Jaco Pastorius

Jaco Pastorius (December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987) was a jazz bassist and composer remembered for his style and technique on fretless bass.

Quotes

 * I had an upright — it took me years and years to get enough bread to get it... I'm from Florida, so one morning I woke up, go in the corner and the bass is in a hundred pieces, cause the humidity is so bad, I mean, the upright just blew up. I said forget it, man, I can't afford this any more. So I went out, got a knife and took all the frets out of my Fender. That was it.
 * Quoted in Michele Norris, "Jaco Pastorius: 20 Years Later," NPR: All Things Considered (September 21, 2007)

Modern Electric Bass, Jaco Pastorius (1985)

 * Give me a gig!


 * I was playing drums, and I had broken my wrist very bad playing football, and the bass player in the band... he wanted to split. So I just went to the bass; I went from Drums over to Bass. That was it. I was playing the bass within a week.
 * On how he switched from drums to bass


 * I took the frets out of my bass after I was getting into jazz a lot and I wanted to have that upright sound.
 * On why he played a fretless bass


 * I never practiced a fretless ever, because the strings eat the neck up. So I would only play it on gigs.