The Death Whisperer Series

The Death Whisperer Series
The Death Whisperer Series available at https://www.amazon.com/author/dmichaelolive

Monday, February 25, 2013

Jaco Pastorius & F-1


If you know and love jazz then I don’t have to say much about Jaco Pastorius. There isn’t a modern day bassist who hasn’t been influenced by his work. Once you’ve heard him, you’ll recognize that bassists of all stripes cop his licks. From rock and roll to hip hop to jazz you hear the echoes of his unmistakable sound everywhere. In spite of his imitators, there was, is, and will only be one Jaco.

His staccato sixteenth notes were his signature, but the characteristic of his playing that always stuck out for me was his sense of groove. To this day, I’ve never heard anyone who could turn a song into something special just by his groove. Check out The Chicken, Groovin, and Black Market for examples. Try playing Teen Town’s super fast sixteenth notes at full speed to appreciate his dexterity. He was also a master of using harmonics as you can hear on Birdland.

Unfortunately, like many exceptionally creative artists, he was a deeply troubled man and died after a beating by a bar bouncer in Miami.

There’s a lot of music here. The Montreal Jazz Festival link is over an hour of Jaco and his band. He remains one of the best to ever pick up the instrument.

Third Stone from the Sun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtHbxsdExlE

If you’re a wine lover, you may be familiar with the Orin Swift Winery known for wines like The Prisoner or Veladora, both of which are beyond my $25.00 limit for this blog. But Dave Phinney, the winery’s mastermind, has started a new venture.   While waiting for a cab at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, he noticed the country code stickers on the backs of cars. It gave him the idea to make wines combining the best grape varieties from the countries of Europe and use the country sticker as the label. Thus was born his “Locations” wine series.

Tonight’s wine, F-1 (for France), is the second release in the series. It’s a blend of Grenache from the Roussillon, Syrah from the Rhône, and assorted Bordeaux varietals. The wine is a deep ruby-garnet with aromas of dark berries and spice. The palate is rich with flavors of boysenberry, blackberry, and more spice with soft tannins. For $16.00 this is an outstanding example of a French wine. I liked it so much, I went back and bought two more bottles. A great wine with a great bassist. How can you go wrong?

Cheers! 

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