FORECASTING FUSION AT LOW FREQUENCIES: THE BASS PLAYERS OF WEATHER REPORT by MARK STEVEN FRANDSEN, B.M., M.M. A DISSERTATION IN FINE ARTS Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Matthew Santa Chairperson of the Committee Christopher Smith Alan Shinn Jonathan Marks Carolyn Tate Accepted Fred Hartmeister Dean of the Graduate School January, 2010 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many individuals to thank for their help and encouragement in completing this dissertation, but to name them all would fill another chapter. I do wish to pay special thanks to my advisor, mentor, and friend Matthew Santa for his support and encouragement throughout the entire process of writing and completing this project. Dr. Santa provided valuable insight and guidance from “across the pond” to keep me focused on the subject at hand while, at the same time, allowing me plenty of opportunities to follow my own path. I also wish to thank Christopher Smith for helping me focus my ideas during the inception of this paper, imparting increased knowledge about his article on improvisation in the Miles Davis groups, and introducing me to Christopher Small’s concept of “musicking.” I owe a special debt of gratitude to the living bass players of Weather Report : Miroslav Vitous, Alphonso Johnson, and Victor Bailey for their time and consideration in granting me interviews and answering questions about their respective times in the group. The experiences they shared and reflected on truly became the essence of this paper and reinforced the intangibles we encounter as musicians on a daily basis. I would like to thank my dissertation committee for their thought provoking comments and discussions and for encouraging me to pursue publication. Their positive feedback was invaluable. I need to say thanks to all the musicians I have worked with in the band Touch ‘N Go . They were all very supportive of my efforts to stay in and “work on my paper” while we were on the road and while deployed. A special thanks to John Link, Ron Sadler, and Paul Wells for listening and providing thoughtful feedback. Finally, I owe my biggest thanks to my wife Leslie and our two daughters, Bailey and McKenna. Without your love, support, patience, and understanding the road to completing this dissertation and degree would not have been possible. I love you with all my heart and dedicate this work to you. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. THE BASS PLAYERS OF WEATHER REPORT and 1 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ELECTRIC BASS GUITAR 2. A BRIEF HISTORY OF JAZZ-ROCK and 14 WEATHER REPORT 3. MIROSLAV VITOUS 32 a. Biographical Information b. Musical Contributions to Weather Report c. Analysis of Style 4. ALPHONSO JOHNSON 53 a. Biographical Information b. Musical Contributions to Weather Report c. Analysis of Style 5. JOHN FRANCIS “JACO” PASTORIUS III 79 a. Biographical Information b. Musical Contributions to Weather Report c. Analysis of Style 6. VICTOR BAILEY 103 a. Biographical Information b. Musical Contributions to Weather Report c. Analysis of Style 7. CONCLUSIONS 127 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 132 SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY 136 APPENDIX Questionnaire 138 Phone Interview with Miroslav Vitous 139 Email Interview with Alphonso Johnson 150 Phone Interview with Victor Bailey 153 iii Chapter 1: The Bass Players of Weather Report and The History of the Electric Bass Guitar Introduction This dissertation examines the role of the electric bassists in the influential jazz- rock 1 band Weather Report . I will argue that each bass player changed Weather Report’s sound; in support of this argument, I will analyze the musical function (harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic) of various bass parts, the specific equipment choices, and the specific musical and technical approaches of these bass players. Because the bass both outlines the harmonic progression and locks in rhythmically with the drum set, the bass performs a defining harmonic-rhythmic role in jazz and rock ensembles. I will argue that because the electric bass 2 has timbral, percussive, and other technical capacities not available on the acoustic bass, and because Weather Report was one of the most influential jazz-rock groups, each of the electric bassists in Weather Report played an integral part in creating the sound of jazz-rock. Little is written on the history of the electric bass guitar. There is one notable exception: How the Fender Bass Changed the World chronicles the impact that Leo Fender had on the popular music world when he introduced his solid body electric bass guitar to a mass market in the early 1950’s. 3 John Goldsby’s book The Jazz Bass Book chronicles the history and style of acoustic bass players, but omits electric bass players. 