Comments on: Quincy Jones' favorite drummer

Quincy Jones' favorite drummer

swift — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 10:01:03 -0800

I want be as locked in as John JR Robinson playing "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough."

By: bookbook

bookbook — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 12:11:36 -0800

Well, that was a delightful short break!

By: The_Vegetables

The_Vegetables — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 12:23:08 -0800

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.

By: vverse23

vverse23 — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 12:48:33 -0800

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.

By: evilmomlady

evilmomlady — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 16:14:48 -0800

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.

By: JoeZydeco

JoeZydeco — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 16:28:36 -0800

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. YOU DONE HIRED THE HITMAKER!

By: girlmightlive

girlmightlive — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 17:55:28 -0800

Would also recommend Sugarfoot's drumming on Smooth Criminal

By: jonathanhughes

jonathanhughes — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 18:37:41 -0800

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.

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 04:24:02 -0800

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".

By: The_Vegetables

The_Vegetables — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 08:10:42 -0800

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.

By: girlmightlive

girlmightlive — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 12:43:40 -0800

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.

By: bfields

bfields — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 09:25:34 -0800

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.