Interview: Peter Graves and the Jaco Pastorius Big Band
For the jazz trumpet it’s Miles Davis, for the sax it’s Charlie Parker, and for the electric bass it’s Jaco Pastorius. Pastorius was largely responsible for making the electric bass a lead instrument in jazz, and for popularizing the fretless bass.
Although he passed away in 1987, you can hear his influence as the Jaco Pastorius Big Band plays this Saturday at the Berks Jazz Fest. The band is a side project of the Peter Graves Orchestra, with the addition of bassists Gerald Veasley and Victor Wooten. Wooten has been a frequent visitor to the Valley as the bassist for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.
Graves recalled Pastorius in a phone interview from his home in Florida. After he began the orchestra in 1969, he hired the young bassist in 1971 as Pastorius had just left Wayne Cochran and the C.C. Riders. Graves felt that he could bring in fresh influences, including R&B and rock. Pastorius did more than that, as he began to write arrangements.
“In the five years that he was with me, it was like a laboratory,” recalls Graves. “He had a unique approach to orchestration. His work has a linear style with a steady background. He learned a lot of unconventional techniques. He had a very powerful means of getting his message across.”
Pastorius’s legend grew for his personal style as well as his playing. He was like a rock star on stage, often playing with his shirt off and doing Hendrix-like manipulations with his bass.
Graves saw some of this when Jaco worked for him. “That was Jaco. It was just very natural. He was always a bit flamboyant. He was self-assured even as a nineteen year old.”
Pastorius played on Pat Metheny’s “Bright Size Life” after he left Graves. In 1976 he released a self titled solo album and joined the jazz group Weather Report. While in Weather Report he continued his solo projects. Graves played trombone on one of them in 1981, a big band album called “Word of Mouth.”
Last year Graves did a CD called “Word of Mouth Revisited,” with ten bassists substituting for Pastorius, including Jaco’s nephew David Pastorius. This project led to the new Pastorius Big Band. “A lot of Jaco’s music was reworked for a large ensemble setting, so there is a lot of freshness,” says Graves.
One of those bassists was Philadelphia-based Gerald Veasley. Veasley says in a phone conversation from Reading, “I was on the same label, Heads Up, that was doing the project. I also had a Jaco connection, in that we had both worked with Joe Zawinul, Jaco in Weather Report while I was in Joe’s later band, the Zawinul Syndicate. I was also blown away by the artistry when I first heard Jaco’s solo CD and his work with Weather Report.”
Veasley says he enjoys playing behind what he calls the “wall of sound” of the fourteen piece Pastorius Big Band. “It’s like riding a big wave,” he says. :”The band also has good elements of a small group. It is elastic and nimble. It never sounds the same from night to night.”
“Working with Peter Graves is awesome,” he adds. “He’s worked with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Jackie Gleason to Jaco. He’s a fantastic arranger, and he knows how to pull the best out of his players.”
Graves says that he will continue the Pastorius Big Band as long as there is interest in it, and says that a second “Revisited” CD is possible.
Jaco Pastorius Big Band with special guests Gerald Veasley, Victor Wooten, and Jeff Carswell, Berks Jazz Fest, Lincoln Plaza Hotel Ballroom, Reading, Saturday, March 13, 10 pm, $32 reserved seating, Gerald Veasley will appear in the All-Star Jazz Night March 18 at the Sheraton Reading Hotel Ballroom, sold out, tickets at 610-868-7298 or at http://www.berksjazzfest.com/store/purchasetickets.asp.
--Dave Howell, 3/04
(This article first appeared in The Morning Call newspaper.)
Although he passed away in 1987, you can hear his influence as the Jaco Pastorius Big Band plays this Saturday at the Berks Jazz Fest. The band is a side project of the Peter Graves Orchestra, with the addition of bassists Gerald Veasley and Victor Wooten. Wooten has been a frequent visitor to the Valley as the bassist for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.
Graves recalled Pastorius in a phone interview from his home in Florida. After he began the orchestra in 1969, he hired the young bassist in 1971 as Pastorius had just left Wayne Cochran and the C.C. Riders. Graves felt that he could bring in fresh influences, including R&B and rock. Pastorius did more than that, as he began to write arrangements.
“In the five years that he was with me, it was like a laboratory,” recalls Graves. “He had a unique approach to orchestration. His work has a linear style with a steady background. He learned a lot of unconventional techniques. He had a very powerful means of getting his message across.”
Pastorius’s legend grew for his personal style as well as his playing. He was like a rock star on stage, often playing with his shirt off and doing Hendrix-like manipulations with his bass.
Graves saw some of this when Jaco worked for him. “That was Jaco. It was just very natural. He was always a bit flamboyant. He was self-assured even as a nineteen year old.”
Pastorius played on Pat Metheny’s “Bright Size Life” after he left Graves. In 1976 he released a self titled solo album and joined the jazz group Weather Report. While in Weather Report he continued his solo projects. Graves played trombone on one of them in 1981, a big band album called “Word of Mouth.”
Last year Graves did a CD called “Word of Mouth Revisited,” with ten bassists substituting for Pastorius, including Jaco’s nephew David Pastorius. This project led to the new Pastorius Big Band. “A lot of Jaco’s music was reworked for a large ensemble setting, so there is a lot of freshness,” says Graves.
One of those bassists was Philadelphia-based Gerald Veasley. Veasley says in a phone conversation from Reading, “I was on the same label, Heads Up, that was doing the project. I also had a Jaco connection, in that we had both worked with Joe Zawinul, Jaco in Weather Report while I was in Joe’s later band, the Zawinul Syndicate. I was also blown away by the artistry when I first heard Jaco’s solo CD and his work with Weather Report.”
Veasley says he enjoys playing behind what he calls the “wall of sound” of the fourteen piece Pastorius Big Band. “It’s like riding a big wave,” he says. :”The band also has good elements of a small group. It is elastic and nimble. It never sounds the same from night to night.”
“Working with Peter Graves is awesome,” he adds. “He’s worked with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Jackie Gleason to Jaco. He’s a fantastic arranger, and he knows how to pull the best out of his players.”
Graves says that he will continue the Pastorius Big Band as long as there is interest in it, and says that a second “Revisited” CD is possible.
Jaco Pastorius Big Band with special guests Gerald Veasley, Victor Wooten, and Jeff Carswell, Berks Jazz Fest, Lincoln Plaza Hotel Ballroom, Reading, Saturday, March 13, 10 pm, $32 reserved seating, Gerald Veasley will appear in the All-Star Jazz Night March 18 at the Sheraton Reading Hotel Ballroom, sold out, tickets at 610-868-7298 or at http://www.berksjazzfest.com/store/purchasetickets.asp.
--Dave Howell, 3/04
(This article first appeared in The Morning Call newspaper.)