Jaco Pastorius as microtonalist in 12-equal

For those who don't know, Jaco Pastorius is one of the defining
figures in the evolution of the electric bass, and influenced every
major bass player to come after him. He was the bassist for Weather
Report in the 70s and is one of the contenders for the title of
"greatest bassist to have ever lived," if you believe in that sort of
thing. Well, at least, he believed it, and he would frequently refer
to himself as such in interviews, also saying "it ain't braggin' if
you can back it up." He also used to teach at UM, and quite a few
people who worked with him were my teachers while I was there.

Despite being known more for his ridiculous virtuosity on the fretless
bass, he's also one of the most creative and inventive jazz composers
out there. He had a very inventive harmonic style that to my ears is
very reminiscent of higher-limit harmony:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFO8CTBdSs8&t=1m35s

I haven't done a formal analysis, but from me screwing around so far,
I haven't found any chord progression in this that can't be handled by
Pajara in 22-equal, without any need for comma adjustments. This is
because he avoids more traditional ii-V-I's and such in favor of all
kinds of more complex substitute chord progressions; the former would
sound "cliche" in this context, and tritone subs are what Pajara's all
about. Since he stylistically avoids all the sorts of things that
usually lead to 81/80 comma pumps, we're in the clear.

Here's another piece of his which is a bit simpler and features
prominantly some basic tenets of 7-limit harmony:

http://grooveshark.com/s/Track+05/3lYFxW?src=5

The trippiest thing about these compositions to my ears is that
there's often no huge difference in whether he plays a major 7 chord
or a dominant 7 chord over the tonic, it's all the same either way. If
you can find this on the album "Word of Mouth," I'm pretty sure that's
the best version though.

His story unfortunately ends tragically, with him descending into a
combination of unmedicated bipolar disorder and drug addiction that
ultimately led to him being killed in a brawl with a bouncer down in
Ft. Lauderdale, but he left behind a lot of great music and a
nightmarish shoe for modern bassists to have to fill.

-Mike

Hi Mike
 Though I didn't get to have a close relationship with Jaco, I was influenced by his music with Joni Mitchel and others. After his death, I did have an experience that I would like to share here...
 
A friend had a recording project that was going on for about a month at a studio down in Tampa, and I was there almost every day during that period.    One day  I heard a tall young fellow in the hallway playing his bass. It seemed like he was just noodling along, playing like he was doing finger exercises that seemed more like speed gymnastics than music...it turned out that it was Jaco's son and he was in fact playing every note of the session he was about to do that day, at a pace that was at least ten times the actual recorded tempo.  Looks like the  Pastorius family may have more shoes to fill one day.
 
Tim
 
...
 

--- On Wed, 7/13/11, Mike Battaglia <battaglia01@...> wrote:

From: Mike Battaglia <battaglia01@...>
Subject: [tuning] Jaco Pastorius as microtonalist in 12-equal
To: tuning@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2011, 7:56 AM

For those who don't know, Jaco Pastorius is one of the defining
figures in the evolution of the electric bass, and influenced every
major bass player to come after him. He was the bassist for Weather
Report in the 70s and is one of the contenders for the title of
"greatest bassist to have ever lived," if you believe in that sort of
thing. Well, at least, he believed it, and he would frequently refer
to himself as such in interviews, also saying "it ain't braggin' if
you can back it up." He also used to teach at UM, and quite a few
people who worked with him were my teachers while I was there.

Despite being known more for his ridiculous virtuosity on the fretless
bass, he's also one of the most creative and inventive jazz composers
out there. He had a very inventive harmonic style that to my ears is
very reminiscent of higher-limit harmony:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFO8CTBdSs8&t=1m35s

I haven't done a formal analysis, but from me screwing around so far,
I haven't found any chord progression in this that can't be handled by
Pajara in 22-equal, without any need for comma adjustments. This is
because he avoids more traditional ii-V-I's and such in favor of all
kinds of more complex substitute chord progressions; the former would
sound "cliche" in this context, and tritone subs are what Pajara's all
about. Since he stylistically avoids all the sorts of things that
usually lead to 81/80 comma pumps, we're in the clear.

Here's another piece of his which is a bit simpler and features
prominantly some basic tenets of 7-limit harmony:

http://grooveshark.com/s/Track+05/3lYFxW?src=5

The trippiest thing about these compositions to my ears is that
there's often no huge difference in whether he plays a major 7 chord
or a dominant 7 chord over the tonic, it's all the same either way. If
you can find this on the album "Word of Mouth," I'm pretty sure that's
the best version though.

His story unfortunately ends tragically, with him descending into a
combination of unmedicated bipolar disorder and drug addiction that
ultimately led to him being killed in a brawl with a bouncer down in
Ft. Lauderdale, but he left behind a lot of great music and a
nightmarish shoe for modern bassists to have to fill.

-Mike

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