Jaco Pastorius Biography

[RhysP]

In the liner notes for the CD reissue of the "Jaco Pastorius" album, Pat Metheny refers to "a horribly inaccurate, botched biography" of Pastorius.
I assume he is referring to the Bill Milkowski biography; does anyone know why Metheny is so scathing of the book, or is he referring to another book I am unaware of?

[Pete Academy]

I may be wrong but I'm sure I heard somewhere that the Milkowsky book was pretty inaccurate and upset quite a few people.

[Doddy]

It is the Milkowski book that Metheny is referring to.
I think that one of the main reason he is unhappy with the book is because it focuses on the many stories
about Jaco's erratic behaviour-not all of which being true or correct.
The Paperback edition of the book rectifies some of the errors that were in the original edition,as well as some newer information.
It's still a good read though......I've got it in both hard and paperback.

[YouMa]

I know ingrid pastorius didnt like it,i didnt find anything shocking about it,but maybe it did dwell on his bi polar phase a lot.Interesting though.

[rslaing]

Over a number of years, I have collected and read most articles and books written regarding Pastorius by many "authors", and interviews with his ex-fellow musicians.

I keep hearing about this book littered with inaccuracies, but most of the authors (apart from his immediate family members and his last wife) all seem to report similar stuff. Indeed, it is only his last wife who has really protested at strongly some of the publications - might this be because there were stories about her too?

If it is Milkowsky's book that is inaccurate, why don't the few people who have criticised it, come forward and tell what the inaccuracies are? It seems strange that there have been no legal action taken in the form of libel or even an attempt to rectify these "inaccuracies" in the book.

Milkowsky is a highly respected journalist in his field, I think he would be aware of resultant problems both legally and with his career.

What he writes is not sensationalist either. It starts with Jaco's early days with contributions from his brother Gregory, who apparently contributed quite a bit regarding the rest of his life, his behaviour and illness (Bipolar).

So until someone comes forward and disputes the elements that are allegedly "horribly inaccurate", I'll go with the writers that have put pen to paper, as much as I would rather it wasn't true.

EDIT: further to the above from WIKI (not necessarily accurate either )

[b]Biography controversy[/b]

"[i]In 1995, jazz author Bill Milkowski published Jaco: The Extraordinary And Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius.[30] The book was written primarily from Milkowski's first hand experiences with Jaco when he lived in New York between 1984 and 1987, when Jaco's health had deteriorated.[31] This was supplemented with interviews with friends and family, as well as musicians and industry insiders.[32]

Jaco's second wife Ingrid has complained that the book treated Jaco with a lack of sensitivity,[31] and has listed a number of contextual inaccuracies on her website.[33] Guitarist Pat Metheny, who was a close friend before Jaco before joined Weather Report,[19] wrote in the liner notes of the reissue of Jaco's first album that Milkowski's book was "a horribly inaccurate, botched biography".[3]

The softcover edition of Jaco: The Extraordinary And Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius amended a paragraph concerning an occasion in which Jaco had introduced a female friend to Milkowski as his daughter.[33] A new 2005 edition has made further changes[/i]"

So nothing major then...what's all the fuss about? One or two alterations and nothing about the main issues.

Edited July 26, 2009 by rslaing

[grahamd]

The Milkowski book is regarded as the definitive biog. I found it a really good, informative read, and not really contoversial, his problems and behaviour were well documented before its release. It's always nigh on impossible to portray every aspect of someones personal life accurately i guess...

[dlloyd]

The biography is as accurate as they come.

There are a few features of the Biography that upset people.

1. It concentrates on the part of Jaco's life in which his bipolar episodes had intensified, when he lived in New York and was a close friend of Milkowski. The material from this part of the book is as accurate as any biography. It is well-researched, backed up with interviews and from published material. Pat Metheney has said that he had no contact with Jaco during this part of his life. Bob Bobbing (a long term friend of Jaco) has collaborated with Milkowski in the 2nd edition to redress this balance issue.

2. Milkowski related an incident in which Jaco introduced a young girl to him as his 'daughter'. Milkowski had no reason to question that the girl was his daughter, but as it turned out, Jaco was fibbing. Milkowski corrected this in the paperback edition of the 1st edition.

3. Some have complained that Jaco's illness was not treated with compassion. Frankly, to bend the truth in order to make him look more less ill than he really was would have been a disservice to him...

4. The person who has been most vocal about their criticism of the book is not presented in a particularly positive light in the book.

5. There is a long-running antipathy between certain members of Jaco's first family (who are associated with Bob Bobbing) and certain members of his second family. For more details, check out the forum on the official Jaco Pastorius site forum.

Edited July 26, 2009 by dlloyd

[rslaing]

[quote name='dlloyd' post='552052' date='Jul 26 2009, 08:46 PM']The biography is as accurate as they come.

