A Session Musician Almost Stopped Playing When Michael Jackson Walked to the Microphone.

In 1978, a session musician named David Paich was playing keyboards during the recording of Michael Jackson's Off the Wall album. He had been in hundreds of professional studio sessions. He had played behind some of the most celebrated voices in American popular music. When Michael Jackson walked to the microphone for a lead vocal take, Paich later said he almost stopped playing. In this video, we look at what happened in that Los Angeles recording studio in 1978 -- not the commercial history of Off the Wall, but the specific moment in the room when the session musicians who were there understood that they were in the presence of something that required a different calibration. Michael Jackson, Off the Wall, 1978, Quincy Jones, recording history, music history, classic pop, music documentary, studio sessions, Los Angeles music.