Jaco Pastorius, 35, Jazz Bassist, Dies in Florida

Jaco Pastorius, a jazz bassist whose brief career was credited with influencing musicians around the world, has died after being beaten on the streets that had become his home for the last several months.

The former bassist with the fusion band Weather Report, Blood, Sweat and Tears and other big-name musical groups, died Monday night at Broward General Medical Center where he had been comatose since the Sept. 12 beating.

He was 35.

Police said the troubled Pastorius was beaten when he tried to enter an after-hours club known as Midnight. Pastorius had been banned from the club because of erratic behavior in recent years, police said.

Officials said that Pastorius reportedly started kicking the door of the club and that manager Luc Havan beat Pastorius, injuring him critically. Havan has been charged with aggravated battery.

Although Pastorius died destitute, his rapid-fire fingering techniques and composing talent earned him a reputation in the late 1970s and early ‘80s as one of the jazz world’s top electric bass players.

Nominated for Grammys

In addition to Blood, Sweat and Tears, he toured with Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell and Weather Report and was nominated for three Grammys.

He also fronted his own sextet and toured the country as recently as three years ago.

Early in his career, Pastorius, born John but nicknamed Jaco by his family, had disdained drugs and alcohol, saying they impaired his playing. But colleagues said he began to drink shortly after joining Weather Report.

In 1982, he pleaded guilty to threatening a police officer with violence after Pastorius had an argument with his wife. He was sentenced to probation, which he violated by riding drunk and naked on the hood of a pickup truck.

Spends Time in New York

About 1984, he began spending most of his time in New York. Family and friends began hearing stories that he was always drunk, often slept in parks and smashed his guitars.

About that time, according to his brother, Gregory, a doctor told Pastorius that he was a manic-depressive, with cyclic peaks in brain activity that gave him creative intensity. Alcohol made the disorder worse.

He and his former wife, Ingrid, of Deerfield Beach, divorced in 1985. Pastorius moved back to Fort Lauderdale, penniless, sometimes sleeping in a park.

The club where Pastorius was beaten was only one of many South Florida bars that had banned Pastorius because of disruptive behavior.

“What happened, I guess only Jaco knows,” his brother said last week.