After he played with
=> Sonny & Cher , and then
=> Seals & Crofts, Jeff Porcaro worked with Steely Dan:
Steely Dan was my favorite group even before I knew who they were. I thought they were a bunch of bikers from up north (California). They looked so mean and bad on the inside jacket of their album, “Can't Buy A Thrill.” But I thought they were it . . . harmonic-ally, the lyrics, man, Becker and Fagen blow my mind. And still to this day, they are IT, they are what should be happening now. (Downbeat, 1977)
Jeff continues:
They were my favorite band long before I ever joined the group. The feelings and themes in their music are all moments that I feel I've been part of. The themes themselves are all applicable to a wide spectrum of human existence and emotion. Things that you feel in your gut. [...]
Becker and Fagen are where contemporary music should be today. They're pure musicians of the same caliber as the players they pay homage to. They listen to Bill Evans, Miles, and Mr. Parker and I think that's reflected in the quality of the things they do. (Hitmen, vol.1., nr.1, 1982)
In 1983 he explained to Modern Drummer how he joined the band:
“If I hadn't played at Dantes one night with this guy I couldn't stand, Fagen and Becker [Steely Dan] would never have seen me play when they happened to walk into that club that night to get a drink.” [...]
It was the end of 1973, when, while still with => Sonny & Cher and doing an occasional stint with => Seals & Crofts, Porcaro was playing at Dantes, a small L.A. club. He had just turned 19 and was earning $1,500 a week. But he quit Sonny & Cher without a moment's hesitation when Steely Dan offered him only $400. (making him the highest paid member in Steely Dan, as the other band members, including Fagen and Becker, only got $250.)
"When I went with Steely Dan, that was my first taste of being in what I thought was a so-called hip, cult rock 'n' roll band. It was my first taste of being on the road with a band that I thought was cool. I was totally in love with the fact that I was playing with those guys." Although he admits that recording with Steely Dan is a grueling experience, it is a creative environment in which Porcaro thrives.
"Two years ago (1981) with Steely on “Gaucho,” I went to New York to cut the tune “The Gaucho.” It was Steve Khan, Anthony Jackson on bass, Rob Mousey on keyboards and Fagen, and I think that was all who were there. The plan was to rehearse the tune in the studio because Fagen and these guys are meticulous. You rehearse from 2:00 to 6:00, take a dinner break, and at 7:00 you come back to the studio, start the tape rolling and start doing takes. Well, this stuff is rehearsed so heavy that some of the spontaneity is gone maybe. They demand perfect time, and it's too nerve wracking. Yet, I love it, and I guess there are some of us who love it. That kind of pressure with those guys is cool because from my point of view, their music is the most prestigious music that's ever existed and it's great to hear, no matter what.
Some people can't stand the perfection, though. So we started doing “The Gaucho” and they went through every musician's part so it was perfect. All they were going to keep at the end was the drum track, but most of the other musicians didn't know that. I just knew it from experience. Their idea is to get everybody else in the band and put them through all the shit in the world to make sure they play perfect, just to get the perfect drum track. And these guys are sweating-- beads of sweat rolling down their foreheads--nerves, shaking while they're playing and they don't know what they're playing is never going to be used. We went to 3:00 in the morning and I don't know how many takes we did. Fagen walked out in the studio and it was something like, 'Guys, does everybody know what this tune is supposed to sound like?' We're all looking at each other going, 'Yeah!' He says, 'Good. You guys know what it should sound like, I know what it's supposed to sound like, then that's all that matters. We're done.' And he splits. So we're all sitting there in the studio like, 'What?' So we all got pissed and said, 'Screw it, we're going to work on this track and get it!' So just Gary Katz [Steely's producer] was there and we continued to do five or six more takes. The final product on that album came from those takes. That's the kind of shit where most people would have packed up and split, but we just sat there feeling we had to get it, and we did."
In December 1992, the Jeff Porcaro Tribute concert was being put on at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles. All the Toto members there were joined by fellow musicians to pay tribute to Jeff.
Donald Fagen on working with Jeff:
Uh. . . Jeff was. . . uh. . . like a lightning rod in the. . . studio. And. . . uh. . . I think it may have been the first time we met. . . well. . . there may have been one other time. . . maybe. I think. . . that was the only record. . . where one drummer was able to. . . he was such a virtuoso he could play on. . . all of the. . . varieties of. . . uh. . . of grooves that we were interested. . . in . . . uh, at the time. He was a great drummer and his personality came out in his drumming. He. . . really changed the way people. . .played drums.
Steve Lukather considers Steely Dan to be one of the bands aspiring musicians should study:
Steely Dan is THE example how a band should be. Their songs are like little, timeless jewels. I like their songs as much now as when they were just released. You can learn so much from their music. I'd advise everyone to really study every Steely guitar solo from EVERY guitarist who played in Steely Dan. There's a couple of years worth of studying in those solo's. Your eyes and ears will open! (Gitaarnet, 2002)
Related Pages
Steve Lukather
Jeff Porcaro
