Jaco Pastorius

Jaco Pastorius, was an influential American jazz musician, composer and electric bass player and his playing style was noteworthy for his playing intricate solos in the higher register and for the “singing” quality he achieved on his fretless bass. Among his many innovations with the electric bass included his use of harmonics. Jaco originally started out playing drums until he injured his wrist playing football when he was 13. The damage was so bad he was unable to play drums to the standard he could before the accident. Bassists for the band he was playing for at the time decided to quit so Jaco went to a local pawn shop and bought a bass for $15 and began to learn to play.
In 1975, Pastorius was introduced to Blood, Sweat & Tears drummer Bobby Colomby, who had been given the green light by Columbia Records to find “new talent” for their jazz division. Pastorius first album, produced by Colomby was the eponymous Jaco Pastorius (1976), a breakthrough album for the electric bass. Not long after his album release Jaco went to see the band Weather Report in concert and after the show went and introduced him self to keyboard player Josef Zawinul by saying he was the best bass player in the world. Jaco said the he was expecting more from the performance and it didn’t live up to his expectations. Insulted Josef told him to get lost. Jaco persisted and as they talked Josef found that Jaco reminded him of himself when he was younger so Josef asked for a demo which he revived the next day. He listened to it and realized he had great technical skills and potential. He joined the band in the 70’s and worked on their albums such as Black Market, Heavy Weather, Mr. Gone, Night Passage, and Weather Report. The band broke up in early 1981 and Jaco continued on with his solo career.
Jaco died September 21, 1987, age 35 after getting into a fight with a bouncer at a nightclub. Jaco had several facial fractures and later fell into a coma in hospital and died of a brain haemorrhage. He is still considered to be one of the most influential jazz bass players to have ever lived.