Jaco Pastorius
Double Bass / Electric Bass / Cello

Jaco Pastorius

(1951–1987)

United States

Jaco Pastorius (1951–1987) — Double Bass, Electric Bass. Led Jaco Pastorius, Word of Mouth. Worked with Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Don Alias.

He pulled the frets from his electric bass and produced sounds no one had heard before. The bass could sing — that realization changed everything. His work with Weather Report and Portrait of Tracy on his debut album are his signatures. Brilliant, aggressive, and simultaneously fragile. He died following an assault at 35.

Jaco Pastorius's albums

Bright Size Life
Bright Size Life
Pat Metheny · 1976

Bright Size LifeBright Size LifeBright Size LifePat Metheny · 1976 (1976) was MethenyPat MethenyPat Methenyパット・メセニー's debut on ECM, recorded at 21. He chose JacoJaco PastoriusJaco Pastoriusジャコ・パストリアス, then still unknown. This encounter became the starting point for both their careers.

Jaco Pastorius's albums

Jaco Pastorius's albums

Hejira
Hejira
Joni Mitchell · 1976

Just before joining Weather Report in 1976, Jaco PastoriusJaco PastoriusJaco Pastoriusジャコ・パストリアス appeared on Joni MitchellJoni MitchellJoni Mitchellジョニ・ミッチェル's Hejira. His fretless bass harmonics brought a jazz harmonic sensibility into the folk/pop singer-songwriter's music. The encounter set Mitchell on a path toward collaborations with Charles Mingus and Wayne Shorter, becoming the turning point toward her jazz period.

— Jaco Pastorius and Joni Mitchell — Bass Player Magazine

Jaco Pastorius's albums

Weather Report album featuring Jaco Pastorius

Heavy Weather
Heavy Weather
Weather Report · 1977

Weather Report (1971–86), co-founded by Wayne ShorterWayne ShorterWayne Shorterウェイン・ショーター, released over fifteen albums. Heavy WeatherHeavy WeatherHeavy WeatherWeather Report · 1977 (1977), made after Jaco PastoriusJaco PastoriusJaco Pastoriusジャコ・パストリアス joined, became their commercial pinnacle — its "Birdland" gave jazz-fusion mainstream traction.

— Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter, Michelle Mercer, 2004

Jaco Pastorius's albums

On his 1976 solo debut, Jaco PastoriusJaco PastoriusJaco Pastoriusジャコ・パストリアス rewrote the vocabulary of the fretless bass overnight. His solo reading of Donna Lee — full of harmonics and syncopation — declared the bass a melodic instrument.

— Jaco Pastorius (album), Wikipedia, 2024