One day, I was practicing in my back porch with jalousie windows—like glass Venetian blinds, opening up onto a back yard with a few orange, coconut and banana trees.

I was playing on my silent set with metronome a clickin’, and saw a lanky figure open the garden shed door, get out a pair of hedge clippers, and wander around.

If you lived in south Florida in the 1960s/70s you wouldn’t think a thing of it!  Back to the paradiddles ‘tween hands and feet… “Why is this metronome dragging?”

Shortly I heard a knock on the back door. Jaco would never interrupt practice! But I opened the door and there he stood, clippers in hand and several long green branches from the orange trees.

So in one long, drawn-out monotone sentence he says…”Heey Kremer, not bad on the singles, doubles, triples 6/8, 12/8 rule, sonics man—expression! Ratamacues suck though man, more practice—you’ll get ‘em, I know ya. Hey, I showed ya this before, ya need to prune these freakin’ things regular. Practice clipping in 2/4 er sumpin’. I mean really—these ain’t part of the tree branches! They’re friggin’ parasites man! I keep tellin ya, they’ll suck all the oranges and vibes virtually away! Jus’ think. No more wine coolers! What’s doin’!? Saw ya last week, Hal Blaine City. So I know you changed yer heads by now. Sure can use ‘em. I keep breakin ‘em once in awhile.” 

Jaco often borrowed my drum heads for his own set. I was happy to pass them along. (I keep my drums tuned wet, near the low end of the tom-tom resonance. When the heads stretch where they won’t project at this tuning, they are far from dead and can be used if tuned up higher.)

His welcome visits occurred every few weeks. This from a time when you never kept your doors or gates locked.

Jaco, of course, went on to uniquely influence every bassist to follow. He became quite famous, literally overnight, but he never forgot his old friends. We won’t forget him either.

Find out more about Jaco Pastorius here.
And, check out this video of Jaco performing live.

Ward Lionel Kremer is a lifelong musician, producer, and recording engineer, who cut his first hit at age 17. In the 1960’s he recorded and performed in the New York pop/R&B music scene with The Four Seasons, The Chiffons, Joey Dee, The Temptations, and Ike & Tina Turner. In the ‘70s he worked in the Miami music scene with TK records, KC & The Sunshine Band, George McRae, and The Ritchie Family. Ward also recorded and produced soca, reggae, and jazz festivals in Italy, USA, and Mexico. He did live sound and recording for Randy Bernsen and Ken Basman. As Ward says, “There’s no music I can’t appreciate if it’s performed with soul, sincerity and love!”

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More articles by Ward Lionel Kramer on PSW:
Record Great-Sounding Drums Using Only Four Tracks

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