In the latest episode of Rather Have the Story, host Brian Kehew interviews composer & synthesist Steve Porcaro of Toto.
Porcaro discusses his work in the early days of studio gigs with synths, the struggles of working with 70s gear, his work with Toto and more.
Video Summary:
This week we welcome Steve Porcaro, of Toto, of film and TV scoring, co-author of “Human Nature” for Michael Jackson, session musician – and much more.
We talk about the world and work of session musicians, Jeff Porcaro growing up and in the studio, the Rosanna solo, making the Toto albums in the studio, our tributes to the GREAT Keith Emerson, film and TV scoring, James Newton Howard, Roger Linn, Greg Ladanyi, Tommy Mars…
The Roland Microcomposer and early sequencers and synths, the venerable Yamaha CS80, DS1 and 2, the DX7, Polyfusion modular synthesizers, “The Blip” (Steve’s creation of complex attack sounds) based upon Frank Zappa and his synthesizer horn sound, and much more!
A nice, relaxing hour reminiscing with a brilliant “point of light” from my younger days.
A lot of great stories, good insight, and time well spent. Thanks!
Just went back and listened to the synth solo on Rosanna, and I was surprised by two things I didn’t realize or possibly just forgot: 1) the part that I mostly remember or associate with the “Rosanna solo” is the first 7-8 seconds of the brassy lead (CS-80 maybe, and I thought that part was longer), and 2) I never paid much attention to the multi-part arrangement aspect of the rest of the solo.
Cool interview and interesting to hear what musicians struggled with when synths were fairly new.
Where’s the three minute summary?
With your attention span you should stick with EL-P instead of ELP! The Keith Emerson Tribute show they refer to was amazing. Well worth the $15 download.