Artist: Jaco Pastorius

Jaco Pastorius (January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz bassist, composer, and producer.

He recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of the jazz fusion group Weather Report from 1976 to 1981. He also collaborated with numerous artists, most notably Pat Metheny and Joni Mitchell. 

His bass style was influenced by funk and employed the use of fretless bass, lyrical solos, bass chords, and innovative use of harmonics. As of 2017, he was the only one of seven bassists inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame to have been known for their work on the electric bass, and he has been lauded as among the best bassists of all time. 

In the early 1970s, Pastorius taught bass at the  University of Miami, where he befriended jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, who was also on the faculty. With Paul Bley and Bruce Ditmas, Pastorius and Metheny recorded an untitled album, commonly known as Jaco (Improvising Artists, 1974). Pastorius then played on Metheny's debut album, Bright Size Life (ECM, 1976). He recorded his debut solo album, Jaco Pastorius (Epic, 1976), with Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Herbie Hancock, Hubert Laws, Sam & Dave, David Sanborn, and Wayne Shorter. 

After bassist Alphonso Johnson left Weather Report, Joe Zawinul asked Pastorius to join the band. Pastorius made his band debut on the album Black Market  (Columbia, 1976), in which he shared the bass chair with Johnson. Pastorius was fully established as a sole band bass player for the recording of Heavy Weather (Columbia, 1977), which contained the Grammy-nominated hit "Birdland". 

He was noted for virtuosic bass lines which combined Afro-Cuban rhythms, inspired by the likes of Cachao Lopez, with R&B to create 16th-note funk lines syncopated with ghost notes. Examples include "Come On, Come Over" from the album Jaco Pastorius and "The Chicken" from The Birthday Concert.