that genre, the singers, Sam & Dave, sing on this song. “Continuum,” the next track is a twist with a special look at Jaco’s years with Weather Report.

The program continues like this for three quarters of an hour, each song going in a different direction, each a masterpiece that would have been an achievement any musician would be proud of. What made Jaco so exceptional was that he was responsible for all of them, and this was his debut album.

Beyond his phenomenal bass technique and surprising compositional maturity (he was 24 when this album was released), there was the impressive audacity of his arrangements: “Okonkole Y Trompa” is written for electric bass, horn and percussion, and “Speak Like a Child,” which Pastorius composed in collaboration with pianist Herbie Hancock, features a string arrangement by Pastorius that deserves serious attention in its own right.

For a musician with this creative capacity, predict what could have been had his splendid path not been cut short by a tragic and sudden death. With this album, absolutely indispensable in any jazz collection, Pastorius paves the way for all those who came later in the field of fusion of jazz with rock.

00:00 . . . A1 — DONNA LEE (C. Parker)* – – – 2.24 . . . . . . . . . . . Jaco Pastorius – Bass . . . . . . . . . . . Don Alias – Congas . . . . . . . . . . . Written by Charlie Parker

02:35 . . . A2 — COME ON, COME OVER (B. Herzog, J. Pastorius) – – – 3.53 . . . . . . . . . . . David Sanborn – Alto saxophone, Soloist . . . . . . . . . . . Howard Johnson – Baritone saxophone . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Graves – Bass saxophone . . . . . . . . . . . Don Alias – Congas . . . . . . . . . . . Narada Michael Walden – Drums . . . . . . . . . . . Herbie Hancock – Keyboards . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Brecker – Tenor Saxophone . . . . . . . . . . . Randy Brecker, Ron Tooley – Trumpet . . . . . . . . . . . Jaco Pastorius – Bass . . . . . . . . . . . Sam & Dave – Vocals . . . . . . . . . . . Horns arranged by Jaco Pastorius . . . . . . . . . . . Written by Bob Herzog, Jaco Pastorius

06:29 . . . A3 — CONTINUM (J. Pastorius) – – – 4.32 . . . . . . . . . . . Herbie Hancock – Fender Rhodes . . . . . . . . . . . Alex Darqui – Fender Rhodes . . . . . . . . . . . Lenny White – Drums . . . . . . . . . . . Don Alias – Bells . . . . . . . . . . . Jaco Pastorius – Bass . . . . . . . . . . . Written by Jaco Pastorius

11:02 . . . A4 — KURU / SPEAK LIKE A CHILD (J. Pastorius, H. Hancock) – – – 7.38 . . . . . . . . . . . Herbie Hancock – Piano . . . . . . . . . . . Don Alias – Bongos, Congas . . . . . . . . . . . Bobby Economou – Drums . . . . . . . . . . . Jaco Pastorius – Bass . . . . . . . . . . . Strings arranged by Jaco Pastorius . . . . . . . . . . . Strings conducted by Michael Gibbs . . . . . . . . . . . Strings Section consists of: Violins: . . . David Nadien (Concertmaster), Harry Lookofsky, Paul Gershman, Joe Malin, Harry Cykman, Harold Konon Violas:. . . . Stewart Clarke, Manny Mardi, Julian Barber Celli:. . . . . Charles McCracken, Kermit Moore, Beverly Laurisden . . . . . . . . . . . Written by Herbie Hancock

18:46 . . . A5 — PORTRAIT OF TRACY (J. Pastorius) – – – 2.19 . . . . . . . . . . . Jaco Pastorius – Bass . . . . . . . . . . . Written by Jaco Pastorius

21:10 . . . B1 — OPUS POCUS (J. Pastorius) – – – 5.24 . . . . . . . . . . . Wayne Shorter – Soprano saxophone . . . . . . . . . . . Othello Molineaux – Steel Drums . . . . . . . . . . . Leroy Williams – Steel Drums . . . . . . . . . . . Herbie Hancock – Fender Rhodes . . . . . . . . . . . Don Alias – Percussion . . . . . . . . . . . Lenny White – Drums . . . . . . . . . . . Jaco Pastorius – Bass . . . . . . . . . . . Written by Jaco Pastorius

26:40 . . . B2 — OKONKOLÉ Y TROMPA (J. Pastorius, D. Alias) – – – 4.20 . . . . . . . . . . . Don Alias – Okonkolo y Iya, Congas, Afuche . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Gordon – French Horn . . . . . . . . . . . Jaco Pastorius – Bass . . . . . . . . . . . Written by Jaco Pastorius, Don Alias

31:06 . . . B3 — (USED TO BE A) CHA-CHA (J. Pastorius) – – – 8.53 . . . . . . . . . . . Hubert Laws – Piccolo . . . . . . . . . . . Herbie Hancock – Piano . . . . . . . . . . . Don Alias – Congas . . . . . . . . . . . Lenny White – Drums . . . . . . . . . . . Jaco Pastorius – Bass . . . . . . . . . . . Written by Jaco Pastorius

40:04 . . . B4 — FORGOTTEN LOVE (J. Pastorius) – – – 2.11 . . . . . . . . . . . Herbie Hancock – Piano . . . . . . . . . . . String accompaniment arranged by Michael Gibbs . . . . . . . . . . . All Strings the same as on”Speak Like A Child “ with the Addition of: Violins: . . . . . . . . Matthew Raimndi, Max Pollikoff, Arnoldf Black Viola: . . . . . . . . . Al Brown Cello: . . . . . . . . . Alan Shulman Double Basses: .Richard Davis. Homer Mensch

42:14 . . . End Side B Released August 1976

Jaco Pastorius with Don Alias (cg); David Sanborn (sa); Howard Johnson (sb); Peter Graves (tb-b); Narada Michael Walden, Lenny White & Bobby Economou (dm); Herbie Hancock & Alex Darqui(p); Michael Brecker (st); Randy Brecker & Ron Tooley (tp); Sam & Dave (v); Beverly Lauridsen, Charles McCracken, Alan Shulman & Kermit Moore (cll); Manny Vardi, Julian Barber, Al Brown & Selwart Clarke (viola); Harold Kohon, Harry Cykman, Harry Lookofsky, David Nadien, Joe Malin, Arnold Black, Matthew Raimondi, Max Pollikoff y Paul Gershman (violin); Wayne Shorter (ss); Peter Gordon (fhn); Hubert Laws (fl); Homer Mensch y Richard Davis (cb); Michael Gibbs (arrg).