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Jaco... Is he really all that?


AinsleyWalker
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[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1450086150' post='2929336']
I've been through every other example on this thread and I can't find anything else I like. It all sounds like "fret w***ing" to me, which I guess is the same as "aimless noodling".
[/quote]

Batten down the hatches Blue....another torpedo has been launched !!!! :D

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[quote name='UglyDog' timestamp='1450087408' post='2929348']
I like some of Jaco's stuff, but find quite a lot of it to be pretty much unlistenable. Does this mean I should sell half my gear?
[/quote]

A very fair question. The answer must be to sell only the half of your gear that is pretty much unlistenable.

[quote name='UglyDog' timestamp='1450087408' post='2929348']
Fretless, surely? ;)
[/quote]

A very fair point but nonetheless I expect most of the people who claim to be influenced by the revered one are playing with frets.

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Just my 2c worth Jaco was from the heart, Stanley Clarke - not.

Whether or not you like the pseudo-jazz wanderings or not, both of these guys were capable of playing great pocket when it suited the gig.
Just that Jaco's stuff spoke to me a lot more than Stanley's.

And again JUST my opinion, but pretentious rock and roll guitarists should have been painlessly destroyed long before they were ever allowed to pollute jazz and turn it into the endlessly twiddly looking up its own backside thing it has become these days.
Even most sax players wound up not being Charlie Parker.

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Jaco, to me, did open up a vision of what was possible to achieve on a bass guitar.
Perhaps forgotten areas due respect;
He must have worked very hard to achieve his dexterity and technique.
He must have thought a lot about how he developed that dexterity and technique.

There will be yays and nays obviously, but, that is also part of his legacy.

One of the two bands I'm in is a covers band. I use the first minute or so of Blackbird as a bass intro to Doctor Doctor :blink:.
Don't really know what that says, but personally I am hugely grateful that I HAD THE CHOICE to listen to Jaco.

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As a result of reading this very interesting, sometimes hilarious and sometimes frustrating thread, I decided to have a listen to the only Jaco album I've got, which is called Punk Jazz.. It's a compilation of a lot of his own work and some of the recordings he did with other writers, musicians /bands etc.

Some of it I really liked, quite a lot I didn't like and some of it was too far into Jazz/Fusion territory for me to stay with to be honest.

Though his tone and style aren't what I particularly like as a bass player, I really respect his courage as a musician to take risks and go beyond the boundaries of what was then the musical norm for most bass players..

I also wish that I had even an ounce of his musical ability and melodic fluency..

Anyway, after reading the sleeve notes about his life and very tragic death at the age of just 35, I decided to read the Wiki page about him and was absolutely horrified to hear how he died at the hands of a Bouncer at a local music club in Florida.

What makes the tragic story even worse is that the guy who killed him only served 4 months in prison for committing such an awful crime!!

Just my opinion of course, but whether you rate him as a bass player or not, like his music or not, Jaco was one of our own and should be respected as such for that alone.

Sadly, musicians still get treated like second-class citizens in a lot of countries - especially so-called 'Rock and Roll' musicians like Jaco and a lot of us on here, and what happened to him and the way the justice system in his own country failed him and his family, should remind us to support and celebrate our community of bass players just that little bit more, instead of knocking pieces off each other.

Just my 2p worth.. But if he was still around, I'd happily have bought him a drink and shook his hand if I'd seen him after a gig.

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[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?app=forums&module=forums&section=findpost&pid=2928925"][/url]Count Bassy, on 13 December 2015 - 06:05 PM, said:

Well, having listened to some of the posted Jaco bits on this thread, I can honestly say "I don't get it".

[quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1450030490' post='2928940']
I'd say it was mindless noodling!
[/quote]

You are a very naughty boy.

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[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1450087679' post='2929354']


A very fair question. The answer must be to sell only the half of your gear that is pretty much unlistenable.



A very fair point but nonetheless I expect most of the people who claim to be influenced by the revered one are playing with frets.
[/quote]

Fret less but only sometimes - oh wait - Jaco played fretted also sometimes!!!! There the similarity ends......

