Jaco Pastorius Archives - Page 6

Thanks to the web, we’re now able to see and hear recordings of Jaco Pastorius that otherwise would have remained in private collections or shared among traders as we did back in the day. And thanks to many of these videos we’re able to share, Jaco routinely makes the top 10 Reader Favorites list each year. Among the most popular...

In celebration of the 62nd birthday of Jaco Pastorius today, we decided to share this awesome video of drummer Peter Erskine reminiscing about his first live experience with Jaco and Weather Report.

It is always interesting to hear one prolific musician speak about another prolific musician. Will Lee did just that, sharing his thoughts on Jaco Pastorius. From his home studio (dubbed “The Beatles Museum”), Will starts off by playing a fretless bass, points at it and says “Jaco invented this thing… it’s amazing.” The interview covers a lot, including Will’s first...

September 21st is a sad day in the world of bass. Twenty-six years ago today, Jaco Pastorius passed away at the age of 35. I’m playing more Jaco music than usual today (if that’s possible), and that has also included several videos. And then I stumbled upon this rarity: Jaco performing “Donna Lee” live in a video I hadn’t seen...

When Kevin sent me this video, I was stunned… such a rare gem and an excellent closeup of Jaco Pastorius performing solo in 1986. This was during one of his gigs with drummer Brian Melvin. I don’t recall many videos of Jaco performing “Chromatic Fantasy”, but this one has to be among the best of the best. (Here’s another, from...

When Felix Pastorius joined the Yellowjackets to fill in for Jimmy Haslip, the move was supposed to be temporary. When Haslip ultimately decided not to return, Pastorius stayed on and went into the studio for the group’s newest album, A Rise In The Road, which came out late last month. But the story is even bigger than that. Felix –...

In 1986, Jaco Pastorius toured Europe in a trio with guitarist Bireli Lagrene and different drummers. While there are recordings out there documenting some of these performances (including this one), videos from that period always seemed highly unlikely – thanks to it being the mid-80’s, when technology was pretty lousy compared with today’s standards. Thankfully someone dragged their video gear...

The Bass Centre is paying tribute to the late great Jaco Pastorius with their new Portrait Bass. Based on their Jive Bass, the latest addition to the Bass Collection range features a lined fretless rosewood fingerboard and Solar Flare finish. The Portrait Bass also comes without a pickguard, similar to how Jaco kept his instruments. The bass’s basswood body is...

Over the years, we’ve been treated to some videos of Weather Report’s 1978 performance in Reading and Washington, Pennsylvania. These videos, shared by Rick Suchow, were filmed by Dr. Fred Erskine, the father of drummer Peter Erskine. As Rick shared previously, “The sound came direct from the front-of-house mix board, engineered by Brian Risner, and my dad was using an...

Among the great tunes on Jaco Pastorius’ self-titled solo debut was “(Used to Be A) Cha-Cha”. His solo is a tricky one, at an upbeat tempo and with Jaco’s trademark melodic and syncopated lines. Here is Jukka Haavisto’s take on his wonderful solo on this track.

We don’t feature a ton of bass play-alongs here, but when Francis Allen shared this one, it was too darn funky to ignore. Here’s Fabienne Gilbert laying it down on Jaco Pastorius’ fun and funky tune, “Come On Come Over”.

When Jaco Pastorius joined Weather Report, they were close to finishing Black Market, which had been recorded up to that point by bassist Alphonso Johnson. Jaco played on two tracks on that album, which included one of his own compositions, “Barbary Coast”. Here’s a live performance early on in Jaco’s tenure with the band, performing that tune at the Montreux...