What was Jaco Pastorius’ first band?
Jaco Pastorius is one of the most formidable bassists to have ever lived and often appears in artists’ rankings of the greatest of all time, even if his work isn’t as widely recognised by the masses as that of John Entwistle or Paul McCartney. Despite his unmatched talent, he was difficult to pin down as a long-term member of any group, largely because of how untameable and unpredictable he was.
The thing is, Pastorius knew how superior he was and liked to boast about his prowess. He earned his post as bassist with jazz fusion ensemble Weather Report by introducing himself to keyboard player Joe Zawinul as the greatest bassist in the world, and playing alongside other talented musicians such as Wayne Shorter and Alex Acuña brought out both his brilliance and his erratic nature. He’d started with the group in 1976 and lasted until 1982, but he’d already made a name for himself in various other projects over the years prior.
Outside of his work with his most famous group, he enjoyed periods of collaborating with other esteemed musicians, both within and beyond the jazz world. Joni Mitchell recruited Pastorius to perform a number of her albums, most notably Hejira, which has a strong jazz fusion flavour, and he has also played with other legends of the genre such as Pat Metheny and Airto Moreira. His incredibly flexible and inimitable style showcased a love of harmonics, bass chords, fretless playing and fluidity, and the panache with which he delivered it made him in such high demand.
Then there was his solo output, both under his own name and alongside the Jaco Pastorius Big Band that he led, which truly demonstrated some of his most spectacular work. However, it all had to have started somewhere, and his career had been showing signs of promise long before any of these aforementioned ventures when he was simply a sideman in a number of groups during the early 1970s.
What was the first group Jaco Pastorius played in?
Interestingly, Jaco Pastorius had initially started out as a drummer, but injured his wrist playing football during his teens, and required surgery on it that significantly hampered his ability to play the instrument. Switching to bass from here, he quickly developed an affinity for the instrument that would place him in high demand later on in his career.
For two years, from 1971, Pastorius was involved with Tommy Strand & the Upper Hand, a soul group operating out of Florida, and he would later establish himself briefly as the bassist with Wayne Cochran and His CC Riders, another soul group with funk elements, who were based in Georgia. However, with Pastorius having been born in 1951, he would’ve been 20-21 years old playing in these groups, and for someone of his talent, you’d expect him to have been involved in a band much earlier than this.
In fact, his first group was formed in 1969, when Pastorius was just 18 years of age. Woodchuck were a funk trio that also included friends Bob Herzog on drums and vocals, and Billy Burke on organ. Neither of these players went on to perform in any other groups of note, but they have the ability to claim that they were the first bandmates of a jazz legend.
Woodchuck were another short-lived project, and only lasted until 1971, and they never officially released any material during their time as a group. However, an archival release in 2008, 21 years after Pastorius tragically passed away, received a CD issue for the first time, demonstrating to the world what Woodchuck had sounded like through a series of covers, and one other track, ‘The Chicken’ has also appeared on some compilations of Pastorius’ lesser-known works.
Even at this time, it was clear that he was a prodigious talent, although the scrappiness of the recordings doesn’t necessarily do justice to his incredible playing. Bearing in mind that by this point, he’d barely been playing his instrument for longer than three years after switching from drums, it’s a remarkable first showing from a musician who would go on to stun the world with his musical ability.
