Jaco the Early Years

» Subscribe

» Spread the Word

Portrait of Jaco... the Early Years Guestbook

I must pipe up here and say that the POJ release is simply incredible. Jaco was given such an amazing gift. He obviously shared that gift with so many other bassists, that they became gifted as well. His music should be held at the highest esteem. Bob's admiration for Jaco shines through in this very comprehensive two cd set. It is not only a must for any serious record collector, but a well documented recording of showing how a a genius came into the music world! Artists today could only dream of having a person like Bob Bobbing around to keep their legacy alive!
Long Live Jaco your music never left us!

Dave Love (United States)
Wednesday, August 20, 2003

I just received POJ in the mail today, and words are insufficient to convey the sense of wonder, joy, love, amazement, and passion I feel listening to this astonishing anthology. Absolutely incredible! A superlative labor of love in honor of the world's greatest bass player. From the bottom of my bottom-loving heart, thank you, Bob Bobbing.
	Randy Porter (United States) Monday, August 18, 2003

Bob,
I've just got to say that you nailed it. There are only a handful of people who have the combination of childlike wonderment , deep emotional insight, and inexhaustible work ethic that Jaco had. His musicality was so complete that most people, even those closest to him, can't to this day believe how beautifully he played. He is in my thoughts daily.
You have given the world his story. You have given Jaco your friendship and devoted countless hours to making him feel loved even after this life on earth.
I have never been more moved and more proud. This is the therapy my heart needed.

Harry Hann (United States)
Monday, August 18, 2003

Jaco was a modern master. An iconoclast. He possessed and embodied values of another era. His famous quote, "I know where I stole every note," is both self-effacing and indicative of the studied approach of a jazz classicist.

The history of jazz is actually very short. It parallels the history of the blues. To me, the lineages split at Rhythm and Blues. There, the true masters took their blue notes and elevated them, empowered them, with the knowledge that comes from a strict dedication to theory and technique.

Jaco was dedicated to theory and technique. It was the marriage of this dedication to the inherent R and B experience of his youth that resulted in the genius that changed the face of jazz forever.

Portrait of Jaco is like buying a puzzle and opening it to find it already put together. It is the listening that takes it apart, and enables the listener to examine every piece. It is a living work, an instructional work, an inspiring work, and a work of pure beauty.

It is an important work. From the point-of-view of musicology, it is a work that clearly and simply illustrates the seminal power of rhythm, melody and harmony applied to perfection. In an idiom that normally asks questions instead of answers them, we suddenly find an explanation. This is how it is done. This is how to do it.

For me, Portrait of Jaco is a totally moving experience. For my own personal reasons I feel a tremendous connection to this great work. This is a classic that will live forever. Congratulations Bob, you have created a masterpiece!

Ward Brisick (Australia)
Friday, August 15, 2003

Just wanted to thank you for creating the POJ CD- it was fascinating and really provided an insight into the real character of Jaco as a man and his incredible genius as a musician. I literally had goosebumps from time to time listening to the music and the commentary - it was especially great to hear Jaco's voice. The booklet that came with the set is fantastic as well - I was especially touched by Mary's piece she wrote about her Dad. It was honest and from the heart and really gives the reader a deeper understanding of who Jaco was. Thanks Mary!!

Thank God Jaco had a REAL friend like Bob Bobbing - incredible job! Can't wait to get the next releases from your series. Thanks Bob, for all the hard work and devotion to this important project.

Greg Simmons (United States)
Monday, August 11, 2003

Bob, Smashing job, dude! I can't believe what a great audio and visual document you've created. And let me add my thanks to those of so many others here - for having the wit and foresight to record and preserve the journey of this master. I had to laugh at the "Suzanne" track, though because I never knew Miller Collins recorded. Miller (known to me as Tom Collins) was in my high school class at Northeast. I ran into him a few years after graduation and he told me, "Hey don't call me Tom anymore - I go by my middle name - Miller - now". He told me he was a singer now but I never got to hear him sing before this recording.
What a priceless tribute you offer us. Thanks from the bottom of my heart. It really brings back the incredible energy of our prolific music scene in South Florida back in the 60s and 70s. Great job. ~ Craig Reid

Craig Reid (United States)
Saturday, August 09, 2003

It must have been fate that day almost 15 years ago in Melbourne, Florida - right after Jaco's untimely death. That was when I met Jaco's brother, Rory Pastorius. He had seen the band I was playing in and said he needed a keyboard player for his own band, The Warning. I started playing with him and we became instant friends and to this day, I consider him my best friend - heck, he's even MY godfather! But that's another story. At the time, even though I'd heard his playing here and there on a local college radio station, I didn't even know who Jaco was. I was a classical pianist who had just recently stepped out from behind the bench to play keyboards in a band. But I was hungry for new music and when Rory played me some of Jaco's stuff, I was like, "so that's the guy I've been hearing and getting excited over!" I was hooked. No, I was beyond hooked.

