Stephen Kijak's documentary on the revolutionary bass guitarist JACO PASTORIUS, Jaco, was the official film of this year's Record Store Day (April 19th). METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo, who helped finance the documentary, recently spoke with VH1 about the project. An excerpt from the interview is available below:

Q: What was your first exposure to the music of Jaco Pastorius?

Robert Truillo: "You know, back in the day, being a young, inspired bass player, I started to gravitate toward jazz fusion. I almost would have called myself an elitist. I got to the point where for a little bit there I was more interested in instrumental music. Not for long, but I was more appreciative of bass solos and ripping AL DI MEOLA guitar solos, and JOHN McLAUGHLIN. So I got into that, and I started hearing about this bass player called Jaco—one name, right to the point, you know—and it was intriguing; everyone started talking about this guy. It was like, 'Whoa.' I was intrigued by the mystique of the name alone. Before that, it was all about (bassist) STANLEY CLARKE and there were a couple other players. I was really into ANTHONY JACKSON. And then Jaco just kind of came out of nowhere and started tearing it up.

And then I actually went to see him when he came through the Santa Monica Civic Center, in ’78 or ’79. My parents would actually take me to shows. My Dad lived in Venice, not too far from the Santa Monica Civic and was able to drop me off and pick me up and I was able to witness Jaco for the first time live. And that was when he was really full-steam ahead. I mean, there was baby powder on the stage, I remember him sliding into his bass guitar like it was home plate. You know what I mean? And the backdrop was the New York City skyline or something. And it was really an entertaining experience. I’d been to a lot of rock shows already by then, and this was just as exciting. Of course the first solo album was mind-boggling. It was kind of like hearing EDDIE VAN HALEN’s 'Eruption' for the first time and here’s this dude ripping on the electric guitar and I can’t tell if it’s a keyboard, a synthesizer, I didn’t know what to make of it. It was the same thing with Jaco. Here’s this guy playing this composition, all harmonics and cordal movements and then he’s ripping on a, it would have been 'Donna Lee', like 'What is this? A saxophone?' A fretless bass wasn’t as common to the ear, so the growl and everything just kind of swept you away. And then when you saw this guy, what he looked like and how he played, it was just its own, you know, beautiful monster so to speak."

Go to this location for the complete interview.