My Jaco discovery: a long-winded tale of teenaged arrogance.
I first heard about Jaco before hearing a note of his music. When I started teaching myself guitar, his name would frequently pop up in Guitar Player magazine- and after his death virtually every interview subject would praise him to the rafters.
And being an arrogant little git of 15, I took umbrage at this "undue" attention to someone I'd never heard. My thoughts were "if he's so good, how come I've never heard of him? They're only raving about him because he's dead... Steve Harris- now THAT'S a player!"
(NB: Harris is indeed a monster bassist, but he was all I was thinking about at that age and stage.)
Ten years later ('97), when I decided to make a concerted effort to become a proper bassist I scoured the racks of my newsagent to find a copy of Bass Player so I could catch up with who was hot and what was new. Who was on the cover? Need you ask??
However I'd grown up a little by this point and as opposed to succumbing to the arrogance I realised that there must be something to this guy. Here I was 10 years down the track and he was still being venerated by all and sundry.
I had earlier that week purchased a Japanese import CD of Stanley Clark's "School Days" album (1976) for an ungodly sum of money ($AUS40-something!!), based purely on the recommendation of the magazines- and found it a letdown. Whilst it was undoubtedly good for its time, I just felt Clark had been surpassed by Marcus Miller, Stuart Hamm et al.
So when I happened upon the Jaco Pastorius debut (also 1976) in a bargain bin, I was more than a little dubious about shelling out $10 for it. But I did anyway- figuring if nothing else I could use it as a drinks coaster if I didn't like.
On the way home I read the liner notes from Herbie Hancock: "Jaco is a phenomenon." C'mon Herbie, gimme a break- not you too!!...
Still I perservered, and got home to play it. I actually uttered the words, as I placed the disc in the CD player, "OK Jaco- impress me."...
Within 10 seconds of the opening showcase track "Donna Lee", my jaw was on the floor. How could I have been such a fool to denigrate a player of such genius without having even listened to a note of his music??
By the time the final incredible harmonic chord of "Portrait Of Tracy" was ringing through the house, I was kneeling before the stereo openly weeping.
The first side of the eponymous debut is in fact a perfect blueprint for a bass record. First piece is the showstopper (a real "now that I have your attention" moment), second demonstrates a killer groove in a band setting, third Jaco's balladic prowess, fourth his stamina, and the devasting fifth his revolutionary technical facility which remains pretty much unparalleled to this day.
Jaco taught (and continues to teach) me a lot about the bass- its possibilities, its role in many musical contexts, and the joy of sheer bravura on an instrument not usually regarded with such depth.
And I've never bagged a player before hearing them ever again.
