Bass Player: Jaco Pastorius

When Jaco first hit the scene in around 1976, his influence was pretty universal and everyone wanted a piece of the magic. Jaco was appearing on individual tracks in all sorts of strange places, not as a band member but as a featured sideman or session player, weaving a little bit of his magic into the works of the great and the good. One of these sessions was a track on the 1976 Al DiMeola album, ‘Land Of The Midnight Sun’. Most of the recording featured Anthony Jackson but one track, a three part suite that featured on most of side two of the original vinyl release, was called ‘Suite: Golden Dawn’. Most of the piece features some of the furious guitar pyrotechnics that DiMeola was known for at the time but the middle section of the suite, called ‘Calmer Of The Tempest’ featured a classic Jaco Pastorius fretless melody, one of his signature sounds. The transcription feaures the section on the video from 1:17 to 2:27 and it is recommended that players listen to the track alongside the transcription to get a sense of Jaco’s phrasing. Exquisite fretless playing that arguably defined an era.