“Did l know she was a future legend? Not at the time. I didn’t know how talented she was. Obviously, we all found out”: 40 years ago, session ace Paul Jackson Jr. turned up to record with a then unknown singer –her name was Whitney Houston

Session legend Paul Jackson Jr. [left] wears a white shirt and plays a black single-cut onstage. On the right, a young Whitney Houston performs in 1985 after her self-title debut catapulted her into the A-list.

By 1985, session man Paul Jackson Jr. had already appeared on records by Anita Baker, Sheena Easton, Gloria Gaynor, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King and – most notably – Michael Jackson, on a little something called Thriller.

So, given his track record, it wasn’t much of a surprise that he got the call to lend his licks – along with master six-stringers Dann Huff, David Williams and Louie Shelton (Mr. Last Train to Clarksville) – to an at-the-time relatively unknown Whitney Houston’s self-titled debut album. He definitely had the chops and the mindset to lay back and make his contributions count.