David Pastorius is a bass guitarist born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, residing in Melbourne, Florida, United States. He is the nephew of the American jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius. Pastorius has played in numerous bands in the Florida region, has toured across the United States with various artists such as Tech N9ne and Pat Travers, appeared in a number of bass guitar related magazines and has released and appeared on several studio albums. He spent the summer of 2019 playing with Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy on the Royal Affair Tour along with Yes, Asia and John Lodge of the Moody Blues.
History
Pastorius started playing bass guitar at the age of 15 after being inspired by his high school friend, who had played the Red Hot Chili Peppers cover version of Stevie Wonder song Higher Ground for him. At the age of 17, Pastorius joined his first band FHM and began to play with local musicians performing heavy metal originals and cover songs. He had performed on the album Jaco Pastorius Big BandWord of Mouth Revisited, a tribute to Jaco Pastorius, released on August 23, 2003 by Ohio record label Heads Up International. The album featured performances by Pastorius along with popular bassists Victor Bailey, Richard Bona, Jeff Carswell, Jimmy Haslip, Christian McBride, Marcus Miller, Gerald Veasley and Victor Wooten. He formed the band, David Pastorius and Local 518, and released their debut self-titled album in the spring of 2007 on Japanese record label P-Vine Records. In 2009, the band released their follow up album entitled Sense of Urgency. In 2009, Pastorius joined the Southern punk/funk band Elephant Gun with Trevor Prince on guitar and vocals, and Tom Van Dyke on drums. The members had stemmed from local Florida bands Local 518, Goliath and Big Orange Nitty Gritty. Elephant Gun hosted Wednesday night open mic events at Hustler Bar and Pool Room in the town of Indialantic, Florida. On December 17, 2011 while playing a set at Off The Traxx Sports Bar in Melbourne, Florida with Elephant Gun, David had a heart attack. He had gone to the hospital after the show and had two stents placed in his arteries. On January 21, 2012, Baroos Beachside Bar in the town of Indialantic, Florida, held a benefit concert to assist Pastorius and his family with his health issues. Six bands had played the event On July 31, 2011, Pastorius performed live alongside drummer Keith LeBlanc and guitarist Eric Gales for the concert event Eric Gales + Voodoo Chile - A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York City. In 2013 and throughout 2014, Pastorius had started to record and film a series of video "bass remixes" of songs by one of his musical idols, American rapper, Tech N9ne, and posted them on YouTube. Pastorius's renditions caught the attention of Tech N9ne and his record label Strange Music, in turn they requested him to perform a version of the Tech N9ne classic song "This Ring". Shortly afterward in the autumn of 2014, Pastorius joined Tech N9ne's "Band Of Psychos" for a brief tour including 13 shows on the west coast of the U.S. In 2014, he was asked to contribute to the documentary film, JACO: A Documentary Film, produced and co-written by Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo. Pastorius along with music artists Rodrigo y Gabriela, Chino Moreno, and Tech N9ne are featured in a song during the credits at the films end. To assist in raising funds to complete the film, a campaign was started on crowd funding website Pledge Music; Pastorius offered 60 minute one on one video Skype lessons to help raise funds for the project. On October 6, 2014, he made an appearance at the Sweetwater Music Hall, in Mill Valley, California for a work-in-progress screening of the film and a special live performance with a variety of music artists.
