Jaco Pastorius?

Also, check this out (especially Ex. 6 later in that video):

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Thanks Joerg
That will get me started

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Wow. That is quite a line up. Is that Randy Breker on trumpet?

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Yep! Peter Erskine on drums and Don Alias on percussion. Not sure about the steel drum player, but Jaco often had a steel drum player in his bands…

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Wow, that’s like a super group

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Check out the line up that Joni Mitchell had back then:

Even Pat Metheny was part of that “backup group”:

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Right I think I have the main bassline. Just need to practice for about 10 years and I will do a cover

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I am thinking of posting a daily video of my progress
Today is day one.
Who wants to see just how bad I am at the moment and see how I improve (hopefully) over the coming days/weeks/months?

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I had a similar experience - The Chicken was not written by Jaco. It was a funky jam that he had a killer groove and arrangement for. It’s a tune by Pee Wee Ellis.
So - the aesthetic is real real different.
If you get deep into the Jaco live bootlegs (caution: real real real shitty audio quality warning at times), you’ll hear him with a trio (bass, guitar, drums) playing tons of cool covers.
Buffalo soldier, Cissy Strut… fun funky jams. Not all the Weather Report, deep fusion dive material.
Might be more up your alley?
I really dug this record:
https://www.discogs.com/Jaco-Pastorius-Live-In-New-York-City-Vol-2-Trio/release/1457063

Also, he recorded a lovely fairly mellow trio record with a similarly young and upcoming guitarist (Pat Matheny) once upon a time. Great stuff there as well.
I couldn’t find a link to the record on YouTube, so see if you can find it on Spotify or Apple Music.
Here’s them live from the era of that record:

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That would be the “Bright Size Life” record

There might not be any video from that period… but at least this link’s audio is a little bit better than on the Jaco&Pat live 1974 clip :smile:

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Found another one with Joni and the gang!

https://youtu.be/PNI7A-IKE-Q

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I have a similar feeling, the chicken is a fun tune, but most of the other stuff that I’ve listened to doesn’t appeal to me… talking purely from a :+1: or :-1: perspective, nothing to do with quality, technique, etc

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Same. Really appreciate the skill, whole genre not really for me.

This is a “me” thing too, no slight on Jaco whatsoever. I feel the same way about Santana and Clapton, which I think most would disagree with :slight_smile:

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I’m with you, it typically doesn’t support what I view as the traditional role of the bass player. Not a huge Santana fan as there is typically a sameness that I can’t get by, but Clapton there are so many versions of Clapton I’m sure you could find one that you like. Blues from the Cradle Clapton or Armani suit Clapton are my favorites.

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“Shadows and Light” is a quirky, cool album :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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I think that it’s the same with any “virtuoso”, right? even in other art forms
One can have mad skills, be very innovative and what not, but for the audience it comes down to taste
@howard Clapton has been around long enough for me to like several songs, but yeah I’d get a greatest hits, not individual albums, Hendrix too… same with Santana, and he has been repeating the same lick for the past 20 plus years
I think that it’s harder for an individual musician to create good songs over and over with their instrument at center of all, as opposed to a band, great music lines are great in part because they’re rare
Back to The Chicken, I think that one reason why it works and appeals to more people is because the whole band is cracking, sure Jaco lays the cool riff but it’s as the glue of the song

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I’m in agreement with @howard on Clapton; however the first thing I learned on electric guitar was the opening riff to Layla. If you don’t like that there’s no hope for humanity :grin:
Don’t know the kid on guitar but he’s killing it.

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Fully agree with this! Also -
The thing about The Chicken is that it’s a simple, blues-related chord progression and there’s a pretty recognizable and repeating bass line, and there’s that killer unison line! It’s easy to grab onto and follow… where as a lot of the more heady, extreme fusion that he played can be hard to get into.

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I’m with you although I’ve never heard The Chicken - yet.

However, I bought his debut album and simply don’t care for it. YMMV

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I had the opportunity to sit down and play bass with Bakithi Kumalo last weekend… I’ll tell the full story on my Bass Stories thread… (yes, it was amazing and dreamy).
It was for Kala (U Bass love!!).
We sat down with our U basses, and the very first thing he plays in The Chicken.
We jammed it - traded the melody back and forth, and smiled and had our first musical connection with that song.
If you’re a bassist, have this one in your back pocket!!

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