There are a few features of the Biography that upset people.

1. It concentrates on the part of Jaco's life in which his bipolar episodes had intensified, when he lived in New York and was a close friend of Milkowski. The material from this part of the book is as accurate as any biography. It is well-researched, backed up with interviews and from published material. Pat Metheney has said that he had no contact with during this part of his life. Bob Bobbing (a long term friend of Jaco) has collaborated with Milkowski in the 2nd edition to redress this balance issue.

2. Milkowski related an incident in which Jaco introduced a young girl to him as his 'daughter'. Milkowski had no reason to question that the girl was his daughter, but as it turned out, Jaco was fibbing. Milkowski corrected this in the paperback edition of the 1st edition.

3. Some have complained that Jaco's illness was not treated with compassion. Frankly, to bend the truth in order to make him look more less ill than he really was would have been a disservice to him...

4. The person who has been most vocal about their criticism of the book is not presented in a particularly positive light in the book.

5. There is (for want of a better word) a feud between certain members of Jaco's first family (who are associated with Bob Bobbing) and his second family. For more details, check out the forum on the official Jaco Pastorius site forum.[/quote]

Great post, and well said.

[dlloyd]

[quote name='rslaing' post='552054' date='Jul 26 2009, 08:49 PM']Great post, and well said.[/quote]

Thanks.

I also wrote a fair bit of the Wikipedia article... it's a fascinating but frustrating subject because Jaco's Bipolar disorder gave him a tendency to ignore factual accuracy in his interviews.

[dlloyd]

Here is a post by Bob Bobbing on the subject...

[quote]I would like to take this opportunity to try and set the record straight about the legitimacy of Bill Milkowski's Jaco Book.
_______________________________________

Here is a little background about how I came to know and appreciate Bill Milkowski. You see, I too was on the fence about Bill when I first started hearing his name and reading his magazine articles, but before I prematurely formulated an opinion about Bill personally and started speaking out against him, like so many did after his first bio came out, I decided to take out a week and go to New York to find out for myself what this guy was all about. And because most of what I knew of Jaco came from our early years coming up together in South Florida, I thought that visiting Bill would be my best shot to be able to find out what Jaco’s routine was like during his New York years. So, I arranged the trip and almost immediately my intuition proved correct because as soon as I began hanging out with Bill and was able to observe his daily routine, work ethic, and keen insights about Jaco, I quickly began to gain respect for him as a person and a writer. That trip proved invaluable because it’s very possible that I too could have been affected negatively from all of the misguided rumors and BS. You know, I too could have formulated an unfair bias against Bill Milkowski.

For the record Bill Milkowski almost exclusively used first hand accounts from friends, family members, music industry insiders, and luminaries in the making of his Jaco Biography; The Extraordinary & Tragic Life Of Jaco Pastorius. He recorded well over a hundred interviews and facts were checked against newspapers, other reputable writer’s magazine articles, court documents, police reports, album/CD liner notes, etc... But most of all Bill became aware of Jaco’s NY routine from his own personal experiences. Over the course of several years and through his own countless hangs with Jaco, Bill was able to observe Jaco up close and personal in just about every imaginable situation; during and after his gigs, on the street, from the many pick up games they played together at the 4th street courts, throughout Washington Square Park and his Village haunts, in restaurants, pool halls, hole in the wall bars, during escapades with Teresa, at his various addresses, and Bill visited Jaco religiously at Bellevue hospital. Bill was able to develop about as complete a personal profile of Jaco as anyone could expect not to mention the fact that he recorded three sit down interviews with Jaco during his time in New York. And maybe I was more able to understand where Milkowski was coming from because I actually re-connected with Jaco in 1987 when he returned to Fort Lauderdale where I witnessed much of the same behavior that Bill describes in his book. I think if it wasn’t for me spending considerable time with Jaco during those final months in 1987 I probably would have had difficulty accepting a great deal of what I would come to read in Bill Milkowski’s first biography. But because of my experiences with Jaco in ’87, I could easily picture Jaco acting out throughout Bill’s text.

At the time I went to New York to check out Bill Milkowski he was living in a run down apartment under the Williamsburg bridge which at the time was one of the worst neighborhoods in New York. In fact, the first morning I awoke there was a torched out car directly in front of Bill’s door, a common occurrence I came to understand, as his neighborhood was a popular desolate final destination for stolen cars. Before long a strange looking truck with a big claw casually came down the street and snatched it up in ten seconds flat as if it was just picking up the weekly trash. No police report. Nothing. As for Bill, he didn’t have a car and commuted everywhere using a tight network of busses and trains. Besides struggling to make a living as a music writer, Bill also gigged as an on-air personality for a weekly R&B/jazz radio station using the handle “The Milkman.” I accompanied “The Milkman” when he did his radio show and I found it to be a very humbling and worthwhile experience. I also quickly learned that Bill was a very seasoned musicologist who apparently did his homework. His unique radio voice provided savvy insight about every tune regardless of the genre or artist. And I thought he did it in a very hip and authentic way. Then at night it was off to any number of hole in the wall joints to catch various musician’s sets, or occasionally cover a legit show that he was commissioned to cover for a newspaper or local magazine. He worked hard and nonstop the entire time I was in New York just trying to keep his and his wife’s heads above water. But despite what I thought was a rather grueling routine Bill seemed totally into the music scene and appeared to enjoy every aspect of his job.

