John Francis Anthony “Jaco” Pastorius is proclaimed by many as the greatest electric bassist in jazz history. Of the seven bass players in the DownBeat Hall of Fame, he is the only one who specialized in the electric bass. Troubled by drug addiction and mental health issues, Pastorius’ short but brilliant career is still highly influential to musicians today. Jaco Pastorius was born on December 1, 1951 in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

By the time he was eight years old, Jaco’s family had moved to Florida and he spent many of his days at the beach and playing sports. He started his musical journey as a drummer but, after a wrist injury received while playing football required surgery and limited his ability to play the drums, he started on bass. He first tried the acoustic bass, but after a while switched to electric bass. By the time he was in his teens he was playing bass with Wayne Cochrane and the C.C. Riders.

In the early 1970s Pastorius was teaching bass at the University of Miami and began a friendship with fellow faculty member and guitarist Pat Metheny. Metheny appeared on Pastorius’ debut album in 1974 along with pianist Paul Bley and drummer Bruce Ditmas. In return, Pastorius played bass on Metheny’s first record “Bright Size Life” in 1976. That same year Jaco released “Jaco Pastorius” on the Epic label. That record features Michael and Randy Brecker, Herbie Hancock, Hubert Laws, Wayne Shorter and David Sanborn as sidemen.
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After a concert by the group Weather Report Pastorius introduced himself to keyboardist and group leader Joe Zawinul. He reportedly said “I'm John Francis Pastorius III. I'm the greatest bass player in the world.” Zawinul asked for a demo tape and, sufficiently impressed with what he heard, asked Jaco to join the band in 1976. Pastorius joined in time to appear on the album “Black Market” and remained in the group until 1982.

Warner Records signed Pastorius in 1981 and he produced a big band record that year called “Word of Mouth” which received a good deal of positive reviews but did not sell well. The band included Tom Scott, Wayne Shorter, Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock, and Peter Erskine. While on tour in Japan, Pastorius’ increasingly odd behavior alarmed band members and he was soon after diagnosed as being bipolar. By the mid-1980s Jaco found it difficult to find work and was sometimes homeless. He died at the age of 35 after being beaten up by a bouncer behind a night club in Florida. He died several days later from a brain hemorrhage resulting from the beating.

Here is a link to a track from Pastorius’ 1981 record “Word of Mouth:”

"LIBERTY CITY"