jaco pastorius

Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo has invested his heart and soul creating a documentary about the brilliant creativity and tragic life of his hero, the legendary and innovative bassist Jaco Pastorius. Photo by Jeff Yeager

Metallica’s low-ender describes how it took six years, 75 interviews, and tracking down one AWOL bass to capture the Jaco Pastorius story on film.

Not long ago, Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo wrapped the six-year Herculean task of creating a documentary about the life and death of his biggest influence: jazz great Jaco Pastorius. The film has been a labor of love, fueled by an impression the legendary bassist made on him long ago. “Jaco really moved me back in 1979 when I saw him live for the first time,” he recalls. “I just thought to myself, ‘This mysterious figure is the real deal and he’s really cool.’”

Best known for his pioneering fretless work, Jaco Pastorius unabashedly considered himself the greatest bass player in the world. He combined an R&B musician’s feel for rhythm with a jazz horn player’s melodic sensibility and applied it to a diverse array of musical styles. His work with Weather Report, Joni Mitchell, Ian Hunter, Pat Metheny, and his own Word of Mouth Big Band is universally recognized as groundbreaking. When he first burst onto the scene in 1976 with his debut solo album, Jaco Pastorius, he immediately inspired generations of bassists to rethink their approach to the instrument. He died in 1987 at just 35 years old.

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