Hello all in the world of
Drum Set Connect! The subject of the discussion I'd like to start in this article, is regarding the amazing talents of the late Jeff Porcaro, of the equally amazing power group Toto. *Jeff is the son of the also very talented Joe Porcaro (drums/percussion), and brother of the equally (you guessed it),
talented bass player Michael Porcaro, who took over the role as bass player extrordinaire for Toto, after David Hungate left. (The whole famn damily is a Tour de Force of great musicianship!)
I was reading some comments about Mr. Porcaro recently, specifically regarding his incredible playing on the Boz Scaggs albums, including
all the hits Scaggs had in both the 70s and the 80s. This particular song is called "Gimme The Goods" and is off the 1977 album "Down Two Then Left", produced by Joe Wissert. As with both Mr. Porcarro and Boz Scaggs, their performances are every bit as amazing as the song itself. "Gimme The Goods" was composed by Mr. Michael Omaritian, also a legendary and amazing talent, very well known in both the secular and the Christian music industry for his top-notch arranging, writing and keyboard skills. Fellow Toto band member,
Steve Lukather, also lends his considerable talents on guitar. Jeff Poracro also plays some tasty timbales in the song. Kick a** Horns featured are played by, the legendary
Ernie Watts,
Chuck Findley, and several others.
"Gimme The Goods" is a powerful, driving song in the styles of Disco and Funk, with a most addicting descending line cliche' in the chorus, arguably one of the main hooks of the song. As many Porcaro and Toto fans are aware, the power group was the studio band for Scaggs for years, backing him on every one of his hits from, Jo Jo & Lowdown to Lido Shuffle. Ironically, Porcaro's well known distain for shuffles didn't stop him from playing the heck out of them,
this (Lido) performance especially so. It's hard to imagine any of these songs without the powerful performances of Porcaro, Lukather (guitar), David Hungate (bass) and, son of the well known arranger/musician Marty Paich, David Paich(Keyboards). However, in 1994, Scaggs introduced his newest and Toto-less CD,
Some Change. Why he didn't utilize the afore mentioned talents is unknown to me, but the album is, nonetheless, as amazing as any of his other works, maybe even more so,
despite the lack of his former supporting band of many years. Scaggs utilizes the talents of Ricky Fataar on drums, Michael Omartian's considerable arranging talents, the awesome Nathan East (bass) and a handful of other very competent and awesome musicians on Some Change. But, I digress, as the subject at hand is, of course, about the blow-mind performance of Jeff Porcaro.
As Jeff was prone to do, he displayed his considerable talents for amazing feels, chops and driving rhythms on this song. Porcaro was especially adept at combining a lightening fast right hand along with a powerful back-beat and tasty fills and punches. Let's not forget that Porcaro was a brilliant
musician, who always managed to combine a driving drum part and rhythms along with an appropriate musicality that was second to none. His display of independence between all four limbs is especially evident as he keeps up the fast 16th note right hand part on the hi-hat, a driving, steady 8th note snare on the on-beats, with a fast, flirting and funky bass drum part. Towards the end of the song, he steps up the already driving beat with a burning fast two handed 32nd note hi-hat rhythm over the original very butt kicking beat, that adds even more excitement to the tune, when you thought for sure, couldn't possibly get any more exciting.
Jeff Porcaro is sorely missed by those he played with, as well as those who just listened. Being a listener, live & session player of 25+ years myself, I'm included in the later sorrowful category. The many groups and performers with which he played, from Steely Dan, Al Jarreau, Manhattan Transfer and, of course his flagship band, Toto, plus countless others, as he was a very prolific artist, to this day surely still feel the massive void he left every bit as much as those who were his closest friends and family. God bless you, Jeff you're greatly missed.
Written by: JP Lindsay 9/12/11 (jplindsay21@yahoo.com) * I welcome your comments!
But, the CD's named Down To The Left and it's every bit worth picking up! Even if you just listen to "Gimme", it's well worth the expense! But try, like I finally did, to get yourself past it and listen to the whole thing! Fantastic! Jeff's creativity, along with The Boz Man, is awesome! Both really excel and out-do themselves! Thanks, sorry for the mistake! Lates! 
JP Lindsay
Linear Mode
