Jaco Quotes & Sayings

I'm not a star. I'm just backing up the cats. — Jaco Pastorius

She [Joni Mitchell] wanted to have that (jazz) element in her music. Of course, when she heard Jaco's [Jaco Pastorius'] music and met him, that floored her
really grabbed her. She decided that Wayne Shorter was really conducive to her music. She would speak metaphorically about things. "I want this to sound like a taxicab driver, or a taxi in New York," or "I want this to sound like a telephone ringing." She would speak to musicians like that, and we really tuned into what she would want our music to be. — Don Alias

My own memories of the vimanas during my lifetime as Yudhisthira are that they were basically leftovers from a golden age several thousand years before when India was a colony of Atlantis. The epic Ramayana dates from this earlier time frame and chronicles a war with the Atlaneans when India rebelled against their oppressive rule. Toward the later days of Atlantis's history, it had been bent on tyrannical world domination by force. In that distant time, more than twelve thousand years ago, the vimanas were far larger and more numerous than they were during my lifetime as Yudhisthira. — Michael K Jaco

When I fall in love, I don't know why I fall in love, I just know that I am in love. — Jaco Van Dormael

If you're not compulsively a monomaniac, you'll never make a film. It's like taking the same chewing gum, every morning, and saying, "Okay, it has a lot of taste," and continuing to chew it. — Jaco Van Dormael

In stories, everything has to have clear consequences and everything has to focus to the end. Everything at the end will give meaning to everything that precedes. In my own life, the consequences of the choices I've made aren't always very clear. The most beautiful things are sometimes not totally truthful, and the end will not give more meaning to everything that precedes. — Jaco Van Dormael

I hit Crash's button and we heard the phone inside start to ring.
After four, he answered. "Hey, PsyPig." His voice was husky. "I'd normally tell you not to call me at this ungodly hour, but evidently someone's running a cockfghting ring in the hall, so I wasn't actually asleep ... "
"It's me. Open up."
He was actually silent for a second. "Aren't /you/ butch?"
"Don't fuck around. I need to see Miss Mattie."
"Okay, okay, don't get your handcuffs in a twist. I can't find my pants."
I wondered if he could say the word "pants" without making something dirty out of it.
"Unless, of course, this visit is clothing-optional."
And there it was. I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn't see me since the door was still shut. — Jordan Castillo Price

I'm not a star. I'll never be a Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley or a Ray Charles. I'm just an imitator, man. I'm doing a very bad imitation on the bass of Jerry Jemmott, Bernard Odum, Jimmy Fielder, Jimmy Blanton, Igor Stravinsky, Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, James Brown, Charlie Parker ... the cats, man. I'm just backing up the cats. — Jaco Pastorius

There is a big difference between storytelling and being alive. Those are the two things that I prefer in life - telling stories and being alive. — Jaco Van Dormael

I ignore Jaco Coote when I see him. I'm not sure why. It's not as if I dislike him or anything. I think I ignore him because if I look at him I might find that he's looking at me, and I'm not sure where that would lead us. — Melina Marchetta

Having a big budget, I have no problem with spending the movie. It's fantastic to have a big budget. It gives a lot of time. It gives a lot of freedom. What's difficult is raising the money beforehand, and then when the investor wants the money back, afterwards. — Jaco Van Dormael

A film is like a message dropped in a bottle in the sea that somebody finds. Every time somebody finds it, it's a miracle. But, I don't know what the perception will be. I can know what I tried to do, but I never know what the perception is. — Jaco Van Dormael

Trumpets! Can you bring your ... uh ... extracurricular tubing necessities next rehearsal? — Jaco Pastorius

I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid I haven't been alive enough. It should be written on every school room blackboard: Life is a playground - or nothing. — Jaco Van Dormael

It's really easy to play harmonics, anyone can do it. It's another thing to be able to swing, to make to make a band swing, to create a groove. Harmonics ain't everything. Being able to play harmonics certainly does not make you a good bass player. Cleverness is no substitute for true awareness. — Jaco Pastorius

Women and rhythm-section first!? — Jaco Pastorius

A chimpanzee could learn what I do physically, but it goes way beyond that. When you play, you play life. — Jaco Pastorius

I took the frets out of my bass after I was getting into jazz a lot and I wanted to have that upright sound. — Jaco Pastorius

The secret to the sound is to drop the bass on the floor! — Jaco Pastorius

All you've got to do is keep your ears open. — Jaco Pastorius

When religious groups in a conflict eliminate the personal element and perceive themselves as representatives of collectives, heir actions tend to become more "radical" and "merciless." (Ch.3, by Jaco Cilliers, p. 48) — David R. Smock

You can not go back. That's why it's hard to choose. You have to make the right choice. As long, as you don't choose, everything remains possible. — Jaco Van Dormael

Music is the only thing keeping the planet together — Jaco Pastorius

Music is in the air; it's my job to pull it out. — Jaco Pastorius

Jean Laffite was a sexy bad boy with a gentleman's manners and an air of barely suppressed danger. Every girl's secret dreamboat in other words. We always say we want a nice, hardworking, decent guy but we're lying to ourselves. - DJ Jaco — Suzanne Johnson

When I write, I speak with ghosts for years, and I see images that are a little bit out of focus. I see faces, but the faces change. At the moment that it's a real human being that's flesh and bone, it changes a character. It's much more precise and complex. — Jaco Van Dormael

An actor can play two or three lines where he says one thing, but plays the opposite. That's the most important moving part of a film. — Jaco Van Dormael