"Jaco" was born John Francis Pastorius III, the first of three sons born to John Francis Pastorius II and Stephanie Katherine Haapala Pastorius. He had Finnish, German, Swedish, and Irish ancestry.

If only every jazz artist had an advocate like label owner/project producer Bob Bobbing. Bass wunderkind Jaco Pastorius seemingly leapt into the jazz scene in 1976 with the quadruple punch of his ...

A transcript of the first meeting between Joe Zawinul, keyboardist/leader of the jazz fusion group Weather Report, and a young player. Young Man: My name is John Francis Pastorius III, and I’m the ...

For the jazz trumpet, it was Miles Davis. For the sax, it was Charlie Parker. And for the electric bass, Jaco Pastorius was the man largely responsible for making the instrument a dynamic lead in jazz ...

“Some people get intimidated by jazz,” Joni Mitchell told Rolling Stone‘s Cameron Crowe in the summer of 1979. “It’s like higher mathematics to them.” Still, the singer-songwriter wasn’t letting that ...

Last Friday marked the 25th anniversary of the death of legendary electric bass player and composer, Jaco Pastorius. Pastorius, who played with Pat Metheny, Weather Report, Joni Mitchell, Herbie ...