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.
The Chicken: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMdoLi5qnYo
Donna Lee: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdqje73KQwg
Third Stone from the Sun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtHbxsdExlE
Teen Town: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I63bOi477cA
Black Market: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuAMSE_xck4
Montreal Jazz Festival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cpwaq7CxD4
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!