At my request Bill set aside some time on the weekend to take me into the East Village and adjoining neighborhood to give me an up close and personal tour of Jaco’s familiar haunts; The 4th Street Courts, Washington Square Park, the Jones Street Apt., the Blue Note, the 55 Grand, the Dump, and several other clubs, restaurants and bars that all played some incidental role in Jaco’s routine during his time in New York. Even Bellevue Hospital and of course the World Trade Center that Jaco and Jimi Hendrix built with their bare hands. I have to say that Bill really did everything he could to bring me up to speed in regard to Jaco’s New York experience. And I picked up a strong sense of respect and admiration from Bill towards Jaco. Just read the remembering Jaco section in the book if you have any reservations about how Bill feels towards Jaco.

More humbling observations to Bill’s credit is that during the time I was at his place he was confined to a very cramped work space and used a small antiquated word processor for his manuscripts. No cell phone or Internet connection either. And the window view in front of his desk faced directly into a brick wall that featured elaborate graffiti that reflected the rivaling Hassidic Jew’s and Puerto Rican’s ongoing turf war. And behind Bill’s desk along the wall was a very extensive and eclectic album collection that was carefully cataloged so he could locate anything in short order. It didn’t take long to discover that Bill wasn’t this slick operator or corporate schmoozer. On the contrary, he was a hard working jazz writer with plenty of street smarts, work ethics, and someone who had a broad understanding of Jaco’s routine during the early to mid-eighties in New York City. I also thought he had a very hip way of story telling without distorting the facts. And he absolutely nails Jaco’s unpredictable behavioral patterns in my opinion. Sure he goes out of his way to be a little entertaining at times, that’s what makes his book a good read. And there is little to no conjecture on his behalf as he lets the facts and opinions arise from within the countless first hand testimonies from those who were there and knew Jaco. I came to realize that Bill is the kind of Journalist who frequently uses first hand quotes of others to inform the story. It’s very effective and believable to hear various opinions from insiders, but I happen to know first hand that this presents problems if the writer doesn’t have keen instincts and a vast grasp of the subject matter. You know, you can’t just post anything and everything anybody says willy-nilly. I’m pretty sure that Bill had to keep everybody honest and on point throughout the process. There is always an ongoing need for quality control as not to just take anybody’s word for things without passing them through a kind of credibility test first; like who they were, do they have an agenda?, do they have reason to be jealous or resentful?, are they over exaggerating or grandstanding?, were they high?, is what they say in line with other credible testimony?, etc, etc… For the most part Bill already knew who ran in Jaco’s circles and which musicians and professionals were legitimately connected to Jaco. I imagine that establishing credibility was not as difficult for him because he already came to know most of the musicians and industry professionals personally. The New York music scene is Bill’s element.

There is a great deal of responsibility involved in writing a book about such an important and historically significant artist as Jaco Pastorius, and I happen to know that Bill felt the pressure of that responsibility. But Jaco’s life was so incredibly unique and outrageous and full of life it would be a terrible injustice to censor out any of it.

The music of Jaco Pastorius will always be appreciated as some of the most beautiful music ever written. And his pioneering techniques, incredible virtuosity, and outrageous stage presence were invaluable in securing his place among the greatest of all time. But Jaco’s life also contained some very unusual and bizarre behavior that was played out by Jaco himself on stages and street corners in New York City and around the world. Now as misunderstood and painful some of the issues are surrounding Jaco’s behavior, It would be foolish to think that if Bill Milkowski was to edit out, censor, or change the facts in his Biography everything would be just be fine. It would be just like someone editing Jaco’s music. The complete, unedited, true and balanced story is the only Biography worth reading in my opinion. And I think that is what Bill has accomplished in his 10th Anniversary Edition of his book; The new “Deluxe Edition” of; The Extroadinary & Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius. If a dramatic full-length feature film is ever produced about the Life & Times of Jaco Pastorius, Bill Milkowski’s book will surely be the catalyst.

BB.[/quote]

[url="http://www.jacopastorius.com/interact/discussions/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4692"]http://www.jacopastorius.com/interact/disc...p?TOPIC_ID=4692[/url]

[Mike]

Very interesting post - thanks.

