Jeff was almost tabbed as the drummer on Eddie Murphy's "Party All The Time" with his younger brother Steve (who played the synths on the track) - but he wisely turned down the offer. And instead, they went with an Oberheim DMX drum machine (which is obviously audible.) Imagine how awesome that song would have been had Jeff accepted the offer to play on it. Apparently, the Porcaros' longtime Toto bandmate, Steve Lukather, also turned down the offer to play electric guitar on the track. They went with R&B/funk sessions guitarist Gordon Banks - and Michael Jackson and Madonna guitarist David Williams, instead.
Yeah, I read in Modern Drummer that Jeff said he already had dents in his drum heads from hitting extra hard for her ... as he snapped, he her her yelling in his head phones "LOUDER, LOUDER".
Agreed. The man was a genius. That's like trying to tell Miles Davis, "You know, here's an idea...play it THIS way instead" OH MY GOODNESS!! If anyone tried that shit with Miles? Heaven's to Betsy! I can't imagine what his reaction would've been...
There’s a coda to the Rickie Lee Story. He was called again for another Rickie session for her third album, The Magazine, and he played on a track called Must be Love. Apparently, Rickie asked for him personally and made things right between them. She had been in some tough spots (drug use, reportedly) during the recording of her second album, and was in a much better emotional state for the third record. She acknowledged to Jeff and to others that Jeff was the most connected, responsive, and sensitive drummer she’d played with. It’s been a loooong time since I first read this story, i believe in a Modern Drummer interview, so some of my details may be approximated but the gist is accurate.
Yah, I remember that article. Ricky Lee Jones wanted the fill played so loud that Jeff had beaten little dents into the heads of his drums, which means he was hitting them far harder than anyone ever plays drums in a studio setting. Enough was enough.
Interesting, but schooling Jeff Porcaro. You have to be crazy. Everything that guy recorded is perfectionism. Drummers will seek to emulate that guy forever.
the story about Jeff Porcaro ,trying to cut a song and he felt uncomfortable , he went in to the phone and called another well know drummer to do the cut for him, Jeff was a great person ,in the late 70 a musician needed 15,000 dollars for downpayment to buy a house, and he told Jeff and jeff gave to him the money...RIP Jeff your gratitude is unforgettable
I think Steve Lukather said that he had such a calming and confident charisma that made him ideal for highly skilled studio drummer projects like Thriller
Bill, I'm glad you are coming out with the truthful stories that few ever speak about! I was on many abusive sessions with producers or artists, that will never be told. Your credits & respect make these stories stick! Thank you
My favorite Jeff Porcaro story is where he leaves a recording session for Barbra Streisand to go home but told the Barbra he was just going to make a phone call. Needless to say when he came back Barbra asked him where he'd been and that they were looking all over for him, to which is answered he just got off the phone.
I know several musicians who were on that session. It was Untied Recording, or Western Recording studio. Barbara liked to record with a full band, strings included! I understand there were at least 20 musicians in the room, that's a lot of $. After 2 or 3 takes, he got up & made his "phone call"! 19 musicians on scale for 3 hours had to be paid!
I wonder what Jeff's side of that story is. From everything we have heard about him, he was extremely caring and respectful of every session and aware of the wasting of people's time and money.
Would love to know what it was like working with Pablo Cruise. "A Place in the Sun", "Worlds Away", and "Part of the Game" are fantastic. All engineered by Bill Schnee
I love the stories of how Jeff would "control" the session. If he thought it was going long, or there was a conflict or he saw guys getting frustrated, he would assertively tell the producer "That's the take. That's the one." and would get up and leave.
Thanks for doing this interview, John. Bill is just the best. Cannot wait to read the book. The Jeff/Rickie Lee story is legendary at this point, as is the Jeff/Jay Graydon story. Less well-known (but equally funny) is the Jeff/Roberto Carlos story. Jeff had the patience of a roomful of saints, but every saint has his/her breaking point.
@@paulboisvert5137 I don't know the exact details of the story, but I remember the name (Jay Graydon) from a Vinnie Colaiuta interview. He was discussing how humiliated he felt while working some project with Graydon. As he said, "Thank God for Jeff. He peed in Jay's bag to defend me!"
Jeff discussed that RLJ session in one of his MD Interviews. Apparently at a later date, she ran into him and apologized. There may have been substances involved in her part at the time of the session.
