Jazztodon artist of the week: Jaco Pastorius!
"There are very few musicians who completely redefine their instrument. Jaco was clearly one of those musicians. Before Jaco, it was considered unusual for an electric bassist to have the intelligent melodic sensibilities of a pianist or a horn player. Since Jaco, when one hears an electric bassist with the technique and melodic intelligence of a Charlie Parker or a Miles Davis, it comes from Jaco.
My defining “Jaco moment” came listening to my dad practicing “Portrait of Tracy”. I’d never heard a bass play “false” notes (harmonics) before. When I asked my dad what he was doing, he said, “I’m trying to learn this Jaco tune.” Since then, I myself have tried to learn not only “Portrait of Tracy”, but everything else from Jaco’s debut solo recording. I proudly call myself a “Jaco clone”. No one else since him has extended the melodic language of the electric bass as a soloist or as a composer.”
-Christian McBride
