Referring to the death of the great JACO PASTORIUS,

Harlepolis said:

He was beaten to death.

I live in South Florida where Jaco lived.
I've met his son and wife a few times. Very nice people.

I've talked with many of the local music store owners that have been here a while and they have loads of Jaco stories.

The funniest is from Peaches (record store). They say Jaco used to come in the store and take his albums like they really belonged to him and hand them out to customers saying: Hi! I'm Jaco Pastorius, the Greatest Bass player in the world! Here. Have my album.

The store owners had a hard time with him all the time. He'd also come in and just take his records and walk out the door like he didn't have to pay for them.

One other time Jaco comes in the local "Ace Music" (before Mars bought out all Ace stores) and begins to practice to himself.

The store owner had an appointment with a local church pastor for some sound equipment and saw him walking to the front door of the store.

The store owner tells Jaco: "Now Mr. Pastorious, please behave youself, there is a good customer of mine coming in and he's a preacher." Jaco replied: "I'll be cool."

In walked the preacher and Jaco screams out "I'm the greatest bass player in the world!"

Without missing a beat, the preacher responded: "And you must be Jaco Pastorius!"

Jaco quickly got quiet and just hung his head and mingled through the store. They talked for a little while but the store owner didn't know what was said between them.

(The preacher told the store owner later that he knew who Jaco was and wanted to do that for a long time as well as tell him about the Lord.)

I hear from a lot of people down here that Jaco was quite the character.

Harlepolis said:


From what I was told, he took medication because he was a manic deppressent and got a little "kooky" sometimes.

Anyway, he was going into a club one night and was stoped by the bouncer. (Jaco could look a little scruffy and was known to not bath at times) Jaco insisted on entering the club shouting: "Do you know who I am? I'm the greatest bass player in the world! I'm F'n Jaco Pastorius!" and began to get physical with the bouncer. The bouncer punched him in the nose and a fragment hit his brain and he died right there.

Seems kinda messed up, huh? Just one punch from what I heard and that was because he was throwing punches at the bouncer.

IceNine, Did I get it right?

F*ck man, listen to Emmit Otter's Juggband or something from the backwoods of Arkansas and you'll find the same sh*t and WAY before Larry Grahams time!

The guitarist from sly & the family stone actually invented the slap bass technique. Larry copied it & it took to the bass more than guitar.

He is a pioneer & a very solid bass player (one of few who can keep a 16th slap rhythm going all night) but to say hes the best is a bit much.

Larry didn't CREATE nothing! Man, folks have been playing bass, sax, guitar, FLUTE efor christ sake rhythmically for MANY MANY MANYYY years!

All Larry did was boast and brag about it to make folks THINK he was the originator.

God man, go listen to ANY Jazz artist from before Larry's time...

F*ck man, listen to Emmit Otter's Juggband or something from the backwoods of Arkansas and you'll find the same sh*t and WAY before Larry Grahams time!

Larry didn't CREATE nothing!

All Larry did was boast and brag about it to make folks THINK he was the originator.

thecloud9mission said:

Where'd you get that from?

Larry invented the technique by himself, with no help from SFS's guitarist Freddy Stone (Who he hadn't even met yet), as a compensation for having no bass drum when he alone accompanied his mother on the San Francisco club circuit.

His mother later arranged the hook up (Via Sly's radio show) for Larry to join the new group.

Regarding is Larry the "best"? It's such a relative term depending on what speaks to you the most. If you like jazz you may plump for Mingus as your favourite, JB and P-Funk? Then Bootsy. If you like Sly's psychedlic blend of soul and rock then it's very conceivable that Larry is your favourite of all time. "Best" is impossible to grade...

Does Mariah Carey have the "best" voice because of her octave range?

Without any comparisons Larry's pioneering of the "Slap bass" technique and his major part in The Family Stone (Not to mention his own solo work) assures his place in legend.

TheMEssage said:

LARRY WAS THE ORIGINATOR OF THE SLAP BASS TECHNIQUE. HE DIDN'T BOAST OR BRAG IN FACT HE ONLY TALKED ABOUT HOW HE CAME TO PLAY WITH THAT STYLE. CHECK YOUR NOTES!!

TheMEssage said:

All I know, is that I was duly impressed by the 'Question & Bass' session he gave at The Park. I was blown away by THE FUNK. I mean really. The funk of not bathing since yesterday morning, packing it in in a lot of hot, cramped fam-crazy crowds, and then forgetting to put on deodorant. Damn, that was some serious funk. And then, at the end, he went and left it all over the stage.

"Larry, how IS Sly Stone? I mean, I'm really worried about him. What can we do?"

"Bvvvwwwzzzwwwaaahhh, bvwzwa, bzwaaahhh, bwow chicka bwow-bwooowww... Sly's fine. Next question. Where'd the mic go? Where'd you go? People, you can't keep on..."

I 4 one got MUCH respect 4 the brotha but I just CAN'T FEEL his (bass lines). Sure he was the bass player in The Sly the Stone family THAT IS SOMETHING and yes R-E-S-P-E-C-T is what he gets 4 that, but I just feel that the whole 'The greatest bass player on the WORLD' is waaayyy too overrated.

Essence said:

No seriously, Larry & Freddy pioneered the slap Bass thing together. Larry is hardly a pioneer in that field as everyone thinks of him though. Long b4 Larry, John Entwistle of The Who was dabbling with the slap technique.

I believe Larry is a very overrated player. Hes good, better than me but there are people who have been playing Bass half as long as he has with more talent.

if he were a "great" bass player, he wouldn't be coasting along on his achievements from thirty years ago, he'd be
innovating to this day. and he's NOT.

we don't HATE him. no one here 'hates' larry graham. it's like this: we're bored with him. he's been playing the SAME stuff for thirty years now. to this day he's up there onstage playing 'thank you for lettin me be myself' and 'everyday people'.

WHY DOES HE KEEP PLAYING THESE SAME TIRED OLD SONGS???

.

CHANGE IT UP ALREADY, LARRY G.

I know my slap bass

But seriously, Im sure that it was a joint effort. I know that freddy didnt do all by himself but niether did Larry. If you listen to early sly, the guitarist is slapping & this was before 'Dance to the music' when slap bass was first recorded.
[This message was edited Thu Jul 25 9:17:05 PDT 2002 by thecloud9mission]

thecloud9mission said:

Yes, but EARLY SLY & FAMILY STONE is years after the fact of Larry learning to play slap bass to accompany his mother on San Fran club circuit.

He developed the technique to compensate for the lack of bass drum and wasn't even aware he was innovating to such a degree.

Essence said:

Even so, bluegrass & country bass players have been slapping since the 50's & that was on upright accoustic bass. Larry aint no inovator

you're not the only one.

larry is a very nice, talented and accomplished man and i really, really wish he and tina would go away.
far far away.

yamomma said:

Close... he was actually hospitalized and died later from injuries sustained. The bouncer beat him quite badly and hit his head on the ground as well.