Yes he did! I was going to bring that up, too. It's a great story from the November 1988 Modern Drummer issue. In the interview he described how the rather rude, repeated requests from RLJ kept escalating, regarding this particular fill not being loud enough for her. And at some point, after feeling very disrespected, he just "went left" as he put it, stabbed the heads with his sticks and got up and left the session. Oddly, she later requested Jeff to play a couple songs on her subsequent record, to which he responded, "Does she even know who I am??" Jeff was always a gentleman in sessions, and was actually known for being the one person in the room to make sure everyone on the session was feeling comfortable, so this situation was really unusual.
@@roelkuiper9919 Yeah I read that same interview where he said he held the sticks like daggers. "Nobody but Nobody talks to me that way".--gotta love Jeff man
Sorry, this is long. I'm no legend and certainly no Jeff, but I had a very similar situation on a session 3 years ago. It was a jazz vocalist doing mostly original material. One chart was a 12/8 feel kind of like Aretha's "Natural Woman". In fact it was the only way to play this song. COOL! First verse cross rim click. Tasteful, musical, dynamic. Chorus. Add Backbeat, but not too heavy. 2nd verse Back beat. Building. 2nd chorus, little bigger and ride cymbal with a stronger big back beat. The singer comes on the mic, "I just needs to be bigger here." I'm like, Cool. I was using 5B sticks and I was using the butt end because of the cross rim beginning and it just sounds fatter. We run it again. I'm playing pretty full and hard, but musical. She stops. "It still needs to be bigger." O.K. I say. I really start laying into it with a nice big open tom fill going into it. Again, she Stops. "It just isn't big enough. Is there something else you can do?" I say, "Hold on." Keeping cool I go into the control room. Now my blood is starting to pump and I am starting to lose my cool. I said to the engineer, Let me hear the play back in here. It was beautiful. Dynamic. Very musical. I said to the engineer, "What the fuck does she want?" He looks at me kind of stunned. Shrugs. I go back in and say, "I have an idea." Smile. They probably heard me in the control room. LOL! We try it again. By now, I am like, lesson learned when I was 16. Play as unmusical as possible and be bombastic. Forget musicality. They will go nuts and love it. That actually did happen when I was 16. So I go in and say, Just a second. I put up a 20" China, 20" crash, 21" ride, 18" crash. I was already using my 6 1/2" Ludwig Supraphonic (THE Bonham snare.) I'm like, "O.K." I beat the shit out of the drums. I Pounded the toms and literally played every backbeat with a huge crash on 2 and 4 with the 20 or the 20 swish and crashes and snare. Like heavy metal hard! It was awful! "O.k. I think that's better. It just still feels like it could be bigger ya know?" I'm like, "I think you are listening to this with post production ears. Put a big reverb on it, compress it and put some post production details on it. It will be great" She goes, "Maybe. It just needs to be bigger. Let's move on." Sounds good. They used that freaking take. I think is sucks. It Took forever to get paid and I refused to do the cd release with her because of that. Too much drama and I should not have to ask to get paid after a session. The gig had already turned from a showcase show to a happy hour time slot. Nice. No audience will be there for this. I finally did cave on that gig that had been pre booked which was contingent for the grant money for this project to be fully paid. The gig was fine. I Do not miss the drama of that artist, who I am convinced did not know what she wanted and could not tell me. Or anyone. I am far better off. Don't even ask me about rehearsals that went into this project! How much time do you want to waste talking about what chords the piano player should play at the ending of a tune? Figure that out before hand and write it down. It just never ended.
Great story. Frustrating for you but a good glimpse into what we session guys go through. I was super thankful the studio I worked out of had a great producer and engineer and would normally “mediate” these kinds of situations so I didn’t have to. His famous line was, “well wait until I sprinkle some faerie dust on it.” That usually placated the finicky, unsure-what-they-want, artist.
Buying this book! Cool stuff! Sorry I’m late to the show, I see this is a year ago. As a drummer I’m never late! I’m just catching up! Haaa! Great channel!
I got the Kindle edition and need to get the hard copy to add to Robyn's book. Steve Porcaro introduced Schnee to someone one day with, "Bill was Jeff's Favorite Engineer".