4 Jazz-Rock Fusion: The People, The Music is a collection of interviews by Julie Coryell with some of the greatest jazz-rock and fusion musicians to include Jaco Pastorius, 1 I use the term “jazz-rock” to refer to that music which was a combination of jazz improvisation and rock rhythms and explored by artists and groups such as Miles Davis ( In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew ) and, especially in terms of this dissertation, Weather Report . 2 I use the terms “electric bass” and “electric bass guitar” to define the bass instrument patterned after and played similar to the electric guitar. 3 Jim Roberts, How The Fender Bass Changed the World (San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2001). 4 John Goldsby, The Jazz Bass Book: Technique and Tradition (San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2002). 1 Alphonso Johnson, and Miroslav Vitous, three of the four Weather Report bassists. 5 The interviews very briefly touch on approaches to composition. The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to Fusion and Beyond, which contains information about Weather Report , presents a historical/biographical perspective of jazz in general as well as information about the instruments and elements of jazz. 6 Bill Milkowski’s book about Jaco Pastorius is the definitive biography on Pastorius, but again, it does not contain any analyses of what he played and how it influenced the sound of Weather Report . 7 Thus far there has been little research published on the bass players who were in Weather Report or even on the role of the electric bass in jazz-rock, but some of the ground work necessary for this dissertation has been laid. Of particular interest is Andrew James Waters’s dissertation: “Steve Swallow: Electric Bass Innovator with Analysis of Selected Works.” 8 Waters’s work “chronicles briefly the history and aesthetics of electronic instruments in the 20 th century, focusing specifically on the electric guitar and the electric bass” as well as discussing the “general differences between the double bass and electric bass.” One of the articles, also by Waters, was published in Bass World: The Magazine of the International Society of Bassists and is titled “Electric Guitar, Electric Bass and the Predominance of the Acoustic Bass in Jazz.” 9 Another useful dissertation is Lawrence A. Wayte’s “Bitches Brood: The Progeny of Miles Davis’s ‘Bitches Brew’ and the Sound of Jazz-Rock.” 10 Wayte provides a 5 Julie Coryell and Laura Friedman, Jazz Rock Fusion: The People, The Music (Milwaukee: Hal Leonard, 2000). 6 Joachim E. Berendt, The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to Fusion and Beyond (Brooklyn: Lawrence Hill Books, 1992). 7 Bill Milkowski, Jaco: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius “The World’s Greatest Bass Player” (San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books, 1995). 8 Andrew James Waters, “Steve Swallow: Electric Bass Innovator with Analysis of Selected Works,” (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 2003): 190. 9 Drew Waters, “Electric Guitar, Electric Bass, and the Predominance of the Acoustic Bass in Jazz,” Bass World: The Magazine of the International Society of Bassists 28/3 (Feb-May 2005): 7. 10 Lawrence A. Wayte, “Bitches Brood: The Progeny of Miles Davis’s ‘Bitches Brew’ and the Sound of Jazz-Rock,” (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 2007). 2 history and definition of jazz-rock along with theoretical aspects of jazz-rock which include timbre, meter, rhythm, and texture. He provides the compositional process for the album Bitches Brew and Miles’s use and exploration of electronic instruments. Wayte talks extensively about Weather Report and devotes a chapter of his dissertation to Joe Zawinul, one of the founders and enduring members of the group, and another chapter to electric bass pioneer and virtuoso John Francis “Jaco” Pastorius III, the most talked and written about bass player from Weather Report . An important aspect of Wayte’s discussion is how Pastorius took an instrument, the electric bass guitar, previously not known for its virtuosic potential, and completely transformed the way people think about and approach the electric bass. Because there is little information available for study on this subject, most of the materials used will be primary source information obtained through interviews and transcriptions of audio recordings. The goal of my interviews will be to ask direct and pointed questions about bass players’ opportunities to contribute creatively to other members’ compositions, what direction each player was given regarding improvisation versus playing a written part, and direction about specific timbral qualities or electric bass-specific technique. I will develop profiles for each of the Weather Report bass players, drawing upon interview data, solo transcriptions, and compositional analyses to demonstrate the contrasting impact each bassist had on the overall Weather Report sound. The opportunities for personal interviews will be the first priority, and the use of the Internet for email interviews will be considered if no personal interview is possible. Audio recordings of the group will be utilized for transcriptions as well as existing transcriptions already in print.