Seeing the creation of Portrait of Jaco -The Early Years, has been the most fulfilling experience of my life. And over the ten years it's taken to bring this labor of love project to fruition, I have received countless emails with encouraging comments and blind support. But over that same time there have also been an equal amount of questions about the project, and about Jaco, that I literally didn't have the time to answer. So I've written this piece to answer some questions.
The following is an overview of the circumstances that led up to my decision to produce "Portrait of Jaco - The Early Years." My name is Bob Bobbing and my first-hand knowledge of Jaco centers mainly on our early years together in South Florida. I didn't see much of him after 1978, and it was only after he returned to Fort Lauderdale in 1987 that I really became aware of his problems and was able to experience first hand the enormous changes that had taken place both physically and mentally since our early years together. In the summer of '87, Jaco's situation worsened, and when an organized attempt at intervention failed, the inevitable happened. After being severely beaten outside an after-hours bar in our hometown Fort Lauderdale, my dear friend, and one of the greatest musicians that has ever lived, died on September 21st, 1987. Jaco took his last breath in the same hospital that I was born.
Since that tragic day, all we were left with were our fading memories and the few essential recordings that Jaco made during his short career. And for those who recognized Jaco's genius and became addicted to his 'medicine,' were now left to seek out the various live recordings of his later years that became objects of desire in the absence of anything new. And although these less-than-great recordings lacked inspiration and were constant reminders of Jaco's decline, they still possessed enough magic to make the listening experience worthwhile. But, like cactus on the desert yielding only a few drops of precious water to those that have become parched, these posthumous releases only provide traces of Pastorius magic falling way short of our collective expectations and devoid of the brand of creative excellence Jaco became known for during his glory years.
Over the years since his death, I sensed that Jaco's legacy was beginning to languish, slowly starting to fall between the cracks. And because the trends in music were steadily moving away from artistic and creative excellence, dominated mostly by over-produced copycat commercial endeavors, there was a declining number with the musical good sense to seek out Jaco's music or the sensitivity to appreciate it. I always felt that something needed to be done to keep Jaco's legacy alive for future generations.
As the time passed, I moved on to other areas of life, quitting playing altogether, and rarely listening to any music on the radio. Even most of the jazz stations were becoming watered down with commercial mediocrity. For me music had become kind of boring without Jaco's presence. Then one day out of the blue, I received a phone call from a writer named Bill Milkowski who explained that he was working on a Jaco biography for a Japanese publisher. Requesting an interview, Bill expressed that he was interested to learn all that he could about Jaco's early years saying that Jaco's brother Gregory had directed him to me as a likely source of information. So, after the formalities, and a little time spent getting to know each other, I began offering up a variety of stories revealing the details to some of what I thought were milestones in Jaco's development. Eventually I told Bill that I had archival recordings of just about everything Jaco did during the ten-years prior to his commercial success. It felt good reminiscing about all of the old bands and clubs from back in the day, but after that interview, I quickly fell back into the daily routine that surrounded my life and business at that time. Then one day a friend of mine handed me a magazine that featured Jaco's picture on the cover. He also told me that I was quoted several times throughout the article and that I should check it out. The magazine was the January 1991 issue of Bass Player, and as I began reading it, I was totally surprised to find that the story was largely based around information that the writer had seemingly obtained from me. I was repeatedly quoted, giving details about Jaco's sound, equipment and playing style. Then it hit me. As strange as it may seem, I had somehow completely forgotten about the phone interview with the writer Bill Milkowski. After reading the article, I felt that he did a pretty good job dealing with the information, and found the story very entertaining. But more importantly, it was because of this article, coincidentally titled "Portrait of Jaco," that I first realized that my archival recordings of Jaco back in the day were that of historical significance. Curious myself after reading the article, I began to round-up all of my old tapes of Jaco, and even located and sent my old Sony reel-to-reel tape recorder in to be refurbished for the occasion. Before long, I became lost in a wonderful time travel back to the days of "Woodchuck," Tommy Strand & Upper Hand," and "Wayne Cochran & C.C. Riders, and what's really incredible, I was listening to these recordings on the exact same tape recorder that Jaco and I had set up in his bedroom well over 20-years earlier. As each reel played I was overcome with vivid memories of the various bands that Jaco had been in, each memory triggering another, in a chain reaction. I was especially touched upon hearing the two of us casually talking about music at home in our bedrooms. It was so strange being blown away by my own recordings. And I was actually impressed by the audio quality. While rediscovering these recordings all over again, as if I was hearing them for the first time, I was really amazed to find that they contained inspired performances rich with the same creative spirit Jaco wielded during his glory years.
It eventually dawned on me that here was the wonderful new music that Jaco fans deserved to have. In a way, I was ashamed that I hadn't realized this long before having made the recordings, however my life had taken me on quite a journey since those innocent days with Jaco. But now, believing that everything in life happens for a reason, I saw this as a unique opportunity to do something worthwhile and decided to redirect my focus on developing these recordings into a comprehensive retrospective of Jaco's early years. Of course my varied collection of tapes needed to be edited down, and even though I was aware of the inevitable red-tape issues that would ensue, I knew that eventually I could produce a project abundant with significant new music, endearing scrapbook photos and insightful stories about Jaco's earliest musical adventures. And because my story is completely devoid of any of the tragedy associated with his later years, focusing entirely on Jaco's ascent and culminating at the pinnacle of his career, it seemed like the right thing to do for Jaco's legacy.
Picturing all of this in my mind's eye, I began the process of bringing this unique project that I titled "Portrait of Jaco" into reality.
Sincerely,
Bob Bobbing