I remember reading J. Porcaro’s account of that incident. She had him slam that fill down harder than he thought made sense. He used clear Ambassadors on his toms and when he played it as hard as she wanted, it made dents in the tom heads, which meant now they’d buzz if he hit them lightly. The next take was when things hit critical mass.
Your interviews...always seem to bring out interesting and unexpected anecdotes and reflections. I’m not sure if it’s expert technique, or just your general engagement style. Whatever it is...it WORKS!
Joe Sample. "Ashes to Ashes" is, BY FAR, my favorite LP of his material. I believe it is the only Joe Sample album to be engineered by Bill Schnee. Huge fan of his work.
Is Jeff playing drums on that album? I’m just checking it out and the first moments sound like him and the artwork looks like something he would have done
If you're not happy with Jeff Porcaro, you're not a happy person, period. That's a disgraceful lack of respect for an absolute legend, a superb professional, and a very decent man.
i could listen to his stories all day!!! MOAR!!! that story about Jeff is great. most pros would not put up with that bs cause it's invested time and money.
"Drummer's" revenge: Whoa, whoa, whoa... stop the tape. Stop it... Hey, singer, I don't like that note you just sang. Could you do this? Do, do, dee, do? Not do, dee, do, do?
'Tis true. The list of "who's who" on that album reminded me of why I don't care to know how hot dogs are made, figuratively speaking. Off the top of my head: Richard Marx, Kenny Cetera, Steve Lukather, Donny Osmond - ignore the haters, Donny - Greg Adams, and I guess David Foster, too. (Not all on the same song, mind you, but sprinkled throughout the Chicago 17 album.)
@@GarrettWorcester Foster produced the album, and his first mistake was gating Jeff's drums as heavily as they are on "Stay". He is "ghost credited". He is there....but his name doesn't show up anywhere on the record. The full story can be read in Seraphine's book, "Street Player; My Chicago Story". Thing is this. They just called and told Danny, "Not to bother coming in to work. that day." He had NO CLUE they'd hired Porcaro!!!!
.. and Bill's story about Ricky Lee jones goes right along my experience seeing her at a beautiful theatre in victoria B.C. friends of mine amazing musicians were hired to accompany her for the du maurier jazz festival...onstage, in the middle of performing she fired the musicians while in the performance.... I left the show and demanded my money back....I wouldn't support that type of nastiness, musicians were amazing players... I can imagine how Jeff felt.... good on him though haha sticks IN the snare haha!!
Porcaro was not Bernard Purdie, he was not Steve Gadd ffs: “Pirates was Jones' second album. She brought Lenny Waronker and Russ Titelman back to produce, but this time the session were much more difficult. "We Belong Together" was especially challenging because she couldn't get the drums to her liking. It took three different sessions, all with different sets of musicians, to get it right. "I just could not find the right drum patterns," she told Uncut. "I was referencing Jackson Browne and Steely Dan, neither of which was leading us to the right feel. Then Steve Gadd asked me to play it for him again, and he sat and watched my body as I played, looking at where I stamped my foot in the last verse. He did this genius thing of playing what sounded like a shuffle or a 3/4. He found this other time and it pulled the whole song together, and it was majestic." So yeah, the song speaks for itself.
In all fairness to Rickie Lee Jones, her 1st record Jeff played on was huge and he was invited back and played on her 3rd record. Jeff also walked out of a session with Steely Dan saying he couldn't play a song they wanted him to play. They insisted and he got it done. Jeff left us with an amazing catalogue but it didn't always come easy.
That session was for "Black Friday". Porcaro wasn't comfortable with shuffles at that point, but I guess he got over that hurdle.
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There was a story I heard from Leland Sklar where he advised NEW artists that you best be very respectful to the session musicians because they many Tim’s can make or break you!!! 🤔
It is hard to believe that somebody is out of touch( in their own little world) that they would disrespect one of the greatest drummers that ever lived. I was listening to LA session guitarist Tim Pierce talking to Rick Beato and he said during a session with Adele she said she didn't like "wah-wah pedal.
Walter Becker tells a story of Rikki planning on not crediting his producing and he's like, c'mon this is what I was asked to do and not getting credited on the record would be a stab in the back as well as stab to career! It was the horses record, you can't miss the Becker in the melody! he was credited of course.
Interesting... just watched a video 2 days ago where Jim Campilongo said that a session with RL Jones was the only time he was fired, and that indeed, she was hard to work with
Bernard Purdy would place a big poster next to his kit on gigs, stating.... "You've hired the best. The Purdy Shuffle beats all the rest!" (Porcaro matched him, and then some!)
