The constantly quotable Allyn Robinson was the drummer for the CC Riders during Jaco's tenure.  

Jaco and I played briefly, like 9 or 10 months in Wayne’s band in the early 70’s. 

There was a tendency in Wayne’s band, when a guy gave his notice they kind of procrastinated on getting a replacement.  So this guy Artie (the bass player), you know he had a wife and kids and stuff and he said, “I’ve got to get off the road”.  So we put it off and put it off and I think Bob Bobbing told Bob Gable that there was this little kid that was playing with kind of a Wayne Cochran cover band, a band called Tommy Strand in Miami.  So (musical director) Charlie Brent, myself, and Bob Gable went to the club to hear the band.  There was this little skinny kid that had all these little chops and stuff.  “Well this is cool, ya know, he might work.”  So we had like an audition.  So he came in and played the rehearsal.  He played the book down, you know, all written charts.  So at the end of rehearsal Charlie pulls out a new chart to rehearse.  He puts the music in front of Jaco and Jaco is just like “Well what do you want me to do with this?”  And Charlie says “You just rehearsed with my book for an hour, this is a new tune”.  And Jaco says, “Well I can’t read”.  And Charlie says, “What do you mean you can’t read?”  And Jaco says, “Well I came in last night and caught the show”.  So what he did was he memorized the show from the night before. 

A lot of things that we take for granted now, in the early 70’s nobody played that way.  The way bass players play today is post Jaco.  This is like when there was no Jaco, pre Jaco, cause this is Jaco time.  He was discovering himself.

Charlie and I come from New Orleans, and we had this greasy funk thing going on that was just a nesting bed for Jaco.  His mind just developed in leaps and bounds, musically and playing wise, and arrangement wise.  Jaco was rooming with Charlie, picking his brain and stuff.  So Jaco says he wants to write a tune.  Originally most of the tunes he just wrote around bass solos.  You know, he had his bass solo, and he said, “Well this is cool, I’ll write a tune around it”.  So Charlie said ok, go ahead, write something and we’ll do it at rehearsal.  We were in someplace right outside Baltimore.  So Jaco brings this chart, that later became Domingo.  He brought it to rehearsal, and he put it out, and it was just a head chart and solos.  So Charlie says “Man, get out of here with that.  That’s just a head chart.  If your gonna write something write me an arrangement.”  So Jaco took the tune, and the next day he came back and he had this big, elaborate, orchestrated horn arrangement.  That was the first orchestrated and arranged tune that he had written. 

(Later in his life)...he carried around a gig tape from Wayne’s band.  He kind of clung to that period cause he was happy.  Stuff was fun.  It wasn’t a business; he didn’t have to worry about this, and that.  There was no pressure, he was just living life.  That was the thing that was so motivating about him; he had such a zest for life itself, and such a passion for living.  An enthusiasm that was so infectious.  He was one of the most motivating and inspiring people I’ve ever met. 

More than anything else Jaco was a dear friend.  I miss him a lot.