Q: In 2001, you played on the song “Cry” for the Invincible album. Did you perceive any organizational differences between that setup and the 1980s Quincy Jones productions?
A: Yes, it was totally different. We were at Record One, and Michael would not show up on those days—he called me on the telephone and gave me instructions, but he was incredibly focused. It was a different era, you know, and Quincy Jones wasn’t producing. Actually, I think “Cry” is the only song that has acoustic drums on it. I also recorded two other tunes for that record that never came out: one was called “Apocalypse Now” with big drums on it. It was kind of an “end of the rope” song and I recorded four military percussion parts and wrote six and a half minutes of military music. I had a gran casa and a duo of piatti. I used four piccolo snare drums. It was great! Except it wouldn’t have blended with the record anyway.