Like Jeff, I'm Italian...that Italian temper came out! LOL I mean, not even getting to know your session drummer and addressing him by name is just plain rude. Jeff was such an amazing intuitive player.
Concerning your incident with Julio Iglesias, I have to tell you that particularly, the worst singers, are the worst to work with. They don’t have any idea of how to do things, yet, they think they can direct engineers, musicians, and everybody who is around. Don’t enjoy it exclamation
This story is in a book about Jeff. It's the ONLY negative thing in the book. At the end of the book there is an appendix with a discography of Jeff's work. I reqad this book months ago and still haven't gotten through that list. It's just too daunting.
The irony of Mr. Schneider talking about how disrespectful artists are is lost on all but those who had the misfortune to serve as his assistant. He was the most abusive, nasty self absorbed engineer I ever encountered during my decade working in major NYC recording studio. Does he discuss any of that in his book?
There's a reason Rickie is known for one song and Jeff is known for too many to count.
If you pissed off Jeff Porcaro... you are a piece of work. I've only ever heard what a great, talented, helpful guy he was.
Jeff would be the last guy I would ever tell how to play drums lol. The guy was a master on the kit and deserved every ounce of respect he got.
Exactly
Jeff was almost tabbed as the drummer on Eddie Murphy's "Party All The Time" with his younger brother Steve (who played the synths on the track) - but he wisely turned down the offer. And instead, they went with an Oberheim DMX drum machine (which is obviously audible.) Imagine how awesome that song would have been had Jeff accepted the offer to play on it. Apparently, the Porcaros' longtime Toto bandmate, Steve Lukather, also turned down the offer to play electric guitar on the track. They went with R&B/funk sessions guitarist Gordon Banks - and Michael Jackson and Madonna guitarist David Williams, instead.
Half the point of recording for these boomer musicians is treating people like crap.
Yeah, I read in Modern Drummer that Jeff said he already had dents in his drum heads from hitting extra hard for her ... as he snapped, he her her yelling in his head phones "LOUDER, LOUDER".
Agreed. The man was a genius. That's like trying to tell Miles Davis, "You know, here's an idea...play it THIS way instead" OH MY GOODNESS!! If anyone tried that shit with Miles? Heaven's to Betsy! I can't imagine what his reaction would've been...
There’s a coda to the Rickie Lee Story. He was called again for another Rickie session for her third album, The Magazine, and he played on a track called Must be Love. Apparently, Rickie asked for him personally and made things right between them. She had been in some tough spots (drug use, reportedly) during the recording of her second album, and was in a much better emotional state for the third record. She acknowledged to Jeff and to others that Jeff was the most connected, responsive, and sensitive drummer she’d played with.
It’s been a loooong time since I first read this story, i believe in a Modern Drummer interview, so some of my details may be approximated but the gist is accurate.
Yes thats right. I remember that in a MD article as well 😊
I remember that interview. My memory of it is consistent with yours 👍
...I still have that issue of MD.
I am very happy to hear that. I knew Joe, Jeff's Dad and they were just very nice people
Yah, I remember that article. Ricky Lee Jones wanted the fill played so loud that Jeff had beaten little dents into the heads of his drums, which means he was hitting them far harder than anyone ever plays drums in a studio setting. Enough was enough.
Brilliant as always - JP a legend sadly missed - Kevin UK 😎
Without a doubt a huge legend.
I had the same cancer. Glad that you're still with us!
Interesting, but schooling Jeff Porcaro. You have to be crazy. Everything that guy recorded is perfectionism. Drummers will seek to emulate that guy forever.
Indeed, we do.
the story about Jeff Porcaro ,trying to cut a song and he felt uncomfortable , he went in to the phone and called another well know drummer to do the cut for him, Jeff was a great person ,in the late 70 a musician needed 15,000 dollars for downpayment to buy a house, and he told Jeff and jeff gave to him the money...RIP Jeff your gratitude is unforgettable
I think Steve Lukather said that he had such a calming and confident charisma that made him ideal for highly skilled studio drummer projects like Thriller
Jeff was known to recommend other drummers when he thinks their styles are better for a song. That's humility and generosity, right there.
