IMDb RATING
7.6/10
1.3K
YOUR RATING
JACO" tells the story of Jaco Pastorius, a self-taught, larger-than-life musician who single-handedly changed the course of modern music by redefining the sound and the role of the electric ... Read allJACO" tells the story of Jaco Pastorius, a self-taught, larger-than-life musician who single-handedly changed the course of modern music by redefining the sound and the role of the electric bass guitar.JACO" tells the story of Jaco Pastorius, a self-taught, larger-than-life musician who single-handedly changed the course of modern music by redefining the sound and the role of the electric bass guitar.
- Directors
- Writers
- Stars
- Awards
- 4 wins & 1 nomination total
Jaco Pastorius
- Self
- (archive footage)
Jack Pastorius
- Self - Jaco Pastorius' Father
- (archive footage)
Stephanie Pastorius
- Self - Jaco Pastorius' Mother
- (archive footage)
Wayne Cochran
- Self
- (voice)
Blood Sweat & Tears
- Themselves
- (archive footage)
Charlie Parker Quintet
- Themselves
- (archive footage)
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
I'm reviewing "Jaco" after seeing it for the second time in three years. This time it became apparent to me that Jaco ("the greatest bass player who ever lived") was a real life Tragic Hero in the classical sense. He had a seemingly supernatural gift, but ultimately mental illness and addiction plagued him after his rise to the top. The documentary lays out that story, and features commentary by some of the collaborating musicians who were also at the top of their field (Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter). Viewers who are unfamiliar with Jaco Pastorius might not find this as engaging as his fans will. But for those who are curious about a musician who completely revolutionized the way of playing his instrument, this doc might turn you on to one of the greats.
A warm and lively tribute, "Jaco" is a celebration of the life and music of one of the greatest and most influential musicians, one of the rare talents who altered the course of their craft and took it to heights that others have been inspired to follow. Jaco Pastorius took the bass guitar from an insignificant instrument to its full potential capable of beauty, complexity and artistic significance. "Jaco" chronicles the life of the wonderkind from his childhood to his tragic fate. Priceless footage from throughout his life and interviews with his family, friends and fellow musicians reveal the man and his genius. Sting, Bootsy Collins, Geddy Lee, Flea, Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell and Robert Trujillo among others share their experiences and it gives a good and intimate glimpse. The quality of the film parallels the life of Pastorius with its promise and high of the man's early years to his peak wowing crowds with his virtuosity and flamboyant stage presence then hitting a low by becoming less compelling as Pastorius slides to mental illness and incapacity leading to his sad demise and unsettling end. Produced by veteran musician and bassist Rob Trujillo this is one of the finest documentaries and a memorial on the glory of the human spirit and the terrible price it unfortunately a lot of times has to pay.
This movie is brilliant. First of all, Pastorius lived one of the most fascinating lives of any artist in recent history, and that's a prerequisite for making a movie of this caliber. But then you have to execute, to produce a work that is worthy of the subject matter. And they pulled it off. And that took a lot of talent.
About the odyssey of a genius, a genius of the bass guitar, a genius who, like Mozart and many others before him, ended sad, in misery. After celebrating the peak of glory with another great genius, Joe Zawinul, in the legendary band of jazz fusion Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius followed a downward road, slept through parks, arrived at one moment in a madhouse, and died young, in a stupid way. But, better watch the movie, it's full of people who have met and admired him, famous musicians...
The movie tells the story of one of the biggest bassists that ever lived, who was at the top during the 70's when Jazz and Rock had a brief romance that blended the two together before music became a very segmented compartmentalized business.
I'll assume anyone considering the movie will already know the basic story of Jaco's rise and fall. If not, then I would certainly not recommend this documentary. Some documentaries work well for people that aren't even familiar with the central subject, and example would be Senna, or Finding Sugarman... Both of those two told a story that drew you in so that you felt a connection to the character even if you weren't familiar with him before. Jaco does none of that it pretty much just retread the information you probably already were aware of and throws in some old photos and film clips that you might not have already found surfing on Youtube when looking up Jaco.
The production values are generally good, the real down fall is that too much time is spent running old grainy footage from the past that doesn't really help the story as much as it simply serves as a media to throw out footage someone found in a basement somewhere.
What will probably upset more people even more is that the documentary was marketed on the internet using clips of artists such as Flea talking about Jaco, so that you expected to see more of that type of thing in the documentary... sadly it is missing. The majority of the interviews are with a few select people that worked or knew him personally but they don't give a lot of insight into him. You also are missing any discussion of what Jaco did or how he was doing it... I would have much preferred to have the film spend a few minutes going over the harmonics he was getting out of the bass and how it was achieved instead of hearing about how he used to crash at so and so's house and just hang for a days...
Sorry but I am a fan of his and was expecting more... this didn't deliver. Even a hard core fan will be hard pressed not to hit the fast forward button to zip through some of it... The up side is I think the only way you can see this is to buy the Blu-ray or DVD of it... I would recommend the DVD over the blu-ray because there is so much old grainy footage that you don't really need the clarity of blu-ray to view SD video... Don't expect to watch the whole thing in one sitting it too me two days because I got bored the first night and finished the second.
I'll assume anyone considering the movie will already know the basic story of Jaco's rise and fall. If not, then I would certainly not recommend this documentary. Some documentaries work well for people that aren't even familiar with the central subject, and example would be Senna, or Finding Sugarman... Both of those two told a story that drew you in so that you felt a connection to the character even if you weren't familiar with him before. Jaco does none of that it pretty much just retread the information you probably already were aware of and throws in some old photos and film clips that you might not have already found surfing on Youtube when looking up Jaco.
The production values are generally good, the real down fall is that too much time is spent running old grainy footage from the past that doesn't really help the story as much as it simply serves as a media to throw out footage someone found in a basement somewhere.
What will probably upset more people even more is that the documentary was marketed on the internet using clips of artists such as Flea talking about Jaco, so that you expected to see more of that type of thing in the documentary... sadly it is missing. The majority of the interviews are with a few select people that worked or knew him personally but they don't give a lot of insight into him. You also are missing any discussion of what Jaco did or how he was doing it... I would have much preferred to have the film spend a few minutes going over the harmonics he was getting out of the bass and how it was achieved instead of hearing about how he used to crash at so and so's house and just hang for a days...
Sorry but I am a fan of his and was expecting more... this didn't deliver. Even a hard core fan will be hard pressed not to hit the fast forward button to zip through some of it... The up side is I think the only way you can see this is to buy the Blu-ray or DVD of it... I would recommend the DVD over the blu-ray because there is so much old grainy footage that you don't really need the clarity of blu-ray to view SD video... Don't expect to watch the whole thing in one sitting it too me two days because I got bored the first night and finished the second.
- How long is Jaco?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $800,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 50 minutes
- Color
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