The Observation Deck

Now and then I reflect upon music. Especially the stuff I came of age with, back in my college days in Chicago. Obviously a great music scene there, then and now….

With that in mind, one of my all-time favorite musicians, Jaco Pastorius, died 30 years ago today. Jaco was the bassist for Weather Report during the band’s best years. Weather Report was at the forefront of the 1970’s “jazz fusion” musical genre (click here) that also featured musicians like Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Jean-Luc Ponty, John McLaughlin and others, all of who were inspired by the original: Miles Davis. Back in the day I saw all of the jazz fusion greats, including Miles himself on the grassy lakeside peninsula at Northwestern, under the stars. You can even lump the Hot Rats / Weasels era Zappa into the genre.

Weather Report was special. Their masterpiece album, Heavy Weather, was released 40 years ago last spring. There’s no better jazz album ever, especially if you like it electric. I’ve purchased and given away this CD a half a dozen times. The last time was to a car salesman who accompanied me on a test drive 3-4 years ago. I used it to try out the car’s audio. He was floored, I just gave it to him and bought another one.

The aptly-named Observer wrote a nice tribute to Heavy Weather last spring (click here).

Weather Report was one of those rare bands where every musician was so accomplished that none of them really stood out, or wanted to. They knew they were all that good and they just worked together and created some great music without any individual pretense. But Jaco tied it all together. Playing his fretless electric bass, when he wasn’t tearing it up, he was back there pulling it together. And he brought on the funk from time to time.

From Heavy Weather, the all-time classic “Birdland” (watch here)
One of my other Heavy Weather favorites, “Remark You Made” (watch here)
And Jaco’s signature “Teen Town” (watch here, and if you only click one link make it this one. Classic Jaco 10 seconds in....)

Jaco was obviously struggling with something late in his too-brief career. Here he is, not looking good, post Weather Report (watch here).

And Jaco had a nasty habit of starting fights and getting his ass kicked. The last one, a bar fight in Florida, killed him 30 years ago today, and the world lost one of its best-ever bass players. At the age of 35. RIP Jaco Pastorius, I saw you perform a couple times around 40 years ago and have listened to you ever since. Thank you….

Luc Havan, the nightclub bouncer who killed Jaco, served only four months of his plea bargained 21 month sentence. Havan pled to manslaughter, to beat the original second degree murder charge.

If you're interested in a deeper dive into Jaco's life, like how a football injury derailed his plans to be a drummer and made him pick up the bass, Bill Milkowski's "Jaco: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius," and the recent documentary film "Jaco," the production of which was spearheaded by current Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo, both offer great insight into Jaco's life.

I honestly don't know much about Jaco biographically. I do know that his fretless "Bass of Doom" was stolen or lost or something and ended up reappearing, for sale, a couple decades after Jaco's demise. The family wanted it but could not afford it. Trujillo bought it and gave it to them I believe. I'll have to check out the documentary, thanks for alerting me to it.