Jeff Porcaro

Hi folks, I want to introduce my new work:
"Jeff Porcaro Grooves" is my personal dedication to Jeff Porcaro, one of my favorite musicians. The book (48 pages) includes a biography and eight transcriptions of some his most memorable performances, playing with artists such as Toto, Boz Scaggs, Steely Dan and Michael McDonald.
You can view a 15-page preview of the book here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k9bKJqKvCigk8ILVCcZ3On9bsfh72jUW/view

More info here:
https://francisdrummer.wordpress.com/2017/10/25/new-book-jeff-porcaro-grooves-now-available/
 
Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Every video I've seen where Jeff is talking and instructing, it's clear that he's dealing with some kind of abnormal stomach thing where it seems like he has to burp on a regular basis. Does anyone know what's going on wit dat?
 
That could be a form of Tourettes.

I knew a fellow who did the same thing.

I don't think it's a stomach problem, but who knows?
 
I also noticed he does that. He does it a few times here from 4:00.

https://youtu.be/iMLGPD-nyT4

Seems to me like he probably ate a big lunch and maybe with a beer or fizzy drink before shooting the video and he's just surpressing burps.

Does he do it on other videos Larry?

Tourettes..nah. Heard several interviews with him, never interspersed with shouts of random words. Might be funny if he had though.

"When Toto first started, we..BOZ SKAGGS !.. wanted to create songs that were.MASSIVE TOMS!.. commercial but still.SWISH KNOCKERS! ...retaining musical integrity... STICK BUTT! " :D
 
I read/saw an interview where JP was saying he was growing frustrated trying to nail "Reeling in the Years." He took a break, saying they'd be better off with another drummer. Fagen and Becker came after him and convinced him to give it another try. He came back and got the track on the next take, or something to that effect.

It's a practice track of mine and one that certainly exceeds my abilities. The BD is mixed low and it's hard to distinguish exactly what's going on. Sometime it sounds like a 1 and 3 pattern, other times more of a dotted quarter-- eighth gallop thing. It also seems to straighten out somewhat on the chorus.

Can anyone give me any insight into this track?
 
I read/saw an interview where JP was saying he was growing frustrated trying to nail "Reeling in the Years." He took a break, saying they'd be better off with another drummer. Fagen and Becker came after him and convinced him to give it another try. He came back and got the track on the next take, or something to that effect.

It's a practice track of mine and one that certainly exceeds my abilities. The BD is mixed low and it's hard to distinguish exactly what's going on. Sometime it sounds like a 1 and 3 pattern, other times more of a dotted quarter-- eighth gallop thing. It also seems to straighten out somewhat on the chorus.

Can anyone give me any insight into this track?

Yep, I can help you on that.

There's two distinct bass drum variations in this song, all based on broken up 1/8 note triplets. A single complete 1/8 note triplet has 3 'partials': the '1', the 'trip' and the 'let'. So a full bar of 1/8 triplets would be:

1-trip-let 2-trip-let 3-trip-let 4-trip-let

When I say 'broken up' it simply means each triplet has one or more of any of those partials omitted to create syncopated triplet rhythms.

The instrumental and chorus sections bass drum pattern is 1(trip)let (snare) 3(trip)let (snare), where the middle partial 'trip' is omitted.

All vocal verses, the bass drum pattern is just the very last partial of each and EVERY triplet per measure, starting and ending on the 'let' of beat 2. So they're all pushed bass drum strokes on the vocal sections.

(1 trip)let (2 trip)let (3 trip)let (4 trip)let

Hope that makes sense. :)
 
Yea, I noticed it on at least 3 videos. It seems like a constant thing with him.

!! I noticed this burping almost immediately after watching that video years ago and wondered why but had no one to question it with. It was that obvious.

Always assumed it was a stomach issue that might have been with him for a while.
 
..I read/saw an interview where JP was saying he was growing frustrated trying to nail "Reeling in the Years." He took a break, saying they'd be better off with another drummer..

..Can anyone give me any insight into this track?..


Porcaro is not playing on that one..
 
Thats Jim Hodder I believe on Reeling.

Ha, looking it up to make sure I wasn't misremembering I came across and interesting tidbit on wikipedia, not sure if true, but I love stuff like this...