[Rich]

I like the Milkowski book. I've read it a couple of times and although the writing style may be a tad overexhuberent at times, to be honest I can't work out which bit is supposed to be uncompassionate. Jaco's illness is frankly portrayed. To treat it with kid gloves or pussy-foot around the subject would be insulting IMO.
Pat Metheny has a tendency at times to open gob and insert shoeshop, and I think he's done it again.

[Spoombung]

Actually, I thought the bad feeling relates to the subject of Methany's album, [i]Bright Size Life[/i]. There are several quotes from someone close to the band that found it 'disappointing' compared to the tour they did together shortly before it was made. Also I'm sure I remember the book claiming that Metheny wasn't convinced about Jaco's electric style and that he originally wanted an upright player for the recording - but changed his mind in the end.

[wombatboter]

I read the book years ago and it changed my way of thinking of course about this legendary bassplayer..
It's very confronting when you read that Pastorius was pretty often a complete asshole...and that is an understatement.
The beauty of " A remark you made" is in contrast with the way he treated musicians and audiences.
How great he was as a bassplayer, certainly not a person I would like to have in my band.
That manic depression made him an impossible person to be around with, when you look at the way he treated people who took care of him...spitting on audiences, insulting people, disturbing concerts. Such a shame.

[Bilbo]

Writing a biography, particularly on someone who was well known to people who are still living, is a minefield. I compare it to doing a jigsaw where the pieces are hidden all over the world, each piece has a picture on both sides and there is no lid to refer to. Every piece of information you are presented with comes to you as a ‘fact‘. It is the biographer’s job to ascertain its veracity and this is sometimes very easy. But, with a a lot of the stuff you review, there is no ‘smoking gun’, no proof that remains. Rumours become anecdotes become ‘I was there and I saw it’. People who love your subject want him portrayed in a good light and miss out the bad bits. Some, often those who love him the most, won’t discuss him at all. Others who were wronged by the man may want to vent their spleen. Someone who knew him peripherally want to ‘big up’ their part in his story. Some people even tell you they were married to your subject when they weren’t. The subject can even distort things himself by introducing people as brothers, cousins, daughters etc when they are not related. Everyone has a vested interest and you, in the time available, have to screen these contributions and decide what is real.

As I was/am putting the final touches to a biography of a celebrated bass player, I was beginning to experience increased anxiety about the responsibilites I felt in trying to present the ‘truth’, even when I cannot really see it and am operating merely on a balance of probablilities. I shared my anxieties with a friend who said simply that the only thing worse that an inaccurate biography is no biography at all. If you write something that contains inaccuracies, then let others respond with a book of their own. You must do what you can to ensure the highest level of integrity in your work but, ultimately, you are only sharing your research. If it proves to be inaccurate, let others who ‘know better’ (but who may have chosen not to share, as an interview subject or writer) write a better book.

Milkowski wrote a book. If Metheny or Ingrid Pastorius thinks it is inaccurate, let them write another. I will read that too.

[RhysP]

Thanks for some great responses.

I've read the Milkowksi book and thought, like most people on this thread, that it was quite well written & didn't really show anybody in a bad light. It was frank and unsentimental about Jaco's mental health problems, but I think the majority of people who were likely to read the book wouldn't have found any of this a great surprise.

It would be interesting to hear the specific reasons behind Methenys derogatory comments.

Out of interest, is the revised version of the Jaco book worth getting if I've only read the first edition?

[dlloyd]

[quote name='RhysP' post='552587' date='Jul 27 2009, 01:26 PM']Thanks for some great responses.

I've read the Milkowksi book and thought, like most people on this thread, that it was quite well written & didn't really show anybody in a bad light. It was frank and unsentimental about Jaco's mental health problems, but I think the majority of people who were likely to read the book wouldn't have found any of this a great surprise.

It would be interesting to hear the specific reasons behind Methenys derogatory comments.

Out of interest, is the revised version of the Jaco book worth getting if I've only read the first edition?[/quote]

I've not read it. I have the first edition and haven't gotten round to buying the 2nd edition, so I'm only going by what has been said by others.

To give an idea as to the level of acrimony involved between the families, read these...

[url="http://www.jacopastorius.com/realdeal/sabotage.pdf"]http://www.jacopastorius.com/realdeal/sabotage.pdf[/url]

[url="http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2006-12-07/news/jaco-incorporated-strikes-back/"]http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2006-12-07...d-strikes-back/[/url]

[RhysP]

Bloody hell. Messy.

[dlloyd]

[quote name='RhysP' post='552786' date='Jul 27 2009, 04:05 PM']Bloody hell. Messy.[/quote]

There's a hell of a lot more of it too. Interesting forum to read, if incredibly sad.