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Thread: The amazing Jaco Pastorius

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    Registered User gr_store_feet's Avatar
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    To make a short story long, I noticed that Jerry Douglas covered "A Remark You Made" on his newest album. So I went back to pull out my Weather Report Heavy Weather CD to revisit the original. As I pulled the booklet out I noticed that Jaco Pastorius plays the mandocello on "Birdland" and "The Juggler".

    Fascinating. I couldn't here any mandocello on Birdland but did hear some fills on the Juggler.

    As a bad mandolin player and a terrible bass player, I think this is really cool. I wonder how the mandocello is strung. Is it GDAE like the mando and upside down bass?Either way Jaco completely knows his way around a fretboard.

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    CGDA - like a mandola, but one octave down. In other words, the lowest note in the mandocello is 2 steps lower than the lowest note in a guitar.

    Of course he could have strung it differently.

    He was an amazing musician, one of the best ever.
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    yep, he was amazing...another victim of his/her vices, its sad that the music world has so many...anyone care to guess why thats so prevalent? Music is my big escape from life's problems but my playing still sucks...I read somewhere that Jaco was quite the tortured soul it seems and immeresed himself in music as well as drugs. Time for me to dig out that cd again too!
    Look up (to see whats comin down)

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    Victim of mental disease and of the SOB who beat him dead.
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    Quote Originally Posted by (mandolooter @ May 24 2006, 11:49)
    Time for me to dig out that cd again too!
    CD?!
    If I dig that on out, it'll be on vinyl! (I still have it.)

    Correction: I do have a CD copy of it. I just dug it out.

    I remember being in Georgetown (Washington DC) many years ago at a little jazz club. The band was playing Birdland, and the bass player (a young college guy) was struggling with the Pastorius bass parts.
    What an influential player!
    Everyone from that young guy to Victor Wooten.




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    I saw Weather Report back in the day....what a band! I remember calling a friend at intermission, trying to convince him he should hurry down for the 2nd set to see this bass player. Jaco really drove that band on bass.....seeing him in person at his peak powers was a treat.

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    I stand corrected...my memory IS failing, thanks for the correction, I hate to pass on bad info.
    Yep, seeing Jaco live was one of the most awe inspiring moments I've had at a concert!
    I have the vinyl as well...lol! Lots of it!
    Look up (to see whats comin down)

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    There is a good (sad) biography of Jaco in print.
    Bipolar disorder- drugs didn't help. Early on in his career they say he was totally straightedge.
    He was beaten to death by a schmuck bouncer in Florida.
    Also saw him w/ Weather Report in early '80's...one of a kind.



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    Quote Originally Posted by (jmcgann @ May 24 2006, 13:12)
    There is a good (sad) biography of Jaco in print.
    Bipolar disorder- drugs didn't help. Early on in his career they say he was totally straightedge.
    He was beaten to death by a schmuck bouncer in Florida.
    Also saw him w/ Weather Report in early '80's...one of a kind.
    Yeah, he was murdered not far from where i live. #Several people i've jammed with around here knew him before he became famous.

    His twin sons, Felix and Julius, play regularly around town.
    http://www.jacop.net/wotg_citylink.html

    I saw him with Word of Mouth in Chicago at the Park West, had a table right in front of him. #I thought it was a great show, but found out much later that Jaco had pretty much lost his grip on reality during that whole tour. #Very sad.

    http://www.jpastorius.net/



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    Checkout Jaco on the conert DVD: Shadows & Light - Joni Mitchell. Jaco does a solo that even got my wife and son to take notice.
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    Amazing sites, acumando. I found a [picture of the mandocello] that started this thread, poking around jpastorius.net.
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    The Birthday Concert (1981)- a beautiful and special CD with Jaco and friends in Ft. Lauderdale. Produced by Peter Erskine.

    rasa
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    Glauber, thanks for finding that pic.

    Rasa is speaking the truth, an amazing CD.

    Jim Simpson is correct as well, that Shadows and Light DVD is great. Pat Metheny, Don Alias, Micheal Brecker, ...

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    I first saw Jaco in Boston playing in a trio with Pat Metheny and Bob Moses at a club called Pooh's Pub. He came to Berklee and did a class with Mike Gibbs. Later I saw Weather Report in Orlando. One of the true innovators of any instrument. A tragic loss to music.
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    Quote Originally Posted by (gr_store_feet @ May 24 2006, 10:20)
    I noticed that Jerry Douglas covered "A Remark You Made" on his newest album.
    BTW, JD did an amazingly faithful version of "Birdland" on "The Great Dobro Sessions"... with Sam Bush (among others) backing him up.
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    Quote Originally Posted by (gr_store_feet @ May 24 2006, 10:20)
    Fascinating. I couldn't here any mandocello on Birdland but did hear some fills on the Juggler.
    I've been listening to the CD as I've been cleaning today, since I dug it out yesterday. The mandocello figures relatively prominently in "The Jugler", but I can't find it in "Birdland" either.
    The mix is a lot different, with "Birdland" a little closer to the "walls of sound" thing, sounds like more tracks running. Perhaps it's playing along with the bass/piano unisons(?).

