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Jaco Pastorius
89,755 listeners (848,600 plays)
jazz, fusion, bass, jazz fusion, funk… see all
Born: December 1, 1951
Biography
“Jaco” was born John Francis Pastorius III, the first of three sons born to John Francis Pastorius II and Stephanie Katherine Haapala Pastorius. He had Finnish, German, Swedish, and Irish ancestry. Although “Jaco” was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, the family subsequently moved to Fort Lauderdale. Jaco went to elementary and middle school at St. Clement’s Catholic School in Wilton Manors, and he was an altar boy at the adjoining church. He went to high school at Northeast High in Oakland Park. He was a talented athlete with skills in football, basketball, and baseball, and he picked up music at an early age. He took the name “Anthony” at his confirmation.
He loved basketball, and often watched basketball with his father, whose nickname was “Jack.” Jaco’s nickname was influenced by his love of sports and also by the umpire Jocko Conlan. He changed the spelling from “Jocko” to “Jaco” after the pianist Alex Darqui sent him a note. Darqui, who was French, assumed the name was spelled “Jaco”; “Jaco” liked the new spelling.
Originally a drummer, following in the footsteps of his father, stand-up drummer Jack Pastorius, “Jaco” switched to bass at age 15, after suffering an injury to his wrist. In about 1970, he began playing in a nine-piece horn band at the time called Las Olas Brass, which covered popular material of the day by Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, James Brown and the Tijuana Brass.
Influences
Biography
“Jaco” was born John Francis Pastorius III, the first of three sons born to John Francis Pastorius II and Stephanie Katherine Haapala Pastorius. He had Finnish, German, Swedish, and Irish ancestry. Although “Jaco” was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, the family subsequently moved to Fort Lauderdale. Jaco went to elementary and middle school at St. Clement’s Catholic School in Wilton Manors, and he was an altar boy at the adjoining church. He went to high school at Northeast High in Oakland Park. He was a talented athlete with skills in football, basketball, and baseball, and he picked up music at an early age. He took the name “Anthony” at his confirmation.
He loved basketball, and often watched basketball with his father, whose nickname was “Jack.” Jaco’s nickname was influenced by his love of sports and also by the umpire Jocko Conlan. He changed the spelling from “Jocko” to “Jaco” after the pianist Alex Darqui sent him a note. Darqui, who was French, assumed the name was spelled “Jaco”; “Jaco” liked the new spelling.
Originally a drummer, following in the footsteps of his father, stand-up drummer Jack Pastorius, “Jaco” switched to bass at age 15, after suffering an injury to his wrist. In about 1970, he began playing in a nine-piece horn band at the time called Las Olas Brass, which covered popular material of the day by Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, James Brown and the Tijuana Brass.
Influences
Similar Artists
Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius Big Band, Stanley Clarke, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, John Patitucci… see all
See moreVideos
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Play
Jaco Pastorius - A Portrait Of Tracy
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Play
Jaco Pastorius-"Donna Lee"
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Play
Jaco Pastorius "Twins & Liberty City"
Top Tracks
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Portrait of Tracy
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Opus Pocus
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Okonkole y Trompa
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Kuru/Speak Like a Child
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Forgotten Love
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(Used to Be A) Cha-Cha
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Top Albums
Shoutbox
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Soppsau wrote:
Thing about Jaco is you can hear instantly that its actually Jaco, whilst people like Wooten and Marcus Miller sound pretty similar
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fledgehog wrote:
jaco is the man
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lMixa wrote:
AND overated
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lMixa wrote:
he's kinda boring.
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Skonrokk wrote:
Always AMAZING!
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humpmasterH wrote:
Wow. Just wow.
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Burgoo wrote:
No 1 but maybe challenged by Jonas Hellborg?
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MadMax973 wrote:
Your playing is an inspiration!
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guymusic wrote:
imagine if he was alive. Same thing with Gershwin.
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Metalbeast7 wrote:
...greatest bass player ever
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joshhaley wrote:
He changed my life and my bass playing, but sadly died on my 16th birthday. He's still unparalleled.
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Mcboyy wrote:
much love and respect always.......
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ziz0u wrote:
I love that bassist... HE IS THE ONE
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namnatulco wrote:
Brilliant.
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wahit wrote:
Jaco is #1 forever!
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scottiscool wrote:
I just ripped the audio from the dvd of his performance at the 1982 Montreal Jazz Festival. Message me if you are interested.
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sipoflife wrote:
I looove "Donna Lee"
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RussSargeant wrote:
If not the greatest, Jaco was definately one of the most infuential players of all time... I wonder what he would be doing now if he was still with us..?
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Christophogo wrote:
I have a 5 string bass with 2 pickups and a laney bass amp with bass, treble knobs and the sliders to adjust the tone properly. I REALLY need to get the Portrait of Tracy for my bass grade 8 exam... anyone know how? cheeeers muchly :)
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allyc wrote:
Jaco is bass.
Listeners
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jon91870
Listening now
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rubenbs
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Shoomar
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okanozeren
Top Listener
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MadMax973
Top Listener
Recent Activity
- renatocanonico, msazini and mrshow123 added Jaco Pastorius to their libraries. 3 hours ago
- Badams92 tagged Jaco Pastorius with ‘jaco’ and ‘jaco pastorius’. 6 hours ago
- hamtaack, radish365, Tomas63 and 7 other people added Jaco Pastorius to their libraries. 6 hours ago
- george_tsam tagged Jaco Pastorius with ‘bass’ and ‘jazz fusion’. yesterday evening
- fing3rs tagged Jaco Pastorius with ‘jazz’. yesterday afternoon
- pseudojoe added Jaco Pastorius to pseudojoe’s library. yesterday afternoon
- schemoel tagged Jaco Pastorius with ‘jazz’ and ‘fusion’. Thursday morning
- oogster, erikoismies_ and adamcjarvis added Jaco Pastorius to their libraries. Thursday morning
- leogzyl updated the Spanish wiki page for Jaco Pastorius. (diff) Wednesday afternoon
- ralphklinzmann added Jaco Pastorius to ralphklinzmann’s library. Tuesday evening
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Groups (61)
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Jaco Pastorius - The Bassist
181 members
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Weather Report and Jaco Pastorius
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Jazz Brasil
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Jazz Rock
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