Bass players and musicians of many genres revere Jaco Pastorius as a musical god. For the uninitiated, Jaco Pastorius’ virtuoso bass lines and technique transformed the sound and capabilities of what was previously thought to be a background instrument into a fully independent soloistic feature of any ensemble. His fearless work with Weather Report and Joni Mitchell catapulted him to fame.
Sadly, after his late-Seventies peak, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1982 and soon became addicted to drinking and narcotics. By 1987, he was virtually homeless, dying following a battle with a bouncer at a Santana show when he’d sneaked onstage before being kicked out and eventually beaten to death.
A tragic end for a man dubbed “probably the most influential and ground-breaking electric bassist in history” in his mid-thirties. At least his imperial music has survived for us to remember the true pioneer of the fusion jazz movement. With this list, we tried to compile some of his most famous bass lines of all time in no particular order. Let’s dive into it.
1. Soul Intro / The Chicken
The first song on our list is a Jaco Pastorius classic. It might not be the most technically or harmonically challenging tune on this list, but it is a song that almost every bassist will learn at one point in their careers. It’s a terrific place to start, a strolling, strutting work of jazz funk that’s cerebral when written down yet spiritual when played. Pastorius’ bass guitar is a show in laid-back jam mode, and it appears simple.
2. Weather Report - Punk Jazz
Weather Report’s Mr.Gone was panned in some circles for “selling out,” i.e., being somewhat listenable to the non-musician public. Nevertheless, it quickly became gold. Pastorius wrote Punk Jazz, a 5-minute bass race in which he doesn’t hide his light beneath a bushel. I’m not sure where the “punk” bit comes in, but it’s nothing if not unique. Its blazing-fast bass solo showcases his unique playing style on the fretless bass. Something that was not common at that time in the seventies.
3. Joni Mitchell - Coyote
1976 was a productive year for the 24-year-old wonder kid. His “discovery” by Joni, as the brilliant singer-songwriter counter-intuitively “went jazz,” introduced him to an entirely new audience. His softly stunning performances on her CDs were nothing short of revolutionary.
While it didn’t sell well initially, Hejira is now widely regarded as one of the decade’s pinnacles. Pastorius only appeared on half of the songs. Still, the opening Coyote established a new sort of “Joni Mitchell sound” in which her free-form compositions were given breath by his hard-to-ignore but easy-to-love lines, which were as touching as her literate lyrics.
4. Jaco Pastorius - Donna Lee
This song is a Miles Davis cover from Pastorius’ solo debut record, produced by Bobby Colomby of Blood Sweat & Tears. While the album had guests ranging from Sam & Dave to Narada Michael Walden and the Brecker brothers, this opener featured only Don Alias’ congas as accompaniment.
Quite the glorious exhibition for his one-of-a-kind talent. “Astounding in that it was played with hornlike phrasing previously unknown to the bass guitar – not to mention that it’s just about the hippest opener to a debut album in the history of recorded music,” commented Pat Metheny.
5. Weather Report - Teen Town
Listening to Teen Town at full speed, you realize how big of a genius Jaco is. Only Jaco can easily pull off this bass line while maintaining that classic Jaco smirk on live performances.
Sure, anyone can play it, just as Eddie Van Halen’s Eruption, but Pastorious inhabits it, bursting all about it with his ’62 Fender Jazz – the bass of doom – and forever transforming the way we look at the bass guitar. Pastorius’s fretless, unbound, and imaginative playing marks a paradigm shift for the instrument.
To learn some of these songs, check out this fantastic transcription book and watch his legendary bass instruction video here.
