Abraham Laboriel Jr Lesson5/8/2021
During a brief stop, he spent one day recording George Benson s Give Me the Night. 13 He helped on a few of Karen Carpenter s solo album tracks, which were not released until 16 years later.Associated acts Rufus, Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, the Pointer Sisters, Lionel Richie, John Fogerty, George Benson, David Foster, Wilson Phillips, Peter Frampton, Barbra Streisand Website johnjrrobinson.com.His first fame came with the funk band Rufus, and he recorded dance funk hits with the Pointer Sisters.JR has backed many contemporary RB singers including Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie and Anita Baker, as well as vocal popsoft rock singers such as Barbra Streisand, Seal, Peter Cetera and Rod Stewart.
He played on a string of pure country hits by George Strait, Clint Black and Toby Keith. In the 1990s, his film score assignments shifted into high gear, drumming for Hans Zimmer, Christophe Beck and James Newton Howard. And throughout JRs career he has collaborated with jazz artists ranging from Jeff Lorber to David Benoit to Sadao Watanabe. His favorite record at age seven was When the Saints Go Marching In from the soundtrack of the 1959 film The Five Pennies. At eight he got his first drum kit a secondhand 1940s Ludwig set with no toms, just snare, bass, hi-hat and one Zildjian cymbal. At age ten he formed a duo with Kevin Clemens who played electric guitar. His next drum kit was a new 1966 Ludwig Champagne Sparkle set. Tall and athletic, JR wavered between a basketball or music career, choosing music. At 14, he performed with the Iowa Big Band, and he played drums in high school band, 1 using a maple drum kit, the Ludwig White Marine Pearl. JR went to jazz band camp at Northwest Missouri State University and Illinois State University where he met drummerteacher Ed Soph who helped JR break some of his bad habits, training him in traditional grip. Soph encouraged him to enroll at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He said he always wanted to play with them. Seven years later he played on the Pointer Sisters hit song Slow Hand. JRs schoolmates included guitarist Neil Stubenhaus and drummers Steve Smith, Kenwood Dennard, Vinnie Colaiuta and Casey Scheuerell. Dawson helped change JRs bass drum footing to a heel-down style, which took years to master. JR studied xylophone and vibraphone with Dave Samuels, and they gigged together. By 1974, JR was working as a studio musician for Professor John LaPorta who needed a precise drummer for his teaching tapes. He toured in a band called Shelter, and in March 1978 at the Rare Cherry nightclub outside of Cleveland, his band was surprised to find they were opening for Rufus and Chaka Khan. After the Shelter set, Rufus and Chaka Khan came on stage to ask JR to stay and play with them. The first gig was in Hawaii, where JR met Danny Seraphine, founding drummer of Chicago. JR recorded with Rufus in 1978 on the album Numbers released in early 1979, which rose to number 81 on the Billboard 200. Producer Quincy Jones led the next album project Masterjam for Rufus. Masterjam was recorded in late 1978 and released in November 1979. The single Do You Love What You Feel, featuring Chaka Khan on vocals, crossed over to number 30 on the Hot 100. Jones was the person who first started calling John Robinson by the nickname JR. Long before Masterjam came out, Jones brought JR to Michael Jackson s album project Off the Wall in December 1978. The first thing JR did on the project was go to Allen Zentz Recording Studios to overdub drums for the songs Girlfriend and Its the Falling in Love, replacing the previous drummers work. Jones listened to the results, conferred with Jackson, and then invited JR to be the drummer for the rest of the album. JR remembers going to Westlake Recording Studios to cut basic tracks for Dont Stop Til You Get Enough with just keys, bass and drums. The trio was Louis Johnson on bass, JR, and keyboardist Greg Phillinganes: this was the first time JR had met Phillinganes. After they recorded the track, Phillinganes stood on the piano bench with his hands up, exultant. Everyone knew they had just laid the foundation for a hit. Released in August 1979, Off the Wall netted JR three hit singles: Dont Stop Til You Get Enough (number 1), Rock with You (number 1), and Off the Wall (number 10). From this point forward, JR was a first-request drummer for Jones. During a brief stop, he spent one day recording George Benson s Give Me the Night. He helped on a few of Karen Carpenter s solo album tracks, which were not released until 16 years later.
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