Jaco Pastorius

Bright Size Life

Pat Metheny · 1976

Bright Size LifeBright Size LifePat Metheny · 1976 (1976) was MethenyPat Methenyパット・メセニー's debut on ECM, recorded at 21. He chose JacoJaco Pastoriusジャコ・パストリアス, then still unknown. This encounter became the starting point for both their careers.

Jaco Pastorius

Jaco Pastorius · 1976

September 1978, WDR's Rockpalast. The complete Weather Report concert during Jaco PastoriusJaco PastoriusJaco Pastorius · 1976's tenure, including his solo feature — one of the most important fusion concert films.

— Weather Report — Rockpalast Offenbach 1978, 1978

Jaco Pastorius

Jaco Pastorius · 1976

Jaco PastoriusJaco PastoriusJaco Pastorius · 1976 transformed the electric bass when he joined Weather Report in 1976. His singing fretless tone and his approach to bass as a lead melodic voice redefined what the instrument could be.

— Jaco Pastorius - Biography, Britannica, 2024

Hejira

Joni Mitchell · 1976

Just before joining Weather Report in 1976, Jaco PastoriusJaco Pastoriusジャコ・パストリアス appeared on Joni MitchellJoni Mitchellジョニ・ミッチェル's Hejira. His fretless bass harmonics brought a jazz harmonic sensibility into the folk/pop singer-songwriter's music. The encounter set Mitchell on a path toward collaborations with Charles Mingus and Wayne Shorter, becoming the turning point toward her jazz period.

— Jaco Pastorius and Joni Mitchell — Bass Player Magazine

"I am the greatest bass player in the world."

Jaco repeated this line to bandstands and industry figures. A provocation or self-assertion — both at once.

'When I played with Jaco, the bass became something completely different'

On the recording of Bright Size Life (1976), his debut album featuring Jaco.

Guitar World

Pat Metheny tells the story of how he met Jaco Pastorius

2024-11-11

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Heavy Weather

Weather Report · 1977

Weather Report (1971–86), co-founded by Wayne ShorterWayne Shorterウェイン・ショーター, released over fifteen albums. Heavy WeatherHeavy WeatherWeather Report · 1977 (1977), made after Jaco PastoriusJaco Pastoriusジャコ・パストリアス joined, became their commercial pinnacle — its "Birdland" gave jazz-fusion mainstream traction.

— Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter, Michelle Mercer, 2004

Bright Size Life

Pat Metheny · 1976

In 1976, the 21-year-old Pat MethenyPat Methenyパット・メセニー recorded his ECM debut Bright Size LifeBright Size LifePat Metheny · 1976 with then-unknown Jaco PastoriusJaco Pastoriusジャコ・パストリアス on bass — a pivotal moment in both careers.

— Bright Size Life, Wikipedia, 2024

On his 1976 solo debut, Jaco PastoriusJaco Pastoriusジャコ・パストリアス rewrote the vocabulary of the fretless bass overnight. His solo reading of Donna Lee — full of harmonics and syncopation — declared the bass a melodic instrument.

— Jaco Pastorius (album), Wikipedia, 2024

Heavy Weather

Weather Report · 1977

Heavy WeatherHeavy WeatherWeather Report · 1977 (1977) shifted Weather Report's center of gravity after Jaco PastoriusJaco Pastoriusジャコ・パストリアス joined. What anchors Joe ZawinulJoe Zawinulジョー・ザヴィヌル's Birdland is not a bass ostinato but a singing harmonic line.

— Heavy Weather (album), Wikipedia, 2024

Black Market

Weather Report · 1976

Black MarketBlack MarketWeather Report · 1976 was Jaco PastoriusJaco Pastoriusジャコ・パストリアス's first studio recording with Weather Report. He appeared on only two tracks — one his own composition "Barbary Coast." But even in this limited debut, his presence signaled the beginning of the band's next era. Heavy Weather would follow.

Pat MethenyPat Methenyパット・メセニー chose Jaco PastoriusJaco Pastoriusジャコ・パストリアス for his debut album Bright Size Life (1976). "When I played with Jaco, the bass became something completely different." Both were still in their twenties when they recorded it.

— Statement stmt-0010

"When I played with Jaco, the bass became something completely different" — Metheny on recording Bright Size Life (1976), his debut featuring JacoJaco Pastoriusジャコ・パストリアス.

— Statement stmt-0010

"I am the greatest bass player in the world." — A line JacoJaco Pastoriusジャコ・パストリアス repeated to anyone who would listen. Provocation and self-belief at once.

— Statement stmt-jaco-greatest

Bright Size Life (1976) is Pat Metheny's debut as a leader, with Jaco Pastorius on bass. But when it was cut in late 1975, Jaco was still a complete unknown — one of the sessions that launched him, before Weather Report made his name. It looks like a summit of two giants; at the time it was two unknown kids.

— Statement stmt-0010

In 1976 Pat Metheny cut his debut as a leader, Bright Size Life, with the then largely unknown Jaco Pastorius on bass. "Playing with Jaco, the bass became something else entirely," Metheny said — a meeting before either had made his name, and before Jaco joined Weather Report.

— Statement stmt-0010

Jaco Pastorius

Jaco Pastorius · 1976

Tales from the Hudson

Michael Brecker · 1996

Word of Mouth

Jaco Pastorius · 1981

The New Standard

Herbie Hancock · 1996

In 1976, a still largely unknown Jaco Pastorius played bass on Joni Mitchell's folk album Hejira — the same year he released his own debut and joined Weather Report. His avant-garde fretless playing found its way onto one of the era's defining singer-songwriter records.

— Statement stmt-michael-brecker-on-joni-mitchell

'Bass is not the foundation. It is one voice in the conversation'

On his philosophy of what the bass should be in an ensemble.

The band with Joni Mitchell, Shadows and Light Band, was really extraordinary. It consisted of Jaco, Pat Metheny, myself, Don Alias and Lyle Mays and Joni, of course.

Brecker looking back on Joni Mitchell's Shadows and Light band.

The jazz club room. Ko is cradling his bass, listening to Donna Lee. A song where you can't figure out what the fingers are doing.