![mj human nature piano mj human nature piano](https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-1SJiJyBDJRMUtZOO-n87OFw-t240x240.jpg)
At around 3:15, the trio loosens up a bit, locked into this stuttering groove as Iyer, Crump, and Gilmore all play rhythmically off of each other in an excellent section. Iyer’s piano plays Jackson’s vocal line over the stuttering drums and bass, leading to a brief vamp around 2:00 that opens up to the bridge section (compare this to the part around 2:15 in the original version of the tune on Thriller), then back to another verse. The “Human Nature” groove starts around 0:25 here, but by 0:45 or so, the trio has opened this up in a different way from the versions above, giving it a signature sound from this trio, rhythmically complex, but completely natural.
![mj human nature piano mj human nature piano](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/I-Ivn73mJ_E/maxresdefault.jpg)
Vijay Iyer’s 2012 album Accelerando, featuring Iyer on piano, Stephan Crump on bass, and Marcus Gilmore on drums, featured the trio’s take on “Human Nature.” They start this version with a brief solo piano introduction from Iyer before the bass and drums join in. Really, this isn’t my thing, but it sounds like they’re doing exactly what they want to do with this tune. They’re faithful to the arrangement of the tune from Thriller, and bring it to a similar finish. Sort of sounds like hold music for a corporate phone line, though Benoit does his thing with the tune, including some piano improvisation and a bit of call and response between the acoustic and electric piano. It’s light and smooth and probably a well-done version of this type of thing. He adds some synth strings behind the piano and some light electric piano. Benoit starts this version by playing the synth line from the original version of the tune on piano over Tate’s cymbals. Benoit, on piano and synths, is joined by David Hughes on bass and and Jamey Tate on drums. The first version I’ll look at here is from David Benoit on his Heroes album from 2008. Roughly three decades after Michael Jackson’s and Miles Davis’ takes on “Human Nature,” the tune has resurfaced as a vehicle for piano. It’s a nice ballad, definitely aged much better than a lot of things released in 1982. At about 2:00, there’s a very cool break down before the next verse at about 2:15 – that section returns around 3:20 for the ending of the song, but otherwise they basically stay in the groove that starts the tune. Jackson’s ballad starts with the synthesizer that would be looped up about a decade later by Large Professor and then adds some half-time drums and subtle synth strings underneath the verses and some guitar that reminds me in a way of something that Lionel Loueke might play. “Human Nature” is quite a bit tamer than that work. Fun fact – the drums on Jackson’s Thriller are from Leon “Ndugu” Chancler, who was playing with Miles Davis about a decade earlier making jams like this one, putting his hard drumbreaks behind this mind-blowing jazz funk. “Human Nature” has been sampled a number of times, but the one that matters is Nas’ “It Ain’t Hard to Tell,” transformed by Large Professor’s hard drums, bass, and horn samples layered on top of the basic Michael Jackson loop.īut I digress… Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature.” It’s a song from 1982, and sounds like it based on the synthesizer sounds. Of the songs on that album, “Human Nature” is not the one that I would expect to inspire jazz musicians and hip-hop producers, but real life is funny that way. So, the album covers a pretty wide spectrum. Michael Jackson’s 1982 Thriller album included some pretty amazing jams – “Beat It”, “Wanna Be Starting Something”, “Thriller”, and “Billie Jean”, as well as the Paul McCartney-featuring “The Girl Is Mine”, amazing in its own right for the section of conversation between Jackson and McCartney. *By subscribing, you agree to receive our monthly newsletter as well as sporadic promotional emails.