47 Facts About Jaco Pastorius

John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III was an American jazz bassist, composer and producer.

Jaco Pastorius recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of the jazz fusion group Weather Report from 1976 to 1981.

Jaco Pastorius collaborated with numerous artists, most notably with Pat Metheny and Joni Mitchell.

Jaco Pastorius died in 1987 as a result of injuries sustained in a beating outside a South Florida after-hours nightclub.

Jaco Pastorius was elected to the DownBeat Hall of Fame in 1988 and was the subject of the 2014 documentary film Jaco.

John Francis Jaco Pastorius was born December 1,1951, in Norristown, Pennsylvania, United States.

Jaco Pastorius was the oldest of three boys born to Stephanie, his Finnish mother, and Jack Pastorius, a singer and jazz drummer who spent much of his time on the road.

Jaco Pastorius's family moved to Oakland Park near Fort Lauderdale when he was eight.

Jaco Pastorius's brother called him "Mowgli" after the wild boy in The Jungle Book because he was energetic and spent much of his time shirtless on the beach, climbing trees, running through the woods, and swimming in the ocean.

Jaco Pastorius attended St Clement's Catholic School in Wilton Manors and was an altar boy at St Clement's Church.

Jaco Pastorius was intensely competitive and excelled at baseball, basketball, and football.

Jaco Pastorius played drums until he injured his wrist playing football when he was thirteen.

Jaco Pastorius had difficulty maintaining the instrument, which he attributed to the humidity in Florida.

Jaco Pastorius then played on Metheny's debut album, Bright Size Life.

Jaco Pastorius made his band debut on the album Black Market, in which he shared the bass chair with Johnson.

Jaco Pastorius was fully established as sole band bass player for the recording of Heavy Weather, which contained the Grammy-nominated hit "Birdland".

Jaco Pastorius left Weather Report in 1982 because of clashes with tour commitments for his other projects, plus a growing dissatisfaction with Zawinul's synthesized and orchestrated approach to the band's music.

Jaco Pastorius used this contract to set up his Word of Mouth big band, which consisted of Chuck Findley on trumpet, Howard Johnson on tuba, Wayne Shorter, Michael Brecker, and Tom Scott on reeds, Toots Thielemans on harmonica, Kenwood Dennard, Peter Erskine and Jack DeJohnette on drums, and Don Alias on percussion.

In 1982, Jaco Pastorius toured with Word of Mouth as a 21-piece big band.

Jaco Pastorius was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in late 1982 after the tour.

Jaco Pastorius had shown signs of bipolar disorder before his diagnosis, but these signs were dismissed as eccentricities, character flaws, and by Jaco Pastorius himself as a normal part of his freewheeling personality.

Jaco Pastorius released a third album, Invitation, a live recording from the Word of Mouth tour of Japan.

In 1985, while filming an instructional video, Jaco Pastorius told the interviewer, Jerry Jemmott, that although he had been praised often for his ability, he wished that someone would give him a job.

On September 11,1987, Jaco Pastorius sneaked onstage at a Santana concert at the Sunrise Musical Theater in Sunrise, Florida.

Jaco Pastorius was hospitalized for multiple facial fractures and injuries to his right eye and left arm, and fell into a coma.

Jaco Pastorius was taken off life support and died on September 21,1987, at the age of 35, at Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale.

Jaco Pastorius was buried in Section L, Block 219, Grave 8 at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Cemetery in North Lauderdale, Florida.

Jaco Pastorius pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to twenty-two months in prison and five years' probation.

The legacy of Jaco Pastorius is one of the most impactful in the world of electric bass in jazz and in general for every genre, despite his flawed and controversial latter years, although as time passed, his work began to be more appreciated by musicians.

Jaco Pastorius played an electric bass from which he had removed the frets.

Jaco Pastorius played fast and loud, sang, and did flips.

Jaco Pastorius spread powder on the stage so he could dance like James Brown.

Jaco Pastorius was tall, lean, and strong, and for someone who played sports the nickname "Jocko" fit.

Jaco Pastorius's thumbs were "double jointed" and his fingers were long and thin.

Jaco Pastorius played these with a "movable anchor" thumb technique on the right hand, anchoring on the bridge pickup while playing on the E and A strings and muting the E string with his thumb while playing on higher strings.

Jaco Pastorius played a number of Fender Jazz Basses over the years, but the most famous was a 1962 Jazz Bass that he called the Bass of Doom.

When he was 21, Jaco Pastorius acquired the bass, which was modified by removing the frets.

The Jaco Pastorius family enlisted lawyers to help but nearly went bankrupt in 2010.

Robert Trujillo, bassist for Metallica, considered Jaco Pastorius to be one of his heroes, and he felt that the family ought to have the bass.

Jaco Pastorius used the "Variamp" EQ controls on his two Acoustic 360 amplifiers to boost the midrange frequencies, thus accentuating the natural growling tone of his fretless passive Fender Jazz Bass and roundwound string combination.

Jaco Pastorius controlled his tone color with a rackmount MXR digital delay unit that fed a second Acoustic amp rig.

Jaco Pastorius typically used the delay in a chorus-like mode, providing a shimmering stereo doubling effect.

Jaco Pastorius often used the fuzz control built into the Acoustic 360.

Jaco Pastorius appeared as a guest on many albums by other artists, including Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople, and recorded a solo on the title track of his album All American Alien Boy in 1976.

Jaco Pastorius received two Grammy Award nominations in 1977 for his self-titled debut album: one for Best Jazz Performance by a Group and one for Best Jazz Performance by a Soloist.

On December 2,2007, the day after his birthday, a concert called "20th Anniversary Tribute to Jaco Pastorius" was held at Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with performances by the Jaco Pastorius Big Band and appearances by Randy Brecker, Dave Bargeron, Peter Erskine, Jimmy Haslip, Bob Mintzer, Gerald Veasley, Pastorius's sons John and Julius Pastorius, Pastorius's daughter Mary Pastorius, Ira Sullivan, Bobby Thomas Jr.

Jaco Pastorius has been called "arguably the most important and ground-breaking electric bassist in history" and "perhaps the most influential electric bassist today".