Jaco Pastorius – Bass

I first heard this tune on the Jaco Pastorius ‘Modern Electric Bass’ video and looked at it at the time. I got the gist of it reasonably quickly and have played it a thousand times at gigs and jam sessions as a younger player but I consciously left it alone for a long time. I remember playing ‘Portrait Of Tracy’ at a gig and, whilst it went down well at the time, I immediately had this horrible feeling that I shouldn’t have done so and that it was a bit ‘naff’. I have since avoided Jaco tunes when I have had any say as, as a fretless player for many years. I think it is one of those ‘eat your father’ things. Every time I hear a bass player warming up with Jaco licks, I have to admit I wince but I don’t say anything as it is something that I think people need to work out for themselves. Despite this ‘aversion’ (it’s not an aversion as I love it so much I just don’t want to spoil it), I thought I would put the 1982 ‘Twins’ version of ‘The Chicken’ through the MOISES app and see what I could find out. It’s incredible the detail you can find in there with that kind of isolation. I think this is my favourite version of the tune (although I do like the version he did in a Sextet with Bob Mintzer and Randy Brecker).

For the record, ‘it’s f***** hard to read and to play.