John, Jaco and Tony

Steve Hitsman · Post by **Steve Hitsman** » 16 Apr 2011 3:37 am

Wow!

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 16 Apr 2011 11:41 am

The below is extracted from a 2004 interview with Johnny Mac over at Abstractlogix:

"...Yes indeed, the Trio of Doom. That trio was unbelievable. It was amazing. When they were on it was unbelievable to play with those guys. Anyway, rehearsals were phenomenal. We had only three tunes that we were going to play (at the historic Havana Jam in Cuba). So we went down to Havana and we had a tune each. We started off with my tune, "The Dark Prince," which was a kind of blues in Cminor with some altered changes. But the thing is, Jaco altered everything. He turned his amp up to 11 and started to play A major, which is like a little far away from C minor...and unbelievably loud! So we start to play the tune, Tony's looking at me, I'm looking at Tony and it's like, "What the ****'" And in the meantime Jaco's upfront with the bass between his legs, doing his thing...it was almost like Jimi Hendrix. And the whole set went like that. When we finished the set, I was so angry at Jaco. Tony too. And we walked off stage and Tony was already up and running to the bathroom...he was about to throw up. Anyway, Jaco came down and said, "Oh, man, you bad mother!" And I said, "What' You have the nerve to speak to me after this travesty on stage. I don't even want to see your face, I don't want to hear you, I don't want to see you." And it all came out, and in about 15 minutes later it was fine. But Tony couldn't get it out, right' And it was such a farce. Anyway, CBS called me about two weeks later and said, "So, we're going to put it out." And I said, "You're going to put what out' You're not going to put that out. You put it out over my dead body. That's terrible." So they asked if we wanted to re-record it over at Columbia Studios on 52nd Street. So we all went into the great CBS Studio on 52nd Street where we did all those great things with Miles -- In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew and all of that. So we start re-recording the tunes and in the meantime, Tony's not looking at Jaco. I mean, forget about speaking, he's not even looking at him. And Jaco's already very nervous. So we start playing and we did my tune again. So we do one take and we go in the control room to listen back and Jaco says, "Well, I think we can do it better." And all of a sudden Tony jumps in front of Jaco and says, "Better' Better, mother****er'!!" He pushed Jaco up against the wall. I had never seen Tony angry but that was like a little volcano action, man, I tell you. And Jaco's like..."Hey man, I'm sorry, man, I'm sorry." Tony didn't hit 'em or anything, but when Tony got mad you just get out of the way. He had Jaco up against the wall and Jaco was like apologizing profusely. He knew he ****ed up bigtime. So after 10 minutes of Tony blasting him with both barrels, Tony went into the studio and destroyed his drumkit. (laughter). And I said, "You gotta record with this!" He destroyed his kit and walked out of the studio and that was it. What a shame. But hey, who's perfect in this world' But I told Jaco off right away back in Havana. I got rid of all the rats and snakes right off the stage, but Tony had it balling up, stewing around there for a while for he finally exploded. He always had difficulty with getting it right out. So yeah...Jaco was crazy, but what a player!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMNOAItx ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX9U480FwgQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfFmTefV ... ure=fvwrel

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 16 Apr 2011 12:11 pm

Thanks to Marigoldmerion, there's a new set of the real Mahavishnu Orchestra up too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M24kluXw ... re=related

We have been waiting decades for these.

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 17 Apr 2011 1:11 am

Hiya' Steve

i dug Tony Williams Lifetime Emergency back then, but i gotta admit this stuff w Jaco is a bit too much fer me

Dennis Olearchik · Post by **Dennis Olearchik** » 19 Apr 2011 4:10 pm

I think Jaco would have turned 60 this September.

Who knows what other great music will never be heard because of his mental illness.

He was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder in '82.

But the illness must have had a debilitating effect on him back in the late '70s.

Regardless, he wrote and played some great music...

p.s. he was killed in '87 at the young age of 35.

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 19 Apr 2011 4:30 pm

Dennis Olearchik wrote:Who knows what other great music will never be heard because of his mental illness.

Without that psychotic drive he had we might not know his name. He channeled his overt energies into those 4 strings for a long time and it still wasn't enuf. In this memorable moment, after 1 min. of accolades we hear a frazzled Jaco sum the total of his situation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgK5VygL ... re=related

Dennis Olearchik · Post by **Dennis Olearchik** » 21 Apr 2011 5:34 am

Hey Ron, thanks for posting that video. It's so good to see Jaco as a warm, intelligent and articulate person (as opposed to his later public image).

How 'bout that line: "give me a gig!"

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 21 Apr 2011 7:24 am

I went to see Jaco a few times in his later period. The best times were when he would walk onto the stage alone after a break and sit down down at his DX7 and start playing huge two-fisted chords. A real genius in that respect, too. He was quite an arranger.

I would also see him in the streets trying to hustle up some change. It was pretty sad. But he's not the only one I've seen doing that; there have been quite a few others who ended up the same way. Charlie barnet, a comedian, is another who comes to mind.

With all that I've read about this record and knowing the anxiety it caused Tony Williams (who is one of my favorites), I'm afraid I can't listen to it.

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 21 Apr 2011 8:49 am

I'll always be glad I got to see Jaco with Mike Stern when I was gigging in Vegas. I think there were around 15 people there...

I do wonder sometimes how many great players only got where they were through some form of mental illness that had deleterious effects in other areas of life. I've certainly played with some of the unbalanced. Craziness and creativity seem to go hand-in-hand.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 21 Apr 2011 9:34 am

Donny Hathaway, who is my favorite musician of all, became seriously mentally ill towards the end of his life. He had gone through bouts of schizophrenia earlier, but in the end it is what caused him to take his own life. What an incredible genius he was with the greatest voice I've ever heard. If only he could have been treated....