Don't Fret

[RuudSaurins at aol.com]

Jaco!
      Simply the sound of his name turns the heads of bass-players all around 
the world.  John Francis Pastorius was born in Florida and cut his chops 
touring with Wayne Cochran and his CC Riders on the "Chitlin Circuit".  Fans would 
ask him how he developed his "chops", and he would reply that his chops were 
the results of playing fifteen to twenty shows a week.
      Jaco is widely regarded as redefining the "role" and the capabilities 
of the electric bass in a manner analogous to that of Jimi Hendrix on the 
electric guitar.  He achieved early nototiety in progressive jazz circles with 
several astonishing albums (pre-CD).  This led to his being asked to join the 
seminal electric jazz band Weather Report.  
      Fame evidently led to invitations to substance abuse which was thought 
to have unmasked a latent manic depression.  Alcohol and drug abuse led to a 
destitution that broke the hearts of both his fans and fellow musicians alike.  
After a brief stint on "the wagon"; living clean, eating well, working out, 
rehearsing, etc.; he "fell off"....hard.  It was at that time that he was 
evidently making a nuisance of himself at a south Florida club when the club's 
manager had a bouncer usher him into a neighboring alley, where Jaco became the 
unfortunate recipient of the bouncer's martial arts skills.  While hospitalized 
with severe closed head injuries, he suffered a tragic intra-cerebral 
thrombosis.  With no hope for recovery, his family allowed mechanical ventilation to 
be discontinued.  According to some reports, his heart continued beating for 
seventeen minutes.
      The first time I heard his solo on _Cannonball_ on the album _Black 
Market_, I knew I was hearing something special; a new voice.  His contributions 
to the extremely popular and critically successful _Heavy Weather_ secured his 
reputation.  Stints with Joni Mitchell, as well as other friends and with his 
eponymously named Big Band left no doubt.  Jaco was "the Man".
      The removal of the frets was a constant source of intrigue, rumor, and 
innuendo.  Acquaintances of Jaco's have stated that he himself claimed to have 
"found" it (his fretless Fender Precision Bass) with the frets already 
removed, and that he just dealt with the instrument as it was because he needed an 
instrument with which to tour.  He was married young and needed to support a 
family ("Portrait of Tracy" is dedicated to his first wife; now in the canon of 
learning advanced electric bass).  In interviews later on, the story got 
retold and/or changed or embellished to one where he ripped out the frets and 
refinished the fingerboard with marine varnish.  He alleged that the rock-hard 
finish allowed him to "bite" into the fingerboard with roundwound strings without 
grinding away the finish and even the wood itself.  This was purported to be 
part of the "key" to his immediately recognizable sound and tone. He disputed 
this, however, by claiming that the sound was simply in his hands, and that he 
would sound the same on any instrument.
      I worshipped the guy, and was delighted to see the brief, but notable 
reference in Vineland.  It is not, after all, as if Pynchon made a reference to 
just any fretless bass player; it was _Jaco_!
                                                                              
                             don't fret!  memories of Jaco will survive for a 
great while,
                                                                              
                             ruud
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