I've never seen a truly first-class player that somewhere inside did not have that 'killer' instinct that would take over a moment when the need arose.
Just like Michael Jordan taking over a basketball game when his instinct told him that this was the moment, great players steer a band almost subconsciously by a presence that most of us mere mortals don't posess. I've never played in a band with a great player that didn't lift the game of everyone onstage. Everybody onstage knows where the center is, and often even the audience feels it. Most us have been there to see and feel this happen.
Extremely talented people are often not the most well-balanced people, and given they're 'living the life' surrounded by one bad situation after another, unhappy endings like Jaco's are way too common, and it's a damn shame.
The oft-heard comment of It's great onstage, but what do I do the other 22 hours a day would make a great generic epitaph for far too many. It's enough to make you very certain you would not want to be as succesful as Elvis or Michael Jackson, or in this case, Jaco Pastorius.
Also, the state of mental health care is pitiful. JP was obviously a troubled soul that was not treated, except by his street pharmacists. Classic self-medication with the usual sad result. The huge mood swings should have been a red light to any professional, and certainly unsettling to those around him.
This is just one more reason I, in fact, have come to often hate the music business, and it's accompanying drug and alcohol culture. I guess you just can't see the buzzards circling if you're tore down enough. How come there's not a 'Boot Hill' for musicians?
J o e y
