Jaco: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius

I never felt that I "knew" Jaco Pastorius, despite ripping off every bass riff I could from him. In truth, not many, though..."All American Alien Boy" is STILL kicking my ass, so we'll kind of not think about "Donna Lee" for awhile. BIll Milkowski knew his subject, the one and only Jaco, on a first name (indeed, "I'm in jail, come get me out" basis, too!), and...well, read all the other reviewers, I'll just be being redundunt. Here's to you, Bill. Only two not so minor gripes about the book, though: Ingrid, Jaco's second wife, has raised almighty hell about a few passages, and I ain't going to arouse her ire. And secondly...in the back of the book, sort of a pun on Jaco's composition, "3 Views Of A Secret," Milkowski has some "Sixty Three" views...all reflections on Jaco by his - ASTOUNDING - peers...you know the names, Zawinul, Hancock, Santana, Erskine, Acuna, Berlin; but for some indefinable reason, Milkowski trouts out that incredibly insipid, vapid bass player for the Police, Gordon Sumner ("...oh Sting, where is THY death?") to..."reflect;" and "Sting" babbles an entire paragraph, then closes, ever-so-poignantly, "...he was my friend, my teacher..." RIGHT, Gordon: tell us the truth, the closest YOU ever got to Jaco was in traffic or your airplane trips were...uh..."similar" or something. Ian Hunter's reflection about how "Jaco blew Mick Ronson's sox off," or drummer Brian Melvin's sad - CHILLING - comment on how Jaco lost his life - and his murderer's subsequent release from incarceration after serving but 4 months: "You can get away with anything in this country, including murder. And that is a very heavy statement, indeed" - EITHER of those two statements bear infinitely more merit and perspicuity than "Sting."But just get the book for Jaco's sake - and BTW, there's an incredible CD included, courtesy of Bob Bobbing, Jaco's bass-playing friend, that provides teasing snitiches of some of Jaco's music, and - more importantly - some VOCAL comments, by the likes of Zawinul - again! - Jaco's Dad, Herbie Hancock, and a heart-tugging account by Jaco's first wife, Tracy Lee, of how she & Jaco met. IT's almost worth the price of the book!

Most musicians (and non-musicians) are aware of Jaco's genius as an innovative bassist who redefined the instrument. This book also reminds us that Jaco was an incredible performer, composer and artist. I didn't know much about him besides his playing, so this book was all new information to me. It all seems very credible.Anyhow, I have two gripes about the book.The Kindel Edition is so completely riddled with typos, it made it incredibly distracting to read. I can't speak for the print edition, but the KE is a mess. In some spots it looks like bad auto-spelling failing miserably: the word "meat" shows up as "meant". Mostly it's missing punctuation, titles that are italicized for some of the words but not others, punctuation problems, etc. There is literally a typo on every page.The other gripe I have is more of a personal one. The author starts at the beginning of Jacos's life and ends at the end of it. That's how many biographies are written. But in Jaco's case, His life is more or less divided into those two parts and so it becomes somewhat tedious reading the accounts in this way. Basically the first half of the book are recounts of how great a bass player he was and the second half are recounts of how crazy he got. I think with the same information and personal accounts, the author could have delivered Jaco's story in a more interesting and satisfying way.I also wish there was more talk about what Jaco did musically in a more specific way. I think if you didn't know his music, you would not really "get" what he did by reading this book.I definitely recommend this book to fans of Jaco and to anyone who is interested in the life of a tragic artist.

Just a sweet talented musician that died in horrific fashion. He was always willing to share his craft and skills with just about anyone who would listen. But straddled with a disease that was still in the 80's so misunderstood and misdiagnosed. His music lives on and I suggest any Jaco fan that hasn't listened to his work with Pat Matheny and Joni Mitchell to do so, although most Jaco fans are familiar with that along with his groundbreaking work with Weather Report. He basically put them on the map in a big way. The new copies come with a CD although I bought one use that came without the cd. Highly recommend for any bassist, bass "buff" as well as those who enjoy jazz-fusion. A talent on the bass that in my opinion we haven't seen since, and I'm a huge Stanley Clarke fan. Not to mention there are dozens of well known bass players in bands around the world.

To anyone who was brought to read this review about this book for any reason - please read it. (the book that is) It is a very human story about a very extraordinary human being. If you're a bass player - read it. If you are a musician - read it. If you're an artist of any kind - read it. If you are a healing arts person, or someone who has compassion for people in the biggest sense - read it.We have all become so jaded by movie stars/TV stars/rock stars/celebrity excess in general, that it's commonly felt that such tragic lives are just part of the job description. Whether we personally regard them as talented or not, they become casualties of that system owing greatly to the "celebrity machine", which we all contribute to. Reading this story about a truly gifted musician/performer/life force and how his being sucked into that all too human celebrity machine fueled the negative aspects of his genetic illness, resulting in his death, is a must read. Jaco's condition (being bi-polar) was not the household term we know now, and if it had been he still might be alive today. Or not. This is what makes his story so engaging. As complex as his story is, is how complex a human being can be. If you want a glimpse into an artists world, this is one that gives as close to the real scope of what an artists life can be about as possible. The highest highs, the lowest lows. No wonder most people are not artists.

Tragic story of a great talent, Jaco was a good bassist but definitely not the best in my opinion, as a bassist myself, I think Marcus Miller is the man, and chuck Rainey without the tragic story just dedicated fantastic musicians, love the book recommended ...5 from 5

Wonderful biography of my all-time musical hero. Moving, funny, heartbreaking, tragic portrait of the greatest musician ever to play electric bass, whose work as one of the most important jazz composers of all time had barely begun when he died.

A great book written by an absolute fan of Jaco Pastorius. When I finished reading it I couldn't help to feel sad and depressed. It's amazing how schizophrenia can absolutely destroy the life of one of the last musical genius from the 20th century. This is a must-read for any Jaco fan or jazz fan in general.

On recap it was advertised as ex library so my mistake, apologies for not reading the description first I have now amended my comment

A fantastic book about the tragic life of Jaco Pastorius! What an enormous impact he made in the music buisness, still in such short time