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page has reportedly said that Elliott Randall's guitar solo on "Reeling In the Years" is his favorite solo of all time
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: TJK
Ah, my bad. In any event thanks Merlin, will work on that.
I looked for the interview, couldn't find. Maybe it was Black Friday, that's another difficult one, and love the wicked intro fill on that.

Edit- yes, it was Black Friday, he was mentioning his dislike of shuffles.
 
Last edited:
Is anybody know what line of cymbals Paiste Jeff used on his DVD ?
"Jeff Porcaro - Instructional Drum DVD"
Especially what's serie the hi-hat ??
 
Paiste but can't quite tell from the black label.
I thought he used formula 602 heavy hi hats, though I could be wrong.
 
Last edited:
Sort of sad seeing my old heroes in Toto behaving like this.

From Rick Goings -
Regarding TOTO/Lukather - It’s time for me to share the truth.

Jeff Porcaro is not here to defend his interests, nor defend his wife. But, I am. He would be furious with Steve Lukather using his celebrity status to make false, defamatory attacks against Susan.

When Jeff tragically died in 1992, Susan, his widow, stopped everything in order to care for their three small children. The youngest was only 7 months old. Leaving behind her successful time as an ABC broadcast journalist in Los Angeles and as Mayor ProTem of an important Los Angeles city, she moved back to Florida, where she was raised. Her family helped fill the void of the boys growing up without their father.

Susan’s friends tell me her only focus was their boys. After a couple of years they encouraged her to date, but she refused. Finally, after five years, she went on her first date, with me. When we married not only did I get a wonderful wife, but I also got three amazing sons. I also knew that Jeff would be a part of our lives, because it was important to both Susan and me that he always be a part of his son’s lives.

Over the last 20 years I’ve observed Susan’s flawless character and selfless contributions to making the world a better place ... over and over again.

~ Whether traveling to countries representing the large global company where I was CEO, with the United Nations on issues regarding women and children, working with the Boys & Girls Clubs, or the Jeff Porcaro Foundation, she ALWAYS gave her all to help others. Visit ChainofConfidence.com to see her draw out stories from amazing women from all around the world, all of which she did as a volunteer.

~ Recently we co-founded the World Federation of Youth Clubs. After my years as a Board Member and Chairman of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, it was Susan who had the inspiration to create an international movement to help children. Today, there are clubs in 19 countries.

Susan has had a positive impact on so many people, but that is not the purpose of my writing. It’s to set the record straight about Lukather, and his ongoing, troubling, cruel and entirely unjustified attacks on this special, giving woman.

TOTO has been on tour for three long years. Now, blaming Susan for stopping the tour is simply ridiculous, not based on any truth. It’s all a fabrication of Lukather’s lies, and and she and our sons are the one’s suffering.

Over the years Jeff’s and Susan’s true friends have been there for her and the boys. They have frequently visited with us, including their well-known musician friends. Those warm friendships have continued for decades, and I have grown to love them, too. Like me, they are distressed by Lukather’s viciousness, although as observers for many years we are not surprised.

The first time I met Lukather was at Mike Porcaro’s house. Mike was still healthy then, before ALS took this gentle, talented, loving man. Lukather gave each of our boys a high-five and said, (please forgive this disrespectful, derogatory term) “Hey ********s...how are you?” The boys were 12, 11, and 6 years old. My initial thought was to say something to Lukather, but Mike had already warned me that he was often an embarrassment, so I said nothing.

As the years went by, Susan had the responsibility of protecting Jeff’s interests, as I was busy with my work and had little interest in TOTO’s business. She thought things were going smoothly, since David Paich and Lukather were still part of TOTO. She trusted and believed that between them and their managers, Jeff’s interests were in safe hands. She didn’t realize that for years these men who had been Jeff’s best friends and claimed him as their “brother”, had systematically taken advantage of her trusting nature and diverted income that was rightfully Jeff’s, to their own accounts.

Like so many who loved him, Mike’s illness hit Susan hard, especially because following Jeff’s death Mike had embraced their sons. They spent a lot of time with Uncle Mike and his family. Susan visited Mike frequently and did what was possible to help him and his family.

