Jaco Pastorius Archives - Page 5

If you’ve been anxiously awaiting the Robert Trujillo produced film on Jaco Pastorius like we have, then here’s some good news. The film is now available for pre-order, via a crowdfunding campaign on Pledge Music. Pre-ordering the film helps to make it a reality. Trujillo shared this update: “Hola everyone, thanks for checking out our project. Jaco has always been...

In 1981, Jaco Pastorius left Weather Report to pursue work with his Word of Mouth Big Band. He released his second solo effort, Word of Mouth under his new contract with Warner Bros. On December 1st of that year, Jaco celebrated his 30th birthday by hosting a party at a Fort Lauderdale, Florida club. He flew in musicians from the...

Edmond Gilmore has spent lots of time studying the fantastic playing of Jaco Pastorius. We’ve featured his take on several Jaco songs, and now he’s back with a gorgeous version of “Continuum,” from the bass master’s self-titled album. Check it out:

Shortly after Jaco Pastorius joined Weather Report, the band performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The date was July 8, 1976. During that performance, Jaco performed a solo piece which included “Portrait of Tracy”. He was just 24 years old at the time of this performance. In honor of the bass legend, here’s that performance. RIP, Jaco.

We’ve been waiting for this. Robert Trujillo is hosting a “work-in-progress screening” of his Jaco documentary next month at the Mill Valley Film Festival. The film, which has been in production since 2012, is described as one capturing “the story of his restless, indestructible spirit” of Jaco Pastorius. The event is part of MVFF Artists in Residence series, with members...

While I knew Jaco Pastorius spent time in California with Brian Melvin, where they recorded some albums around 1986, I had no idea Melvin released a documentary about his time with Jaco until today. This clip comes from Brian Melvin’s Reflections: On Music & Friendship with Jaco Pastorius, which offers up some rare footage of Jaco performing a year or...

“Continuum” is one of the most well known songs for bass players, and I’d argue it is one of the greatest tunes on Jaco Pastorius’s self-titled debut album. After listening to this performance of Michael League three times in a row, I decided to transcribe his version.

On November 20, 1976, Joni Mitchell performed a benefit concert with Jaco Pastorius and conga player Bobbye Hall for a “Save the Whales” organization in Sacramento, CA. Here’s the trio’s performance of “Shadows & Light” from that show. This version takes on a very different vibe than other more well-known recordings of the tune. And it is so so good.

We’re closing out Isolated Bass Week 4 with our first ever isolated bass entry by the one and only Jaco Pastorius. This isolated bass track of “Domingo” came from The Birthday Concert recording session. And who better than Peter Erskine to describe it: “On a whim, I asked mix engineer James Farber to run a quick mix (at the end...

If you’ve listened to Live in Italy, with Jaco Pastorius, Bireli Lagrene, and Tomas Böröcz, you’ve heard one killer version of Jaco’s “Teen Town”. Now you can see a video of the trio performing the tune (with some other tunes/jams thrown in) live in 1986. Thank goodness we’re past the era of video tapes (and thank goodness they were around...

Metallica’s Robert Trujillo never met Jaco Pastorius, but like many bassists, Trujillo is a lifelong fan. Trujillo’s ties to Jaco have been growing over the last four years, starting with obtaining Jaco’s famed Bass of Doom back in 2010. Stolen in 1986 and resurfaced in 2006, the bass was the subject of a long and frustrating legal battle before Trujillo...

Jaco, the much anticipated documentary film about Jaco Pastorius is in the news once again. The film, produced by Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo and directed by Stephen Kijak and Paul Marchand has been selected as the Official Film of Record Store Day 2014. The one day event takes place on April 19, 2014. “Record Store Day is a celebration of...