Jeff Porcaro

Originally stated by RainCloudMusic earlier in the thread...

"Jeff also shows up BIGTIME for "Chicago" .... on "17", the first tune is all Jeff.

I thought for years that was Seraphine, but it was Porcaro on "Stay the Night"."

Is this true?

I've checked out the cd and only Seraphine is credited. There is an additional musicians part to the credits, and he's not in there either.
 
when I first heard "Hold the Line" by Toto I was totally blown away I like all his stuff with Toto,Steely-Dan,etc.

a total devistating loss

Bonzolead
 
Jeff was one of the GREATEST drummers EVER.

Probably the drummer that inspired and influenced me the most - and keeps doing so...

/M
 
Jeff also played on Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' album. Jeff and Steve Lukather are my fav musicians of all time. They are way under-appreciated i think.

Mark
 
I only just found out that Porcaro was the drummer on 'The Lowdown' by Bozz Scaggs and I haven't heard that song in ages, so I checked it out. Forgot how tight the drumming is on that song ... but does anybody know what the heck is up with the hats? They have to be double-tracked ... right? I just don't see how someone could keep that constant pulse you hear on the left channel while doing all those splashes on the right.
 
I miss him. I'm thankful his replacement is worthy (VERY WORTHY), but nobody grooves and nobody will EVER groove like Porcaro.
 
AllTheCoolNamesAreTaken said:
but does anybody know what the heck is up with the hats? They have to be double-tracked ... right? I just don't see how someone could keep that constant pulse you hear on the left channel while doing all those splashes on the right.
Click to expand...

Yes, the 8th note hihat part is part of the original drum track, while the 16ths are an overdub. There's an old article from Modern Drummer where he talks about the Silk Degrees sessions and how he had fun improvising with himself for that overdub.
 
Womble said:
Whoa I don't know how I've only just seen this thread! Ok, some albums Jeff lovers should definitely own:

1) Randy Crawford, Secret Combination: a pretty cheesy album in places but has Jeff and Abe Laboriel throughout - 'You might need somebody' has an incredibly 'phat' shuffle groove.

2) Larry Carlton, Friends: again, Abe and Jeff. Bass and drums don't come much tighter. A very listenable 80's guitar album.

3) Dire Straits, On Every Street: 'Calling Elvis' features absolutely perfect rock drumming. You must hear this track!! The big single off the album was 'Heavy fuel'; crap song, great drumming, with a massive Jeff snare fill at the end.

4) TOTO, The Seventh One: features what I think is Jeff's best ever shuffle on the track 'These chains'. And a great Lukather solo at the end, but then every solo that guy plays is amazing.

5) TOTO, Kingdom of Desire: bad album, but the track 'How many times' has one of the greatest Jeff fills ever. You can hear it on Keith Kronin's 'Drum licks from hell' site - http://www.keithcronin.com/fromhell.html

6) It's already been mentioned but the Michael McDonald track 'I keep forgettin' is probably Jeff's finest moment.

And let's not forget Michael Jackson's 'Heal the world'...lmao :)

If you really want to see Jeff at his best though you've got to get the TOTO Live DVD, filmed in Paris in '92. Every time I watch it I'm flawed by his time; he never ever drags or speeds up, except for the odd deliberate moment in a fill. I've never heard a drummer who had such control over the tempo...possibly Jim Keltner, but he did it in a different way. I've always been a massive Jeff fan but my respect for him was brought to new levels when it was pointed out to me, or at least opined, when I was at LAMA that Jeff was the only drummer who never once dragged or sped up. Not even JR could claim that.
Click to expand...

Not to mention his works with 10cc ("Woman in love"), Les Dudek, Triumvirat, Radioactive...
 
Re: This was Jeff Porcaro

Thanks for posting - I can't beleive it has been so long. A great player and a great guy. Truly missed.

