Re: OFFICIAL JEFF PORCARO THREAD
Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2022 10:46 pm
From Peter Erskine's 100 Drummer's list on Jeff;
Day #81. Jeff Porcaro. "That's Why" After living in LA for three years, I made the move to New York and began living in Manhattan, first as Steve Khan's neighbor (subletting Warren Bernhardt's co-op studio, located right above a dry cleaner's shop) and then for 4 years in a cool co-op place on 29th Street between 8th & 9th. Was working with Steps (which had already been re-named "Steps Ahead" by that time) ... anyway, quiet evening alone in the apartment, listening to this Michael McDonald LP, some great tracks ... I get to this tune and listen to it once, and then again, and then a third time, realizing all of a sudden that I'm crying. Why? Because the drumming was, to me, perfect. I wept to be witness to such perfection. The only other time this has happened to me was when I listened to the duet of Elvin Jones and John Coltrane on the Kulu Se Mama album ("Vigil").
So, please enjoy this perfect drum track. Jeff Porcaro. That's why. (Thinking on this ... I suspect that, up until that moment, the fierce motivation to get "better" had always been fueled (fooled?) by the belief system I had built up over the years that anything was possible to achieve on the instrument. Perhaps my tears were part of a sudden realization that I would never be able to do what Jeff could do ... and this eventually allowed me to grow. Every glimpse of our limitations, whether dealing with mortality or Morello, can and should be harrowing at first. We'll all always have Jeff to thank for showing us the way.)
Day #81. Jeff Porcaro. "That's Why" After living in LA for three years, I made the move to New York and began living in Manhattan, first as Steve Khan's neighbor (subletting Warren Bernhardt's co-op studio, located right above a dry cleaner's shop) and then for 4 years in a cool co-op place on 29th Street between 8th & 9th. Was working with Steps (which had already been re-named "Steps Ahead" by that time) ... anyway, quiet evening alone in the apartment, listening to this Michael McDonald LP, some great tracks ... I get to this tune and listen to it once, and then again, and then a third time, realizing all of a sudden that I'm crying. Why? Because the drumming was, to me, perfect. I wept to be witness to such perfection. The only other time this has happened to me was when I listened to the duet of Elvin Jones and John Coltrane on the Kulu Se Mama album ("Vigil").
So, please enjoy this perfect drum track. Jeff Porcaro. That's why. (Thinking on this ... I suspect that, up until that moment, the fierce motivation to get "better" had always been fueled (fooled?) by the belief system I had built up over the years that anything was possible to achieve on the instrument. Perhaps my tears were part of a sudden realization that I would never be able to do what Jeff could do ... and this eventually allowed me to grow. Every glimpse of our limitations, whether dealing with mortality or Morello, can and should be harrowing at first. We'll all always have Jeff to thank for showing us the way.)