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[quote name='silverfoxnik' timestamp='1450100186' post='2929528']
Sadly, musicians still get treated like second-class citizens in a lot of countries - especially so-called 'Rock and Roll' musicians like Jaco and a lot of us on here, and what happened to him and the way the justice system in his own country failed him and his family, should remind us to support and celebrate our community of bass players just that little bit more, instead of knocking pieces off each other.

Just my 2p worth.. But if he was still around, I'd happily have bought him a drink and shook his hand if I'd seen him after a gig.
[/quote]

Lets not get too carried away here. ;) In fairness to the posters on this thread, they were merely making the point that his [i][u]music[/u][/i] did not appeal to them. The vast majority acknowledges his genius and his contribution to bass playing in general. I'm sure all will agree that how Jaco died was sad, tragic and unfortunate, though this should not be a prerequisite to liking his music. I'd also hazard a guess that the vast majority of the above people would also have shaken his hand, if they had been fortunate enough to meet the man.

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[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1450087044' post='2929344']


Batten down the hatches Blue....another torpedo has been launched !!!! :D
[/quote]

No, I'm convinced the JP haters are confusing "don't like" with "don't understand"

Blue

Edited by blue
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[quote name='charic' timestamp='1450077036' post='2929269']


I also don't like the music jaco plays, I find it uninspiring at best.

Here's me playing, have I got chops or skill? I doubt it, but I prefer the music

http://youtu.be/BidjtWfu4Ds
[/quote]

Well,the challenge was for chops and skills that approach Jaco's level, not what you prefer playing.

By the way,I actually like the band, your bass line and the video clip.

Like I said I can find stuff I like in any rock or musical performance.

I have never been a part of the "I don't like this and I don't like that crowd"

Blue

Edited by blue
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[quote name='blue' timestamp='1450128735' post='2929937']


No, I'm convinced the JP haters are confusing "don't like" with "don't understand"

Blue
[/quote]


Let me assure you Blue, I don't like it.

Edited by Maude
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[quote name='blue' timestamp='1450128735' post='2929937']
No, I'm convinced the JP haters are confusing "don't like" with "don't understand"
[/quote]
I think if if you put your mind to it and tried really [i]really[/i] hard, you could probably be a little bit more patronising.

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[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1450129355' post='2929944']



Let me assure you Blue, I don't like it.
[/quote]

And let me assure my position remains.

I also think there is an age and generation distance element to this debate.

Blue

Edited by blue
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[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1450087679' post='2929354']

A very fair point but nonetheless I expect most of the people who claim to be influenced by the revered one are playing with frets.
[/quote]

True, I am a fret player.

However, I am a Jaco fan, however he's not a real direct influence for me. My skills,abilities and chops are so far from Jack's level influence doesn't come into the picture only appreciation.

Blue

Edited by blue
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Let me assure you, Blue, of two things. First, I don't like the vast majority of what I've heard of JP's output. Understand? What's to understand? I understand he had a stunning technique, and I believe that his technique led him away from musicality, not towards it. Please don't presume to tell me what I do or don't understand. You don't know me, and I don't know you, Probably best to keep it that way. Can you say Iconoclast? Do you know what it means?

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[quote name='blue' timestamp='1450128735' post='2929937']
No, I'm convinced the JP haters are confusing "don't like" with "don't understand"

Blue
[/quote]
see now you are trolling and just being argumentative for the sake of it.

no one here has come across as a Jaco hater, quite the contrary, pretty much everyone has said they respect what he has done, they have just said they don't like his music.

everyone understands his influence, and contrary to your belief, it is ok to "not get jazz" and not like Jaco without being hard of understanding.

and age and generation has f*** all to do with it, i wasn't born when the beatles were around, but i get what they created and still like their music, i wasn't around when elvis was alive, but i appreciate what his influence was... please don't make this into an "i was there so i know more than you about it" attitude.

the fact is simple, some people don't like and don't get jazz, i don't. some people just don't like jaco, i don't..... the world would be f***ing boring if we all liked the same things.

Edited by RockfordStone
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If there was a bass player whose music was liked by all bass players, I rather think that it would be considered bland and insipid within a few years of his/her death. Inspirational playing, by its nature must be inaccessible/unappreciated to some. Otherwise we would all be heading in the same direction.

Therefore, for music to continue to evolve, we must all be influenced by those players who preceded us to different degrees. It doesn't matter by whom you are inspired, as long as you are inspired by someone.

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