Paul
 
It's been a long time and I had to re-register....oh well.
In answer to the question (Re: Jeff on "Chicago's" "Stay the Night").
Yeah. That's him. I was one of 4 people doing his credits list at Toto Network last year. Some good-natured nut asked me to manage that project! Anyway. Yeah; Jeff's the guy.
When a player shows up on a record uncredited, it's called a "ghost credit".

It was Foster's decision to use Jeff for "Stay the Night"
CARLOS VEGA is the groove behind "You're the Inspiration" as well.... two of the absolute best on the same record------three, if you count Seraphine, whose work I've always admired.


T





TonyAKA said:
Originally stated by RainCloudMusic earlier in the thread...

"Jeff also shows up BIGTIME for "Chicago" .... on "17", the first tune is all Jeff.

I thought for years that was Seraphine, but it was Porcaro on "Stay the Night"."

Is this true?

I've checked out the cd and only Seraphine is credited. There is an additional musicians part to the credits, and he's not in there either.
Click to expand...
 
"Gaucho" (Jeff/Steely Dan)

In researching Jeff's credits list for Toto Network, I found a Gary Katz interview someplace (I'll have to look it up and post the link----gimme a couple days, please....).

The interview detailed the tracking session for "Gaucho".
Porcaro and Katz did 46 seperate takes and pieced that track together bar-by-bar. Jeff's efforts kept the tune from being trashed.

""When Jeff was working, especially with Donald and Walter, his sense of devotion was unmatched. If he'd feel he wasn't doing exactly what Donald wanted, Jeff -- being the huge fan and the man that he was -- would throw his sticks at the wall in frustration and say, 'Get someone who knows how to play a shuffle! Call Purdie!' A few minutes would pass, he'd collect himself and do another take, and on those occasions he always brought to my face another smile.' Jeff's formidable efforts on behalf of "Gaucho" rescued the track from being scrapped."

"We were recording tracks for Steely Dan's "Gaucho" album at A&R. It was Jeffrey and three other musicians. In those days, we would record tracks forty, fifty, sixty times until Donald felt he had a track that was steady enough. In those days ('79), we didn't use click tracks, and the kind of click track that was available, Jeffrey hated. We played the track for quite a long time that night, and at about 11:00 or so, Donald said it wasn't working for him. When that happened, it was usually the kiss of death; we never tried the track again and the song would be lost. So at 11:00 he and Walter felt they had exhausted that track and were going to call it a night. Jeffrey and I were upset about that, because it was definitely going to hit the can, and we loved the song. Donald said, 'Okay, you guys stay, and if you cut a track that you like, call us and we'll come back.'

"We stayed there most of the night. I had a chart, and Jeffrey would play a take, and I would hear eight good bars -- not that all the bars weren't good -- but I tried to think like Donald. But I would mark those bars, and then the next four good bars... we did about seventy takes. We finally left at about 5:00 in the morning, and the next day I went to the studio with Roger Nichols and Jeff, and we literally edited this track bar by bar. I had all these markings on my chart... it was a fluke that I made a track that felt good. We called Donald, and they came over late in the afternoon and couldn't find anything wrong with it. And as nonchalantly as he had left the night before, he said, `There's another track.' "

http://www.granatino.com/sdresource/20katz.htm
 
What a great video, OMG, I love Jeff's playing. I remember exactly what I was doing when I heard he died. I regret never seeing him live.
 
Re: Jeff Porcaro "Lido Shuffle Live"

Alexdrum75 said:
'nother great video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pvi5La-fXU
Click to expand...


That's a riot to watch.
What's funny about the gig is that one minute, you see JP in glasses and the next, the specs are .....gone. My guess (having worn glasses for 32 years) is that they had gotten in his way at one point......

That's a great live gig -tight group.


As I type, "Mushanga" is playing. I'm starting over after several years of not playing....I've seen the DVD and Jeff's demo of the Mushanga pattern. IT's gonna be a few years before I nail that one down.
YIKES. How scary could this guy be?????
T
 
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