Jaco Pastorius was born on December 1st, 1951 and passed away much sooner than the music world would have hoped for. His genius is still mostly unparalleled in the world of electric jazz bass, and his work lives on today in YouTube clips and rare recordings of the brilliant musician. I first fully caught wind of his skills in Jaco, the fantastic documentary created by Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo. It’s a fantastic watch all the way through.
We’ve assembled three full concerts below that show the depth and breadth of his knowledge on the instrument. The first is from 1976, the second is when he joined Joni Mitchell for a set of shows, one of which was immortalized in a concert film that Mitchell put out from the Santa Barbara Bowl, and the third is from 1982 when he was at the height of his fame and his talent and assembling big bands after serving a long tenure in The Weather Report.
R.I.P. Jaco!
This concert with Joni Mitchell features a wild Jaco bass solo.
Finally his Live in Montreal Jazz Fest 1982 performance is not to be missed.
