Jaco Pastorius is a famous amongst musicians but perhaps less so amongst the general public, or at least if they haven’t heard Weather Report but to those who know, his name is a byword for a savant-like aesthete who was outrageously talented and who revolutionised what the bass guitar can do.
Although he died in 1987, after many troubles, his influence still washes down the years to the extent that when those four letters ‘Jaco’ are deployed, everyone knows who it is, so huge is his legend.
The six albums he recorded with Weather Report are irresistible, as is his playing on Joni Mitchell’s Hejira, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, Mingus and Shadows and Light. I once heard his bass playing described as musical mathematics. That seems about right.
