Pastorius started playing bass guitar at the age of 15 The album had performances by Pastorius with the popular bass guitarists
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 its first album,
David Pastorius and Local 518, in spring 2007 on the Japanese record label
P-Vine Records. In 2009, the band released a 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 were from the 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, Pastorius had a heart attack. He went 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 held a benefit concert to assist him and his family with his health issues. Six bands played at the event. On July 31, 2011, Pastorius performed live with the drummer
Keith LeBlanc and the 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 started to record and film a series of video "bass remixes" of songs by one of his musical idols, the American rapper
Tech N9ne, and posted them on
YouTube. Pastorius' renditions caught the attention of Tech N9ne and his record label
Strange Music, who requested him to perform a version of the Tech N9ne classic song "This Ring". In 2014, he was asked to contribute to the documentary film,
JACO: A Documentary Film, produced and co-written by
Metallicas bass guitarist
Robert Trujillo. Pastorius, with the musicians Rodrigo y Gabriela,
Chino Moreno, and
Tech N9ne, are seen in a song during the credits at the film's end. 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. ==Influences==