It was the summer of 1985, I had been taking electric bass lessons for a little over a year at the local music store and was getting ready to move from a half-size electric to a full-size bass. I guess I proved to my parents that I was going to stick with it and that it wasn’t just a passing phase. Either way, I was picking out a bass from what they had on display and I chose a Fender Precision. It was a used instrument and had been traded in recently for a new instrument, so it needed to be set up. The gentleman that did the instrument set-ups was named Tom Kissenger and I’ll never forget what he said to me, “ahhh, a Fender Precision, just like Jaco”. I asked him who Jaco was and he told me he was the greatest bass player in the world. Needless to say I was instantly fascinated and wanted to know more. He told me to go and buy “Heavy Weather” by Weather Report and even pulled out the music book for the album (my weekly lessons consisted of chord/scale study for one half of the lesson and music reading out of a song book for the other half). This day changed my life forever!
When I got home that day I distinctly remember hearing the bass almost on its own. It was like there were no other instruments on the record. Song after song I heard one of the greatest representations of jazz fusion performed on bass by a living legend. After a couple more listens I heard how well Jaco Pastorius was working with the entire band. He would hit a groove with the percussion section, play lead like a guitar player, play melodic runs with the horns or play off of the synths to embellish the chord structure – GENIUS!
I was not the only person to realize how impactful “Heavy Weather” was to fusion and music in general. On the basis of instrumentation, they were not really any different than any other jazz fusion artists. What they were was very original. Members like saxophonist Wayne Shorter, leader/synth player Joe Zawinul and the aforementioned Jaco Pastorius all played a major role in pushing the boundaries of fusion. Weather Report was a very ambient jazz band prior to the arrival of Jaco, who played on two tracks on their previous release “Black Market” and was now a full-time member for “Heavy Weather”. Jaco’s influence really opened up their arranging and he seems to push the entire band in new directions. When I listen to “A Remark You Made” I just can’t help but feel like the band knew they were on the verge of sheer beauty. Jaco’s bass line still is one of my all-time favorites. Richard Gineli wrote on Allmusic.com, “Released just as the jazz-rock movement began to run out of steam, this landmark album proved that there was plenty of creative life left in the idiom.”
The lushness of Zawinul’s synthesizers gives the entire album a certain color that defines the band. He doesn’t merely play the chord changes, he brings them to life! I often feel that as a musician, it would be so awesome to write with musicians like Joe Zawinul who don’t just play their instrument – they live through their instrument. This was not just found on “Heavy Weather”, Zawinul has long been a very important cog in the fusion genre. Another characteristic of “Heavy Weather” was the incredible performance of the soon-to-be legend Jaco Pastorius. He doesn’t just play the root, he embellishes each chord change with double stops, false harmonic and melodic runs with death defying dexterity. I look at “Heavy Weather” as Jaco’s first solo album, despite the fact that he only wrote two of the tracks (Teen Town and Havona). His presence is so dominant, yet supporting. He changed the way bass players looked at their instrument and the role they could play in a band.
As I continue to evolve my writing process, I will use albums like “Heavy Weather” and bands like Weather Report to guide my creativity. I may never aspire to the level that these fusion Gods have soared to, but I have always used their music as a template for greatness. If I can only touch upon their great vibe for a moment, then I have, in my mind, done a great honor to people like Tom Kissinger who all those years ago told a 14-year-old kid to go listen to some Jaco!