Jaco

Here is some information and excerpts from the booklet of my tribute CD "JACO" to the late great Jaco Pastorius.

The liner notes were written by the very well respected writer Bill Milkowski. Bill wrote the powerful biography on Jaco Pastorius. If you haven't read it, the book gives you great insight into the life of Jaco, his brilliance and his tragedy. Bill covers the CD song by song and gives a detailed description of what the music and arrangements.

I have posted a letter that I wrote to Jaco personally that shares my feelings on the impact that his playing and music meant in my life. I'm sure all of you that have listened to him over the years were just as amazed by his genius as I. Musicians of that brilliance come around only once in a generation, he truly was enlightened. To me, to this day, no one has had that kind of impact on their instrument then Jaco did over twenty-five years ago.

The CD cover:
When we scheduled the release of the Jaco tribute CD in America, it was important to me and the record label that this CD had great visibility and would be set apart from all my other recordings. I'm fortunate in the fact that the president of the A440 Music Group Label also happens to be a bass player and is Jaco fan as well. I wanted to have a CD cover that from the first time you saw it you instantly knew what this recording was about, especially since I have made so many different types of records in my career. If you remember Jaco's first solo record cover, you would know just by looking at my CD cover that this project is all about Jaco and his music. I knew that most musicians and bass players throughout the world would instantly recognize what I feel is one of the most visual and identifiable record cover's of all time. I wanted the CD cover to take you back to that time in your life when you heard Jaco's record for the first time -- what that meant to you -- what that meant to all of us! It was important that the Jaco tribute cover was as much a tribute as the music itself. To me, that's the best way to honor him. He truly changed the world of bass playing, and in just being himself, he changed us all ........FOREVER

Brian Bromberg's letter to Jaco from the CD booklet:

A FINAL THANK YOU TO JACO PASTORIUS:
JACO, FROM THE VERY FIRST TIME I HEARD YOUR FIRST RECORD, WHEN I WAS A TEENAGER, YOU ABSOLUTLY BLEW ME AWAY. I WAS AT THAT TIME, ONLY AN ACOUSTIC BASS PLAYER, I DIDN'T EVEN OWN AN ELECTRIC BASS. IT WAS BECAUSE OF YOU THAT I WANTED TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY ELECTRIC BASS, FRETLESS WITH EPOXY RESIN ON THE FINGERBOARD OF COARSE! YOU'RE PLAYING AND SOUND HAD MORE IMPACT ON THE MUSIC INDUSTRY THEN ANYONE I CAN THINK OF ON ANY INSTRUMENT, LET ALONE AN ELECTRIC BASS PLAYER. YOU GAVE THE ELECTRIC BASS A REAL VOICE OF IT'S OWN, NOT JUST A GROOVING, TIME KEEPING INSTRUMENT IN THE BACKROUND.

OVER THE YEARS YOUR PLAYING AND WRITING EVOLVED, YOUR VOICE COMPLETELY CHANGED THE SOUND OF THE GROUP "WEATHER REPORT", AND YOU JUST KEPT BREAKING NEW GROUND AS AN ARTIST, ALWAYS GROWING. WE HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET AND HANG OUT A FEW TIMES, EVEN PLAY BASS TOGETHER. YOU ALWAYS TREATED ME WITH RESPECT AND SHOWED ME A VERY SPECIAL SIDE OF YOU, YOU EVEN THOUGHT MY BASS DESIGN WAS COOL AND YOU KNOW WE WERE BUILDING ONE FOR YOU!

JACO, WHAT ELSE CAN I SAY THAT HASN'T BEEN SAID ALREADY BY SO MANY OTHERS. YOUR GIFT AND TALENT HAS NOT BEEN EVEN CLOSE TO BEING ECLIPSED. GOING BACK AND LISTENING TO MANY OF YOUR RECORDINGS AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, SHOWS YOUR GENIUS EVEN MORE NOW THEN IT DID BEFORE. TO THIS DAY, YOU'RE PLAYING, PASSION, SOUND, AND RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR HANDS AND YOUR BASS IS STILL CONSIDERED THE STANDARD THAT EVERY ELECTRIC BASS PLAYER IN THE WORLD WANTS TO ACHIEVE.

JACO, I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS RECORDING; IT WAS MADE AS A TRUE TRIBUTE FOR WHO YOU ARE AND FOR WHAT YOU GAVE ALL OF US. YOU ARE AN INSPIRATION FOR US TO BE THE BEST WE CAN BE. WE ALL MISS YOU JACO; I BET YOU ARE PLAYING YOUR ASS OFF! WE HEAR YOU……………………………………….BRIAN BROMBERG