The drums are one of the most, if not the most, important aspect in a number most of the music that we all listen to. That being said, the drum parts in songs often get overlooked because they’re not as “in your face” as a vocal part or guitar part. Although there are a lot of historically important drum beats, one that still holds major clout today is the half-time shuffle drumbeat performed by Jeff Porcaro on the Toto track “Rosanna”.
Jeff Porcaro was and still is an extremely influential drummer to many musicians today. Aside from being one of the most recorded session musicians in history, he is best known for playing with groups such as Toto, Steely Dan, Nik Kershaw, Boz Scaggs, and Michael Jackson. “AllMusic” has said that he is “arguably the most highly regarded studio drummer in rock from the mid-70’s to the early ‘90s. Jeff’s father Joe Porcaro is also a drummer who has recorded with Frank Sinatra, Pink Floyd, The Monkees, Gladys Knight, and Madonna.
Now, it’s not like I’m going to break down the drumbeat used in the song note for note because most of it would sound like gibberish to non-drummers. However, Jeff even admitted himself that he stole two drumbeats and made his own concoction for what became the half-time shuffle in “Rosanna”. He borrowed from John Bonham’s beat from Led Zeppelin’s “Fool in the Rain” and Bernard Purdie’s “Home at Last”. Like they say, good musicians copy and great artists steal. Although it’s not as if Porcaro is flat out ripping off Bonham and Purdie, he has shamelessly taken much inspiration from two legendary drummers to create and even more amazing drumbeat.
The reason why this drumbeat is so important is because it’s one of those beats that every drummer either already knows how to play or wishes they knew how to play; it’s one of those drumbeats that makes you say “I wish I came up with that”. Jeff Porcaro has left such a deep imprint on the modern drummer and his highly important cut on “Rosanna” by Toto is just one example.