    Anyway, it's a cool instrument! Looks like it's in good shape.

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    Default Re: The amazing Jaco Pastorius

    Hi. I'm a bass player and Weather Report fan and came across this posting. I'm not a mandolin or mando(x) player but I love the instrument(s).

    Regarding where in Birdland you can hear Jaco playing the mandocello: 3 minutes and 25 seconds. It's brief. I'm not aware of any other occasions he played it or anything similar.

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    Default Re: The amazing Jaco Pastorius

    It was said around south florida back in the day that no matter what instrument you play, you should not let jaco play it. He could have made a very good living as a reed player, pianist, drummer or guitarist. I don’t know whether he also played brass but would not be surprised. He might have done much more had he gotten the help he badly needed.

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    Default Re: The amazing Jaco Pastorius

    Seems to me there was a good bio on netflix recently - hope you all caught it.

    I was nuts for Weather Report back in the day, got to see Jaco do his Hendrix thing live, etc. I also studied Peter Erskine materials for a couple of years (back when I was drumming).

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    Default Re: The amazing Jaco Pastorius

    Jaco is one of my favorite musicians of all time.
    Apart from his amazing solo albums and Weather Report, his work with Joni Mitchell is some of his most unique and lovely playing.
    The way his playing supports Joni's performances is breathtaking.
    Song with just her guitar and singing, along with his bass, are complete and full.

    His albums with Joni are:
    1976 Hejira.
    1977 Don Juan's Reckless Daughter.
    1980 Shadows and Light (Live album)

    I am particularly fond of Hejira.
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    Default Re: The amazing Jaco Pastorius

    Quote Originally Posted by CWRoyds View Post
    Jaco is one of my favorite musicians of all time.
    Apart from his amazing solo albums and Weather Report, his work with Joni Mitchell is some of his most unique and lovely playing.
    The way his playing supports Joni's performances is breathtaking.
    Song with just her guitar and singing, along with his bass, are complete and full.

    His albums with Joni are:
    1976 Hejira.
    1977 Don Juan's Reckless Daughter.
    1980 Shadows and Light (Live album)

    I am particularly fond of Hejira.
    Coyote kills me.
    I agree, the Joni Mitchell sessions and concerts really highlighted Jaco.

    You forgot one Joni album, the best for my taste. Mingus.

    This track drives me crazy! Jaco did this fully sick horn arrangement too. https://youtu.be/dgx9e-5_fE8

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    Default Re: The amazing Jaco Pastorius

    I've often wondered how Joni Mitchell's bass player got that amazing sound. One of the things they did was to use the bass as a second voice in the arrangements. A new idea considering that bass usually supports the melody. Who would have thought of doing melody on bass as a duet with a vocalist?

    I like how he uses vibrato and harmonic techniques. And he was one of the first to create a 'chorus' of bass sounds.

    So I've been 'binge watching' on Jaco. Here are a few favorites.

    (And Joni, I'm in love all over again.)





    Last edited by DougC; May-23-2021 at 12:23pm.
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    Default Re: The amazing Jaco Pastorius

    Quote Originally Posted by DougC View Post
    I've often wondered how Joni Mitchell's bass player got that amazing sound. One of the things they did was to use the bass as a second voice in the arrangements. A new idea considering that bass usually supports the melody. Who would have thought of doing melody on bass as a duet with a vocalist?

    I like how he uses vibrato and harmonic techniques. And he was one of the first to create a 'chorus' of bass sounds.

    So I've been 'binge watching' on Jaco. Here are a few favorites.

    (And Joni, I'm in love all over again.)

    Using bass as a 2nd melodic voice was not a new idea, but yes pretty new for pop music. Famously, Bill Evans and Scott LaFaro explored that idea extensively. Both of those names should be preceded by "the great".

    If you only have a couple of jazz albums, this one should be a contender.



    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ_rZZusz90

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    Default Re: The amazing Jaco Pastorius

    Not much mandolin content, but lots of music!

    This is the documentary that Jaco deserves.


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    Default Re: The amazing Jaco Pastorius

    Watched this last week and agree - nicely done doc on a fascinating, visionary musician. Be sure and watch through the end credits, for some great playing.
    Blow on, man.

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