Jaco Pastorious Park

[Bright Moments]

OAKLAND PARK

Pastorius Park pays homage to jazz icon

Oakland Park, the city legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius called home, has named a future downtown park in his name.

Posted on Sat, Dec. 29, 2007

BY DAVID SMILEY

dsmiley@MiamiHerald.com

Jaco Pastorius with his bass guitar. A park in his hometown of Oakland Park has been named for the famed musician.Jaco Pastorius is known around the world as one of the most innovative and influential jazz musicians of the 1970s and a pioneer of the electric bass guitar.

The flamboyant, Grammy Award-winning jazz icon who became a megastar only to die at 35 in a brawl in Wilton Manors in 1987 has been called a genius by his contemporaries and compared to innovators such as Jimi Hendrix.

But in Oakland Park, which Pastorius called home, many have never heard of the jazz great who played with Weather Report, Herbie Hancock and Joni Mitchell.

Commissioners voted last month to name a 3.5-acre park in the middle of a redeveloping downtown Jaco Pastorius Park, bringing to fruition to a 2 ½-year grass-roots effort by locals and members of the Pastorius family.

Said Mayor Larry Gierer: ``It's time we move forward and recognize what is probably our biggest asset.''

Pastorius' stylized harmonies and technical proficiency on the bass produced gems such as the quickly paced Donna Lee, his wistful solo Portrait of Tracy, and the catchy, upbeat Birdland with Weather Report.

He has earned praise from jazz mainstays like Wayne Shorter and Pat Metheny, to rock guitarist Carlos Santana.

Here's what Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea wrote in liner notes accompanying the 2007 release, ``The Essential Jaco Pastorius.'':

``I love everything about him, I feel the depth of his joy and pain in every note I have ever heard him play.''

While the park is still years from completion, the potential of a monument to Jaco, born John Francis Pastorius III, is music to his children and fans.

''My dad until his dying day completely considered himself a son of Oakland Park,'' said John Francis Pastorius IV, of Pompano Beach.

Jaco was raised in a neighborhood just a few blocks from the park and graduated from Northeast High School, where he was voted most talented.

Those who knew the jazz great say he loved the trains. He even included a whistle in at least one recording.

''He felt very connected to the tracks,'' said Ingrid Pastorius, Jaco's second wife.

She said that whistle was recorded near the corner of Northeast 38th Street and North Dixie Highway -- the site of Jaco Pastorius Park.

Yet, even with Jaco's praise and connections to the city, commissioners had to be persuaded to name a park after a man who in his last years heavily abused alcohol, used cocaine and later died from injuries in an altercation outside a Wilton Manors bar with a nightclub manager. Luc Havan pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in 1987 but served just a few months in prison.

Also troublesome was convincing the family-run Jaco Pastorius Inc. that the park and a tribute concert would honor Pastorius, and not just use his name.

''Through the years, a lot of people have taken advantage of my father and his legacy,'' said John Pastorius IV. ``We always have our guard up when it comes to these things.''

Robert Rutherford, the man who first asked the commission to name the park after Pastorius and started a petition that gained more than 1,100 signatures, said he secured the support of Ingrid Pastorius' and Jaco's twin sons, Julius and Felix Pastorius, who are now well-known musicians in South Florida.

But John said he and his sister Mary -- Jaco's children from his first marriage -- and uncle Gregory were a little taken aback when they heard about the effort second-hand.

John said they had never even heard of Rutherford, who admits he never met Jaco. ''Something as serious as a park can't be taken lightly,'' he said.

But after some discussion, the family came together and both John and Felix were at a recent commission hearing applauding the park.

It was worth it, said Rutherford.

''I had to see it through to some resolution one way or the other,'' he said.

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jaco park