I'll admit it: I find most of Michael Jackson's instrumentation repetitive and almost boring.
But this guy added enough fills to make what could have been really repetitive interesting. I wish MJ's guitar and keys guys did as much. An example is the fill at 1:31, while the keys and horns are dull. Nice. posted by The_Vegetables at 12:23 PM on September 25 [1 favorite]
A quick glance at his Wikipedia page shows that he also played with Rufus, The Brothers Johnson, (on "Stomp!" (one of the greatest songs of all time)), George Benson, Pointer Sisters, Quincy the man himself Jones, Donna Summer, Lionel Richie, Maurice White, Steve Winwood, Anita Baker, someone named Madonna -- he played on "Crazy" by Seal -- Al Jarreau, Boz Scaggs -- "We Are the World" -- basically, if you're of a certain age, John JR Robinson has been stuck on a loop inside your head almost your entire life. posted by vverse23 at 12:48 PM on September 25 [11 favorites]
Love watching professionals at work! Especially "behind the scenes" work that most of us aren't even aware of. I only learned about the existence of studio musicians (or session musicians) a few years ago, and now I am in awe. posted by evilmomlady at 4:14 PM on September 25 [1 favorite]
Studio musicians are a massive rabbit hole of interesting stuff, I envy you discovering them for the first time.
Probably worth a separate front page post here because Carol Kaye just did an interview (NYT, archive) saying she's rejecting her induction into the Hall of Fame.
Would also recommend Sugarfoot¡¯s drumming on Smooth Criminal posted by girlmightlive at 5:55 PM on September 25 [1 favorite]
This is neat telling of the intro fill he did for "Rock with You"
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7Ksl4eRI1so
And a great demonstration of how subtle timing shift affect a groove:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9SZ4i1eo00
If you're interested in more details about mainly later Michael Jackoson records, check out Anthony Marinelli's channel.
"I wish MJ's guitar and keys guys did as much"
WHAT? I'm really not much of a Michael Jackson fan, but I've heard those songs enough to know that every player was doing lots of cool, subtle things all the time. posted by jonathanhughes at 6:37 PM on September 25 [5 favorites]
I like the way he is introduced as "Michael Jackson's studio drummer" on the video. I am envisioning the face of the poor live-show drummer in being told "Just play it like JR did". posted by rongorongo at 4:24 AM on September 26 [1 favorite]
WHAT? I'm really not much of a Michael Jackson fan, but I've heard those songs enough to know that every player was doing lots of cool, subtle things all the time.
Disagree. IMO in most of the songs, it sounds to me like a bit was recorded and then looped for the rest of the song - that's how robotic his music often sounds. posted by The_Vegetables at 8:10 AM on September 26
He worked with the best studio musicians in the world. If you really think they weren¡¯t doing a lot you should watch the numerous documentaries about how they made those albums. posted by girlmightlive at 12:43 PM on September 26 [2 favorites]
I play keyboards in a band that covered this song! I didn't really feel like I scratched the surface, unfortunately.
(Admittedly I was also trying to cover strings and horns.)
But, yeah, it's got a lot going on. It's the nature of that kind of song that there's an unvarying tempo and a lot of repetition, which you can hear as "robotic". But if you think it's simple, you haven't listened very closely. posted by bfields at 9:25 AM on September 29
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