Jaco’s Bass of Doom

A lot of bass players I know (and most I don’t know) would gag to hear me say this, but… I’m not really a big fan of Jaco Pastorius. There is, however, no denying the guy’s status as a bass god. His approach to the instrument and music in general was unique and inspired, his contribution to music and specifically to bass playing was mammoth, and anyone who says otherwise is just fooling themselves, fan or not.

As a loyal Fender Jazz bass player, however, I am interested in Jaco’s famed ’62 Jazz bass, the “Bass of Doom.” A certified pawn shop classic — bought in the early ’70s for $90 and modified like crazy — it was an otherwise average instrument that was elevated to legendary status through some weird mods (like prying the frets out with a butter knife and filling the slots with “plastic wood”), and Jaco’s skill and ability to play the hell out of it. Stolen from Jaco off a park bench in 1986 and lost for over two decades after his untimely demise at the hands of a club bouncer in 1987, the bass popped up in 2007 at a little music store in NYC’s East Village. It’s ownership status remained in legal question (read: a court battle between Pastorius’ family and the music shop owner) until Metallica’s Robert Trujillo donated some effort and a bunch of cash to helping the Pastorius family get it back.

My friend Craig McFarland — a great guy, monster bass player, big Jaco fan, and a friend of Trujillo’s who has actually played the Bass of Doom since Trujillo recently assumed a stewardship of the instrument on behalf of the Pastorius family — posted this link on his Facebook page yesterday, and I had to repost it here. The story, like Jaco, is just too crazy:

Read all about the Bass of Doom saga on the Fender site.

And before you ask why I don’t really get down with Jaco, let me just say that I’ve always hated fusion jazz, which is what he’s mostly known for. But this clip of him playing solo — a riff on Hendrix’s “Third Stone from the Sun” with a cool looped rhythm part and some awesome harmonic noise — is just a small example of not only how insane Jaco was a a person (clinically bipolar and a heavy substance abuser), but also what an insanely gifted player he was. So while I don’t necessarily love the guy, I’ll never hate on him either…