Keyboard Player on Porcaro

[PocketPlayer]

These are thoughts from a keyboard player who found my site on Jeff. He just did an interview with Steve Lukather and another with Lenny Castro...

He wrote the following which led me to ask;
"Interesting you would write, "I hear him every day - so many hours, so many tracks, so awesome grooves ;o) Everything he did was magic! My biggest hero, guiding light and superhuman groove mentor and I'm not even a drummer... - "

I'd be interested to know why a non-drummer feels this way.

Yeh, me 2 ;o)... It's just how it is.... To me he's the ultimate groove machine. The groove master. I could try to focus on his many, many tracks - also listning to my own intrument - the keyboard - which I do, of course - but it's like HE MADE IT ALL HAPPEN... He was the one that made sure that a given track was special. U know what I'm saying?

Jeff has recorded bad tracks - BUT out of the enormous amount of work from '77 to '92 - it's so little that he wrote/played himself into the f'ing Groove of Fame! ;o)

Best example I'd give you is probably - one of my favourite songs with him: Pages, You Need A Hero - which says it all. Yes, I need a fucking hero - and yes, his name is Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro - perhaps the best drummer ever - not in terms of 'better technically' or speed or that stuff. But definetely one of a kind in terms of feeling, groove, precision and his very person.

Many dudes could learn from him - no matter what instrument they play. That's kind of my angle to this whole story, Joe. I'm not really listening with a drummer's ear - however, I keep hearing the sickest details, the most genious grooves and small details. They're all over the place. Every recording he did.

Many - including myself - call Jeff's playing minimalistic... yes, it probably was... He grooved beyond this world - and didn't do the usual drummer selfish thingies - BUT actually he wasn't that minimalistic. Hard to explain - especially because I'm not a drummer, but even for drummers it must be hard... He 'maintained' the groove - and it was so perfect and so tight that he seemed minimalistic, but inbetween all the notes - in every hole he could find - he would make worldclass details!

That's what I hear - the typical Jeff signatures of course, they're so obvious and classic that now everybody do them - but more like his timing and the stuff that he did in these holes - it's timeless. And it's so honest and nothing short of GENIOUS!

He didn't even know he was a genious - that's both his strenght and his weakness, maybe.

I believe I've learned more from listning to Jeff's grooves and digging into all his tracks than listening to all the LA keyboard players...

Of course my keyboard inspiration come from LA. Paich, Steve Porcaro, Toto, Philinganes, Stevie Wonder, Garfield, Babko, Weingart, Herbie Hancock, etc. But my main inspiration comes from Jeff Porcaro - and this started like in 1992 and onwards - u know why...

I forgot... ;o)

What he does at 3:19 and out - in You Need A Hero - is not 'normal'.... that's all the notes no drummer would ever imagine to be able to play, while still 'maintaining' the groove...

Same in so many tracks - also the favourite TOTO tracks - Takin' it back (how the fuck did he come up with that ending - hang on, I'll just explode now - I'm Jeff Porcaro...)

Same in These Chains & Home of the Brave ...

And the master piece: Jake to the bone


Yes, he's still and will always be the master, Joe...

I found out something - while sleeping tonight: The reason why I learned more from listening to him - as a drummer - than listening to keyboard players is... I know just by listening to him, where I shold play my notes as a keyboard player so that it sounds better than many others ;o) ... Learning by doing. Only probs is - I need a Porcaro then, when playing ;o) haha! My friend JJ - in our band actually comes quite close - but plays a bit more than JP, we'll fix...

[drumaddix]

Awesome.It's really great to hear such high praising to jeff from a keyboard player.And so seldom too.
I too wish that every instrumentist would listen to him and a lot of other drummers so they get a better sense of space,timing,silence as he showed it in almost every occasion.
I always try encourage my fellow musos to do so as i 've noticed that lots of them ,enjoy listening to other musos playing the same instrument as them,but don't really focus on the other ones.
We,as drummers,have to pay attention to everything that's happening around us,since we are responsible for creating the most appropriate part for the rest of the band to be confortable with the song.Thus,we develop a natural sense of space,air-call it what you want-.I feel it's not the case for a guitar or keyboard player.
Don't know if i make sense here but maybe someone will make it clearer.
[img]redface.gif[/img]

[PocketPlayer]

Website for interviews: http://www.bluedesert.dk/main.html

[S.P]

thats incredible! First time i've heard one player from one instrument speak so highly of someone who plays another instrument, nevermind a drummer!

Jeff was truly something soo special that it can't be described. I am very sad that i was not a drummer at the time when he was alive...hell i was only 5 years old...i just wish that he were still creating music today..

I've only got 1 album with him on, the lobotomys live album...but damn on that track Jorainbo...that grooove...i was listening to that for days and days on replay

thanks for sharing this stuff pocket!

Btw, is there anywhere i can check out a jeff porcaro discography, i know he palyed on a michael jackson album but i would like to know which one...i just got "bad" and damn is that good or what?!?!?!?!

[PocketPlayer]

SP...baby...life's right in front of you bro...see my website (end of every post I make)...I have put together the best discography on Jeff out there.

I've only got 1 album with him on
This MUST change! Email me so I can inform you--we can do some serious trading. Send me your CD list. If you don't have one, type one up.

[drumaddix]

Hey S.P,the mist of credits is too huge to be mentionned here.So i suggest you check on allmusicguide.com to have a bigger picture of what kind of career we're talking about here.Sthg like more than a thousand albums.
Here are my suggestions as to what you should listen:
-Steely dan albums:Jeff was very young when he started recording with them,and to me,it's through their music that his genious came to light."Katy Lied";pretzel logic,Gaucho,Aja,Royal Scam are some of the best contributions to music ever.They also feature the best musicians on the planet,not only drummers.They're all there man.

-Boz scaggs [img]biggrin.gif[/img] id a couple of good records IMO,think "other roads","middle man" both feature some great grooves by Jeff.

-Toto:guess you figured that one out [img]wink.gif[/img]

-Pages:the infamous album,that should have featured Vinnie as well.

Al Jarreau:"Breakin' away","Jarreau".Some amazing tracks too.

The list goes on and on but these are my picks as i remember being a kid and reading the booklets of LP's my father owned,and always find the same names.Jeff was one of them and i grew up like he was somebody that i'd known forever you know?
Like a cousin living in some distant country.