Bill, I'm glad you are coming out with the truthful stories that few ever speak about! I was on many abusive sessions with producers or artists, that will never be told. Your credits & respect make these stories stick!
Thank you
If I was blessed enough to have Jeff Porcaro play on one of my tracks and it sounded great....I would rearrange the song to accommodate....
That’s awesome! And nailed that last comment per se! Haaaa
My favorite Jeff Porcaro story is where he leaves a recording session for Barbra Streisand to go home but told the Barbra he was just going to make a phone call. Needless to say when he came back Barbra asked him where he'd been and that they were looking all over for him, to which is answered he just got off the phone.
I know several musicians who were on that session. It was Untied Recording, or Western Recording studio. Barbara liked to record with a full band, strings included! I understand there were at least 20 musicians in the room, that's a lot of $. After 2 or 3 takes, he got up & made his "phone call"! 19 musicians on scale for 3 hours had to be paid!
@@stephenstephen1217 And yet Streisand is the one who gets the reputation for being "difficult"!
@@stephenstephen1217 I have to side with Babs on this one
@@stephenstephen1217 Oh man! I can't begin to imagine the price of that sort of environment!
I wonder what Jeff's side of that story is. From everything we have heard about him, he was extremely caring and respectful of every session and aware of the wasting of people's time and money.
I was interning at a recording studio that had a session with her. I can relate to Jeff's story.
@trebeaudoin9555 Vas-y, give us the details.
Kids these are the true Giants. A real Legend. Thanks for this!
I would give anything to see a video of Jeff doing that
I’ve definitely been called “drummer” many times in the studio. Learning someone’s name goes a really long way.
I absolutely Love Bill's work with Pablo Cruise. The combo of Steve Price's playing and the tight sound Bill got is just wonderful.
Good interview John. Love these behind the scenes stories.
I can't believe she actually tried to tell Jeff Porcaro how to play drums.
I’m amazed that RLJ treated Jeff this way I respect both musicians brilliant work
Might be a reason why her career was so short lived. If she spoke to people like that. So glad you recovered Bill 🙏💎💙
Would love to know what it was like working with Pablo Cruise. "A Place in the Sun", "Worlds Away", and "Part of the Game" are fantastic. All engineered by Bill Schnee
I think Toto’s David Paich and Mike Porcaro each contributed on a Pablo Cruise album.
I love the stories of how Jeff would "control" the session. If he thought it was going long, or there was a conflict or he saw guys getting frustrated, he would assertively tell the producer "That's the take. That's the one." and would get up and leave.
The book is called “Chairman AT The Board”, actually. Nifty title.
Thanks for doing this interview, John. Bill is just the best. Cannot wait to read the book. The Jeff/Rickie Lee story is legendary at this point, as is the Jeff/Jay Graydon story. Less well-known (but equally funny) is the Jeff/Roberto Carlos story. Jeff had the patience of a roomful of saints, but every saint has his/her breaking point.
WAIT.... JP/Roberto Carlos I have not heard! SPILL!!! 🤣.
What is the Jeff/Graydon story? I really want to know.
@@paulboisvert5137 I don't know the exact details of the story, but I remember the name (Jay Graydon) from a Vinnie Colaiuta interview. He was discussing how humiliated he felt while working some project with Graydon. As he said, "Thank God for Jeff. He peed in Jay's bag to defend me!"
There are few Drummers in the cacophony of Musicians that are respected, admired and loved by both Musicians and Fans, Jeff is one of those Guys.
Good for Jeff. I'd think you'd b lucky to have Jeff drumming on your track
Chicago, David Foster, Humberto Gatica & Bill Schnee on Chicago 16 = Legendary Results...
great book -- full of behind the scenes stories
Fantastic interview. I learn so much from this channel. The people behind the scenes that make the magic.
Was just thinking of Jeff when you uploaded, perfect coincidence. He was so amazing what a loss.
Really enjoyed these stories 😂👍🏻
Jeff told this story in Modern Drummer once
Great interview! This dude has got some cool behind the scene stories!
The Jeff story is also in Robyn Flans book about Porcaro as well.
It's one hell of a book. Robyn outdid herself.
Love that book
Priceless!!!!
Jeff discussed that RLJ session in one of his MD Interviews. Apparently at a later date, she ran into him and apologized. There may have been substances involved in her part at the time of the session.