A few months before Mike died he told Susan some alarming things about TOTO. He had heard about a TOTO-Sony lawsuit that he and Susan were named in, without their knowledge. No one in TOTO, or their management, had ever notified Mike or Susan, until TOTO lost the lawsuit and Sony wanted money for their legal fees. Mike suspected something underhanded was going on. Susan promised Mike she would look into it for him, Jeff, and their families.

I suggested Susan simply ask for details from Paich, Lukather, and their representatives. Despite repeated requests, there were no answers. Eventually, a highly respected musician who also knew the business side of music, put Susan in touch with experts who had experience with these types of issues. For over two years they tried to work amicably with TOTO’s members and representatives to hopefully resolve these issues quietly. Continually, they were blocked and stalled.

It’s important to note that there are only two “real TOTO members”, Lukather and Paich, because they never made Steve Porcaro an official member of the band again. For all these years he’s only been a hired musician like the others who tour with the band.

Despite the band’s stonewalling, a number of additional alarming actions were uncovered. The first was that TOTO claimed that Jeff had relinquished his shares in TOTO’s corporation in 1994 — TWO YEARS AFTER HE DIED. Obviously impossible.

That revelation made it even more important to find out what was REALLY GOING ON. The only way to learn the truth was to file suit on Jeff’s behalf. Susan was very reluctant, because she didn’t want to be involved in a lawsuit or do anything that would hurt TOTO. This was never about money, but about protecting what Jeff had co-created and loved. It was about protecting his legacy.

Despite what Lukather is now claiming, the truth is that they never even went to court. There was a one-day mediation where the evidence against the band was so obvious that finally TOTO had no choice but to settle in a manner consistent with Susan’s original claims.

I attended the mediation as an observer. Unfortunately I had to leave early, and missed Lukather’s volatile outburst, shouting at Susan using vile language and vile gestures. The good news is that during mediation Susan was also able to look out for Mike’s interests. She tried to do the same for Steve Porcaro, but they refused.

Now, Lukather is trying to tarnish Jeff’s widow’s name. He continues his bizarre, cruel behavior spewing lies about her in interviews and blogs. No wonder TOTO Corp. has had “countless” unsuccessful lawsuits. The common thread is not the conduct of the people suing, but TOTO’s bad behavior repeatedly evidenced by Steve Lukather’s words and deeds.

The legal process has been illuminating and shocking. It brought out Lukather’s horrific actions toward his supposed “brothers” Jeff and Mike Porcaro. Actions he took after Jeff died and while Mike was terminally ill and fighting for his life. Disturbing and disgusting.

I told Susan she should make public Lukather’s video deposition. His cruel lies are startling and at times laughable.

~ The name TOTO: It’s well-documented in years of print, TV and radio interviews with all of the original members of TOTO that Jeff chose the name after watching the movie, the Wizard of Oz. Yet, during his deposition Lukather claimed that Jeff was not the one who came up with the name.

~ The song Africa: It’s also well-documented through print, TV and radio interviews with Jeff and David how they co-wrote Africa. But, in his deposition Lukather claims that Jeff did not co-write Africa, because “he’s only a drummer” and therefore no way he could write songs. Jeff actually has about 60 songs in his music catalog that he either wrote or co-wrote, despite Lukather’s ridiculous claim.

And, Lukather claiming that he’s working on a documentary but that “a widow out there ... won’t let me do anything”, is just one more lie. Susan has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about.

Susan and our family have received harassing social media messages as a result of Lukather’s deceitful remarks, which are causing distress for her and our family.

Lukather has repeatedly violated their settlement agreement. He needs to correct and discontinue his defamatory statements pertaining to Susan, who is not a public figure and does not appreciate the negative media coverage which Lukather seems to relish.

So, why hasn’t Susan personally responded to Lukather’s false claim that she is responsible for “the end of TOTO”? Because she agrees with the guidance a wise and gentle leader once gave me that I have always embraced...

“NEVER GET IN THE MUD AND FIGHT WITH A PIG...YOU’LL GET DIRTY AND THE PIG LIKES IT”.

Thank you for your time.

Please feel free to share and post. The truth needs to be told.
 
Back
Top