What thrilled me about Jaco was the utter completeness of his musicianship. Unlike piano, where you have relatively limited control over the tone of your instrument, the bass affords you complete control over your sound. You can change your strings, your attack, your components, your amp, your speaker, effects, etc. No one illustrated this control better than Jaco. He had COMPLETE mastery over his gear, his technique, his compositions, and his ARRANGEMENTS! This was musicianship at its highest artform. This was the Paganini, Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Beethoven - all wrapped up into one - of electric bass and modern music. Sure, he could play his ass off with brilliant technique, but his TONE! WOW! His choice of note or phrase, his rhythmic precision, his groove, his humour, how his timbre both complimented and was complimented by the other instruments he was playing with - he engaged me on all levels and his seemingly unstoppable presence must have been set at '11'! Yeah, I'm a fan.

But Rory introduced me to not one, but two of my life's loves. The second happened a little later. At a lifechanging 1995-1996 New Year's Eve celebration in Pompano Beach, Florida, I met and fell completely - 1000% - in love with an exotic, seriously funny, astoundingly talented, one-of-a-kind, gorgeous woman named Mary Pastorius. I met her beautiful mother, Tracy, two of Mary's uncles and Tracy's husband. I remember trying to get some information about Mary from her mom as to her availability! Hah! I was interested, to say the least. Well, to make a long story short (not gonna' happen!) Jaco's got two amazing grandchildren and a pretty decent son-in-law, if I may say so myself. :) Though Jaco is my father-in-law, I never got to meet him face to face or have him give me the 3rd degree before a date or offer me some advice on our wedding day or give away his first born. I have known and loved him only through his music and performances and stories about him from Mary, Tracy, Rory, Gregory, Grandpa Jack and some of his fellow musicians and companions.

Well, that's where Bob Bobbing comes in. I'd like to say right here and now, in the most sincere way I can, Bob, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Your production represents a most loving, thorough, timeless and honorable tribute to my father-in-law. I am transported - completely - to the places I'm listening about/to and have to give it my undivided attention when it's on. Knowing the players (not just the musicians, either) of the drama that unfolds every time I listen, and their lives and situations, I am filled with nothing but joy and the strongest sense of family and love. Bob, Portrait of Jaco is a class act all the way and a testament to where your heart is and has been through all of this. Thank you.

And if there's such a thing as a P.S. in a guestbook, I'm gonna' take a cue from Tracy and say hey to Mr. Funky Rhythm Guitar, Wesley B. Wright and of course, to Grammy Tracy herself! Bob, I can't wait to hear your next release and thanks again for a true treasure. Most Sincerely, Eric Young.

Eric E. Young (United States)
Saturday, August 09, 2003

Sorry, I have to chime in again....
I just finished listening to the second CD and I can't stop crying. I'm not kidding. there's tons of great music and it's an amazing and interesting reminder of what the guy did - but the whole presentation is like a great movie - it gets more and more interesting and deeper and emotional as it goes on. For me personally, there's a chunk of my life that has "Jaco" and all the dreams of mine that he represents tied to it, so it means a lot, but when you get to Pat and Joni and then Zawinul - what they have to say is so great. He really did great work with those people because as Pat said, he did his best stuff when he was with people who were as unique and amazing as he was, he could blend, instead of just being an amazing freak. It's funny, because whatever my career venue movies or music or whatever, my deepest dream has just been that - blend with some great people! Historical aspects aside - this CD is a great piece of creative work!

peter hastings (United States)
Friday, August 08, 2003

Thank you...thank you so much for providing us all with a great, positive story about Jaco. I spent the better part of my younger years residing in Othello Molineaux's house in Ft. Lauderdale. Through him I not only got to know Jaco, but I was so fortunate to be able to sit and listen to an amazing genius create his magic in front of my eyes...and ears. I learned all I know about music from these two virtuoso's. Many a night I had to pick my jaw up off the floor and try to digest what I witnessed.
It's so refereshing to hear only the wonderful positive side of Jaco, and not the vengfull negetive things so many people are so quick to tell.
Thank you again and I hope this does not stop with this first CD.
Bob, Burlington Ct.

Bob E (United States)
Wednesday, August 06, 2003

First off, people always talk about his sound, his bass, his attitude, etc. but the bottom line is - he could lay down a ****ing groove to make you cry. It made ME cry this morning when I was listening in the car. Classic Jaco groove, when he's playing, I can't take my ears off him! The horns are all about supporting the bass part! I was so glad to hear Ira's reference to Charlie Parker, not because of the similar tragic loss, but because of the undeniable genius - the otherwordly part - the part that just poured out - the part that made people chuck their instuments off bridges. I'm a bass player, and I was playing in bands and also studying at the Berklee College of Music during Jaco's most glaringly brilliant time - the Weather Report/Joni years. I saw Jaco play several times, and as a bass player, it was the most inspiring, uplifiting, amazing and simultaneously depressing thing I ever saw - basically LIFE jammed into four strings. I had a quote from him in my journal where he said "When I'm playing, it's like I'm not even doing it, it's like I'm a prism and when light hits it, all the colors come out." Another favorite quote - "I just want to play the blues - in F" (and then check out live "Dry Cleaner From DesMoines" with Michael Brecker on Joni's "Shadows and Light" to see how he does it.) Thanks, Bob, for putting this together, Jaco's music is part of my musical soul and a reminder of how incredible music can be. To paraphrase Wayne C. on the CD "It's about feeling - that's about 90% of it and the other 10% just has to come home."

peter hastings (United States)
Tuesday, August 05, 2003

More: Page « 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ...16 »



© 2002 - 2010 Holiday Park Records About Us	» Send this page to a friend