Yes he did! I was going to bring that up, too. It's a great story from the November 1988 Modern Drummer issue. In the interview he described how the rather rude, repeated requests from RLJ kept escalating, regarding this particular fill not being loud enough for her. And at some point, after feeling very disrespected, he just "went left" as he put it, stabbed the heads with his sticks and got up and left the session. Oddly, she later requested Jeff to play a couple songs on her subsequent record, to which he responded, "Does she even know who I am??" Jeff was always a gentleman in sessions, and was actually known for being the one person in the room to make sure everyone on the session was feeling comfortable, so this situation was really unusual.
I think I remember reading that interview too. I thought it sounded familiar when he mentioned RLJ.
@@geetarman Serious?
@@geetarman Search “Chuck E’s in Love”
@@roelkuiper9919 Yeah I read that same interview where he said he held the sticks like daggers. "Nobody but Nobody talks to me that way".--gotta love Jeff man
Sorry, this is long. I'm no legend and certainly no Jeff, but I had a very similar situation on a session 3 years ago. It was a jazz vocalist doing mostly original material. One chart was a 12/8 feel kind of like Aretha's "Natural Woman". In fact it was the only way to play this song. COOL! First verse cross rim click. Tasteful, musical, dynamic. Chorus. Add Backbeat, but not too heavy. 2nd verse Back beat. Building. 2nd chorus, little bigger and ride cymbal with a stronger big back beat.
The singer comes on the mic, "I just needs to be bigger here." I'm like, Cool. I was using 5B sticks and I was using the butt end because of the cross rim beginning and it just sounds fatter. We run it again. I'm playing pretty full and hard, but musical. She stops. "It still needs to be bigger." O.K. I say. I really start laying into it with a nice big open tom fill going into it.
Again, she Stops. "It just isn't big enough. Is there something else you can do?" I say, "Hold on." Keeping cool I go into the control room. Now my blood is starting to pump and I am starting to lose my cool. I said to the engineer, Let me hear the play back in here. It was beautiful. Dynamic. Very musical. I said to the engineer, "What the fuck does she want?" He looks at me kind of stunned. Shrugs. I go back in and say, "I have an idea." Smile. They probably heard me in the control room. LOL!
We try it again. By now, I am like, lesson learned when I was 16. Play as unmusical as possible and be bombastic. Forget musicality. They will go nuts and love it. That actually did happen when I was 16. So I go in and say, Just a second. I put up a 20" China, 20" crash, 21" ride, 18" crash. I was already using my 6 1/2" Ludwig Supraphonic (THE Bonham snare.) I'm like, "O.K." I beat the shit out of the drums. I Pounded the toms and literally played every backbeat with a huge crash on 2 and 4 with the 20 or the 20 swish and crashes and snare. Like heavy metal hard! It was awful!
"O.k. I think that's better. It just still feels like it could be bigger ya know?" I'm like, "I think you are listening to this with post production ears. Put a big reverb on it, compress it and put some post production details on it. It will be great" She goes, "Maybe. It just needs to be bigger. Let's move on." Sounds good. They used that freaking take. I think is sucks.
It Took forever to get paid and I refused to do the cd release with her because of that. Too much drama and I should not have to ask to get paid after a session. The gig had already turned from a showcase show to a happy hour time slot. Nice. No audience will be there for this. I finally did cave on that gig that had been pre booked which was contingent for the grant money for this project to be fully paid. The gig was fine. I Do not miss the drama of that artist, who I am convinced did not know what she wanted and could not tell me. Or anyone. I am far better off.
Don't even ask me about rehearsals that went into this project! How much time do you want to waste talking about what chords the piano player should play at the ending of a tune? Figure that out before hand and write it down. It just never ended.
Great story. Frustrating for you but a good glimpse into what we session guys go through. I was super thankful the studio I worked out of had a great producer and engineer and would normally “mediate” these kinds of situations so I didn’t have to. His famous line was, “well wait until I sprinkle some faerie dust on it.” That usually placated the finicky, unsure-what-they-want, artist.
Just bought Bill's book thanks to this video! Great interview John.
Buying this book! Cool stuff! Sorry I’m late to the show, I see this is a year ago. As a drummer I’m never late! I’m just catching up! Haaa! Great channel!
One the greatest engineers period!! Getting this book.!!
I got the Kindle edition and need to get the hard copy to add to Robyn's book. Steve Porcaro introduced Schnee to someone one day with, "Bill was Jeff's Favorite Engineer".
