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The drummer that David Gilmour said was one of his favorites
Born in Cambridge, England in 1946, David Gilmour joined Pink Floyd in time to be part of their second studio album “A Saucerful Of Secrets” released in 1968. Since then he became a fundamental part of the band’s sound with his indistinguishable guitar tone and feel.
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With the release of groundbreaking albums like “Dark Side of The Moon” (1973) and The Wall (1979) they became one of the best-selling bands of all time. But simultaneously Gilmour also started a solo career and he had the opportunity to play with many different musicians and get to know them better.
Over the decades he talked about many other artists and even revealed who was the drummer which was one of his favorites of all time.
The drummer that David Gilmour said was one of his favorites of all time
Although the original Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason was part of all the albums the band did, he didn’t played the drums in all the tracks recorded by the band. It was during one of those times, more precisely during the recording of “The Wall” (1979) that Gilmour had the chance to know better the praised Toto‘s American drummer Jeff Porcaro. He was the drummer who Gilmour said was one of his favorites.
Porcaro was invited to play in the famous track “Mother” because as told by Gilmour in an interview with M. Resnicoff in 1992, it was a difficult tempo to be recorded in the studio. Since Jeff was an experienced studio musician, he was able to lay down the track really quickly.
“On Mother the timing follows the words. ‘Mo-ther-do-you-think- they’ll-drop-the-*bomb*?’ How many beats is that? Nine. It was very very difficult to get it to work. You can’t (mimes standard Floyd 4). There’s no rhythm that carries on straight through like that. You’ve got to find a way of floating through it. Jeff Porcaro did immediately,” David Gilmour said.
“I wanted to make a really good record. I didn’t want to do it very, very quickly. (So) I wanted to get the best musicians in the world that I could get hold of to play with me. So I thought I’d just make a little list of all my favorite musicians.”
He continued:
“You know, best drummer, best bass player, best keyboard player. I’ll work through the list to see who I can get. Jeff Porcaro was top of my drummers list, Pino Palladino was top of my bass players list. Ian Quely – or the Rev, as he’s known – he actually came and did the bulk of the Hammond and piano playing, and he was terrific. Steve Winwood was top of my keyboard playing list. He couldn’t do most of the album, but I got him to do a bit,” David Gilmour said.
Curiously, Porcaro also worked with Roger Waters on his solo career. He was part of the musician’s solo album “Amused to Death” released in 1992, the same year the drummer passed away. Porcaro was only 38 and the reports suggest that he became ill after he sprayed insecticide in his yard. But the coroner also said that his heart condition might have contributed to his death.
Besides being the drummer for Toto, Porcaro was one of the most respected session musicians of all time. He worked with many incredible artists like Michael Jackson, Bee Gees, Elton John, Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen. Jeff is still regarded as one of the most talented drummers of his generation. He had a huge impact in music not only for his work with Toto. But also for being part of many successful recordings from many different artists.
