The treasure trove of artists that session legend – and Toto guitarist – Steve Lukather has worked with includes the likes of Michael Jackson, George Benson, Ringo Starr, and Aretha Franklin.
Among those big names is Joni Mitchell, with whom Lukather worked on 1982’s Wild Things Run Fast and 1985’s Dog Eat Dog.
“I’ve always been a fan of Joni Mitchell ever since I had a girlfriend in high school who was obsessed with her music during the Blue period,” Lukather said in a recent interview with Guitar Player. “And then, when Court and Spark came out, I was starting to get really interested in studio players, like Larry Carlton, because of the creativity.
“So when I got to work with Joni, I was really excited to get the call. But I was like, ‘Wow… what am I going to bring to this, man?’”
Lukather remembers that first session like it was yesterday. “I walked into the studio, and she was sitting at the piano, playing the song that we were going to cut that day. She was going through it on her own, and singing.”
As he himself puts it, “It’s hard when you’re in a room with greatness like that. It’s hard not to be affected by it in a visceral way.”
He goes on to describe the song she was playing on the piano as “so naturally wonderful and beautiful” that he could immediately envision his guitar part.
“That’s the job. You have to have a ranger’s ears and be able to listen to somebody play a song and hear the parts that you can add to make it something,” he explains. “But you don’t want to get in the way; you want to enhance the hooky part on the arpeggio or add to what she’s already got going on.”
Lukather came up with a “nice little lick” that Mitchell liked, and that set the tone for the rest of the sessions.
“Believe it or not, she wanted to rock and roll it up a little bit,” he adds with a laugh.
“It was the early ’80s, and all that shit was happening. I kind of laughed at first, but it took her out of her normal place, which some of her hardcore fans didn’t dig. And of course, I take all the shit for it.”
“But that was a fun record to do,” Lukather concludes. “She was so nice and fabulous.”