I remember reading J. Porcaro’s account of that incident. She had him slam that fill down harder than he thought made sense. He used clear Ambassadors on his toms and when he played it as hard as she wanted, it made dents in the tom heads, which meant now they’d buzz if he hit them lightly. The next take was when things hit critical mass.
Your interviews...always seem to bring out interesting and unexpected anecdotes and reflections. I’m not sure if it’s expert technique, or just your general engagement style.
Whatever it is...it WORKS!
Mr Golden Ears. Great guy as well. Got to meet him once. Very cool
Jeff Porcaro was one of the best ever. Never heard of Rick Lii Zones.
Joe Sample. "Ashes to Ashes" is, BY FAR, my favorite LP of his material. I believe it is the only Joe Sample album to be engineered by Bill Schnee. Huge fan of his work.
Is Jeff playing drums on that album?
I’m just checking it out and the first moments sound like him and the artwork looks like something he would have done
If you're not happy with Jeff Porcaro, you're not a happy person, period. That's a disgraceful lack of respect for an absolute legend, a superb professional, and a very decent man.
i could listen to his stories all day!!! MOAR!!! that story about Jeff is great. most pros would not put up with that bs cause it's invested time and money.
Really miss Jeff.
Wow! What a story!! :)))
"Drummer's" revenge: Whoa, whoa, whoa... stop the tape. Stop it... Hey, singer, I don't like that note you just sang. Could you do this? Do, do, dee, do? Not do, dee, do, do?
I recently heard drums on "Stay the Night" of Chicago was actually played by Jeff.
'Tis true. The list of "who's who" on that album reminded me of why I don't care to know how hot dogs are made, figuratively speaking.
Off the top of my head: Richard Marx, Kenny Cetera, Steve Lukather, Donny Osmond - ignore the haters, Donny - Greg Adams, and I guess David Foster, too. (Not all on the same song, mind you, but sprinkled throughout the Chicago 17 album.)
@@GarrettWorcester Foster produced the album, and his first mistake was gating Jeff's drums as heavily as they are on "Stay". He is "ghost credited". He is there....but his name doesn't show up anywhere on the record. The full story can be read in Seraphine's book, "Street Player; My Chicago Story". Thing is this. They just called and told Danny, "Not to bother coming in to work. that day." He had NO CLUE they'd hired Porcaro!!!!
@@GarrettWorcester Steve lukather didn't play on Chicago 17 Mike Landau Paul Jackson jr and Mark goldenberg were the guitarists!
I love it 😂
(Definitely a singer who knows what she wants :))
God I wish I could've played with Jeff, what a piece of work she must've been.
Chuck E might have been in love but Jeff wasn't.
I ordered it before the vid ended!
.. and Bill's story about Ricky Lee jones goes right along my experience seeing her at a beautiful theatre in victoria B.C. friends of mine amazing musicians were hired to accompany her for the du maurier jazz festival...onstage, in the middle of performing she fired the musicians while in the performance.... I left the show and demanded my money back....I wouldn't support that type of nastiness, musicians were amazing players... I can imagine how Jeff felt.... good on him though haha sticks IN the snare haha!!
I have heard the Jeff Porcaro story before. I remember RLJ was apologetic after that.
Great story. Why mess with BS when you're the best. RIP....Jeff
Porcaro was not Bernard Purdie, he was not Steve Gadd ffs:
“Pirates was Jones' second album. She brought Lenny Waronker and Russ Titelman back to produce, but this time the session were much more difficult. "We Belong Together" was especially challenging because she couldn't get the drums to her liking. It took three different sessions, all with different sets of musicians, to get it right. "I just could not find the right drum patterns," she told Uncut. "I was referencing Jackson Browne and Steely Dan, neither of which was leading us to the right feel. Then Steve Gadd asked me to play it for him again, and he sat and watched my body as I played, looking at where I stamped my foot in the last verse. He did this genius thing of playing what sounded like a shuffle or a 3/4. He found this other time and it pulled the whole song together, and it was majestic."
So yeah, the song speaks for itself.
Great story 😀
Read the recent book on Jeff Porcaro. It’s so good!
In all fairness to Rickie Lee Jones, her 1st record Jeff played on was huge and he was invited back and played on her 3rd record. Jeff also walked out of a session with Steely Dan saying he couldn't play a song they wanted him to play. They insisted and he got it done. Jeff left us with an amazing catalogue but it didn't always come easy.
