I just can't resist wading into this…
I think appreciation of all art comes down to: "I like what I like". One can come to appreciate things that one did not before due to more time, age, education, experience, phase of the moon, whatever. I'm not overly fond of solos of any instrument when they cross the line into wanking. What is or is not wanking to me is a fine line that I define for myself and it constantly and momentarily changes depending on my whim. The worst wankers by far play them six stringed geetars.
Who cares what you call the thing that's being wanked? It's a bass, it's a guitar, it's a Tuba. Wanking is Wanking.
The electric bass guitar is not even 70 years old. It's intended function was to mimic an upright. It's evolution in the hands of players soon left that limited, intended function behind and changed the face of popular music. Every step of that evolution was reviled by some and praised by others and it's no different now. If no one had gone outside the envelope with the bass guitar, we'd all be dreading playing Hold Tight, Hold Tight every night instead of Mustang Sally.
Jaco was a phenomenon in my mind. The first time I heard him with Weather Report I wasn't even sure what instrument he was playing. I think he mastered alternate possibilities of his instrument in an amazingly short time and put a big dent in legitimizing it in the minds of the snooty jazz world. Good for him.
