Chelsea Portraits - This Ain't no Holiday Inn: Down and Out at the Chelsea Hotel 1980-1995 - page 171

The Final Days of Jaco Pastorius
When I first met [Jaco] he was extremely present tense and, I would have to say for lack
of a better term, extremely sage. He was so accepting of everything going on around him;
at the same time he was arrogant and challenging: “I'm the baddest!” He was so alert, so
involved in the moment. When people are in that state they're generally fun to be with. He
was very alive 94 —JONI MITCHELL
Jazz musician Jaco Pastorius was the Jimi Hendrix of the electric bass. He's the only bassist
in Down Beat magazine'sJazzHallofFame.HeplayedwithWeatherReport,JoniMitchell,
and Al Dimeola, and a host of other luminaries. Sadly, he suffered from bipolar disorder,
which eventually disintegrated anything resembling an ordinary life.
PAUL VOLMER
Tim Sullivan kept an extra guitar in his room because frequently a friend would
drop by his place and want to play. Tim worked in a guitar store downstairs,
Chelsea Music, andalotoftimes hismusician friends wouldcome up.Onefriend
was the famous bass player Jaco Pastorius. 95 He was a genius bass player, but he
was also kind of crazy, a schizophrenic. He would totally lose it. He would sort of
phase out until he couldn't even function—he was a real drinker too. I think at the
timehewashangingoutinWashingtonSquarePark,beingabum,beggingmoney
for liquor. But he used to come over to our room with a friend of Tim's, and they
jammed a little bit.
TIM SULLIVAN
Probably the biggest thing that happened to me when I worked in the guitar store
downstairs had to do with Jaco Pastorius, considered the Charlie Parker of the
bass. Other than the poet Rene Ricard, he was the only true genius I've ever met.
What is a true genius? A true genius is something that, when you see it, you know
it. He was staying here in the hotel, and he came into the guitar shop. My friend
Rick knew who he was, but I didn't. I had seen him on the cover of Guitar Player
magazine,andreadtheinterview,butIdidn'treallyknowtoomuchabouttheguy.
He came in, and we started talking. My friend Rick said, “Oh man, you're the
best! Where are you playing?”
“I'm playing over at the Lone Star,” 96 he said. “Why don't you guys come
down?”