That session was for "Black Friday". Porcaro wasn't comfortable with shuffles at that point, but I guess he got over that hurdle.
There was a story I heard from Leland Sklar where he advised NEW artists that you best be very respectful to the session musicians because they many Tim’s can make or break you!!! 🤔
Is there anyone he hasn't play with? LOL. Sorry to hear he went through cancer. I'm glad he made it through it ok. Great interview John.
I had to get out a pair of sticks and pretend in the air to do that. Lol Jeff was the coolest
It is hard to believe that somebody is out of touch( in their own little world) that they would disrespect one of the greatest drummers that ever lived. I was listening to LA session guitarist Tim Pierce talking to Rick Beato and he said during a session with Adele she said she didn't like "wah-wah pedal.
She is a new level of high maintenance
Very Overrated.@@hotlanta35
great story
LIKE A BOSS
And have we heard of her since???
who? lol
Loved this! As a sales pitch this would make me buy the book!
Have the book. Bill personally autographed for me. Bill was on KFI640AM. Talking about the book coming out.
One word: James Newton Howard and Friends. Okay, that's five words. (Schnee produced and engineered)
Love that album!
Walter Becker tells a story of Rikki planning on not crediting his producing and he's like, c'mon this is what I was asked to do and not getting credited on the record would be a stab in the back as well as stab to career! It was the horses record, you can't miss the Becker in the melody! he was credited of course.
Interesting... just watched a video 2 days ago where Jim Campilongo said that a session with RL Jones was the only time he was fired, and that indeed, she was hard to work with
Nice jacket, John!
That's the way to do it.
an unsung hero!
Wow, unbelievable the way Jeff Porcaro walked out of the session...
He got pushed too far, and treated disrespectfully.
Bernard Purdy would place a big poster next to his kit on gigs, stating.... "You've hired the best. The Purdy Shuffle beats all the rest!" (Porcaro matched him, and then some!)
readin hiz book at present
Quite possibly the first time humans have uttered the name "Rickie Lee Jones" in over 30 years
That's great and all, but is Chuckie still in love?
Didn’t like that song as a kid in the 70’s and still don’t.
@@RollinCoco-Nut - I think Chuckie got killed in like the third movie.
Great interview, John. Question: where did you get those CD racks behind you?
As a wild guess, they look like a custom built-in.
Only thing more amazing than Bill's career is his wit...
Hey John when will the lukather interview come out ?
"fear the anger of a gentle man".
E V E R Y O N E has a button that, when pushed too hard, can trigger an uncharacteristic rage.
Like Jeff, I'm Italian...that Italian temper came out! LOL I mean, not even getting to know your session drummer and addressing him by name is just plain rude. Jeff was such an amazing intuitive player.
Concerning your incident with Julio Iglesias, I have to tell you that particularly, the worst singers, are the worst to work with. They don’t have any idea of how to do things, yet, they think they can direct engineers, musicians, and everybody who is around. Don’t enjoy it exclamation
yeah i don’t think id want to piss of jeff porcaro
Who was the drummer who ended up playing the track "Chuck is in Love"?
She might as well have played the drums herself, directing almost every note a musician to play.
Great interview. Something about him reminds me of Gene Wilder… Two greats.
It's not like Jeff wasn't open to feedback. He said Steely Dan didn't like his first attempt at his FM drum track and he changed it accordingly.
Big timing a hall-of-famer by not using his name reflects terribly on her. Still miss Jeff Porcaro drums.
Ricky Lee was too low rent to understand who she was dealing with...
Drugs & ego.
Hilarious story.
This story is in a book about Jeff. It's the ONLY negative thing in the book. At the end of the book there is an appendix with a discography of Jeff's work. I reqad this book months ago and still haven't gotten through that list. It's just too daunting.
This session is detailed in Robyn Flans' book', "It's About Time", about Jeff.
Such disrepect of these musicians!
Jeff Was A Diamond, Cousin Figel
The irony of Mr. Schneider talking about how disrespectful artists are is lost on all but those who had the misfortune to serve as his assistant. He was the most abusive, nasty self absorbed engineer I ever encountered during my decade working in major NYC recording studio. Does he discuss any of that in his book?
you mean Schnee?