The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines
My latest bass project, after learning the notes to Jaco Pastorius’s best-known recordings of Charlie Parker’s ‘Donna Lee’ and his own ‘Continuum’, is Joni Mitchell’s ‘The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines’, the single from her album Mingus. I make no claim to being able to play any of the foregoing even close to the way Jaco did, but it’s the page of a score in an ongoing homage, as well as a journey of self-discovery. This video, from Joni’s Shadows and Light shows Jaco in live action on the tune, but it doesn’t stream properly.‘The Dry Cleaner’ is a startling song, in many ways – from its out-of-kilter middle section, to the stabbing horns and freshness of the overall sound – but it’s Jaco’s bass that still surprises, even 30 years after its release. Most startlingly of all, it was his own horn arrangement, and you can hear his trademark sound in every lick; he unmistakeably owns it.
For many of Mitchell’s fans, this was probably the first time they’d heard Joni Mitchell sing true jazz, and the melody is catchy and well-phrased. But analysing the bassline, note by note, reveals more. For instance, how much soul Jaco could inject into the simplest phrases, and what a phenomenal grasp of rhythm he possessed. His bassline complements the vocal rather than interfering with it, as you might have expected. The bass part is deceptively fluent; he’s not playing a traditional groove, instead punctuating it with pauses and muted notes.
I recently found this fascinating panel discussion honouring Jaco’s memory, and was overjoyed to read that his most famous instrument, the legendary, fretless “Bass of Doom” – a 1962 customised Fender Jazz stolen in Central Park when Jaco was living on the streets of New York in 1986 – was recently rediscovered in a New York music store. What a find. By all accounts, it still has Jaco’s magic in it. The live version takes even more risks and therefore isn’t as polished, but it’s a superb recording. Get the DVD.
posted by Chris Bell at 2:52 PM
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