Sunday, August 31, 2003|
Does The Jazz In Steely Dan Get Rewritten Each Night On The Bandstand? Tony Norman, in a great 1996 interview with Walter Becker and Donald Fagan of Steely Dan, get's to some very Jazzy logic from the boys on why coming out of a period of non-recording to tour was OK, Fagen: "The thing about having a lot of older (songs) is that you have a
stable to choose from. The Steely Dan band book is full of
interesting songs that we mix new ones in with. Duke Ellington played
'Rockin' in Rhythm' for 50 years and kept changing the arrangements."
Q: So do they really mix up the arrangements on a nightly basis and if so, to what level? Who's involved in this...is it directly from Donald, Walter, or does someone like Michael Leonhart get in there and write some different charts on the bus from Phoenix to San Diego? The interview also shined quite a bit of light, for a not-too-rabid SD fan, on why they actually didn't dig the whole touring thing. I can totally understand how it must have totally sucked for a band who felt they had a sound and feeling to express (other than sheer force of stage presence) in their music to have to deal with shitty opening act preparation time, Becker: "... It was hard for us to go out and do something that wasn't a good
representation of our musical intentions. And that happened not
infrequently just by the nature of the fact we were kids going through
this, that and the other thing, collectively and individually."
Fagen: "We were opening for other people and often weren't allowed on stage to do a sound check or have even have half a chance to sound good that night." So the system was rigged against you? Becker: "The system was rigged against all up-and-coming bands at the time. I'm not sure how things may or may not have changed since. But in those days, nobody you were opening for was going to take much of a chance of being upstaged. Somebody made sure you weren't able to be heard at your best." Sounds sinister. Becker: "Well, it is, and that's one of the things you learn about show business. I was utterly surprised when it started happening."
Fagen: "That's why we don't have an opening act. We don't want to
indulge our urge to be sadistic." Becker: "We take all of our sadism
out on our own band." And Donald always seems to have to get that one-liner in there when he can! You go Mr. Sarcastic! "The idea is to go out and play the tunes first. We recorded one
album back in the old days ('Countdown to Ecstasy') after touring the
songs. It was the only album in which the arrangements and quality of
the tracks was influenced by the fact we had a live band. We arranged
the songs with the band in mind."
Fagen: "We're going to try and do that sort of thing again." Becker: "We have a bunch of tunes with slightly different slants of this and that. We're playing with this band with the purpose of developing a coherent approach to the songs. At some point we'll finish writing and go to the band so we can start cutting it."
Fagen: "Either that or we'll feed the sequences into (a computer) after two or three years of overdubbing." And hearing them talk about irony, it's integral presence in American (world?) culture (only continuing in that direction since '96), and Steely Dan feeding this beast, makes me think back to their music, Fagen: "...I think it's turned around so that American middle-class culture has
become extremely ironic as a matter of course. Daily life has built
within it a certain detachment. We're not just talking to weird people
anymore. We've discovered that the normal reaction to 21st century life
is chronic and perpetual irony."
Is Steely Dan even possible in the Letterman era? Becker: "Yes. Not only is it possible, it's almost essential. The people need us now more than ever. That's why we came. That's why we're here." Q: Can pop music as different and
interesting as theirs also be ironic in it's composition? Is there
something other than the lyrics to their tunes that is ironic,
especially in a pop music world that seems to take no chances, break no
new ground, play any new notes in any new order? Do other Jazz
musicians ever feel like they are writing music expressing the irony of
American (world) popular culture? One final thought here in light of The
Jazz In Steely Dan project. I know there are probably so many more
interviews and stories like this that while totally facinating and
enlightening for myself as a fan who hasn't explored all the SD
material in detail, they might not advance the concept of sheding a lot
of light on the Jazz side of Walter and Donald too much. I'm a little
concerned that my love of music history, and fascination with the music
these guys make, will keep me from staying focused on the task at
hand...connecting all the Jazz dots to SD. It's hard not to read
any interview where these guys talk and play off each other. I'd sure
love to have them in the studio with me, focusing on Jazz and seeing
what directions that would go in. Fingers crossed. 11:03:48 PM  comment [] trackback [] Google It! - See Also: The Jazz In Steely Dan |
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The Jazz in Steely Dan MP3 Playlist Any good story deserves some kind of soundtrack, so for our quest for The Jazz In Steely Dan, I've put together a playlist of MP3 files that the SD band members, former members and sessions players, or other interested parties have made available on their websites (hunted down in various sections like Recordings, Music, Tunes, etc.). The MP3's all come from the artists sites, as opposed to downloading them myself and offering them, so that the artists can possibly see the traffic from those folks wanting to listen to their tunes. Here's the link to The Jazz In Steely Day MP3 Playlist. Click to play.
And here's a link to where a complete list of the tunes on the playlist will be kept. Enjoy the tunes! |
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Dave Binder Highlights Everything Must Go Live Recording and Walter Becker's Miles-ishly Minimal Solo Guitar Dave Binder, in a JazzReview.com review (how appropriate) of Steely Dan's Everything Must Go, gives us a little to work with in our quest for The Jazz In Steely Dan, and in a couple unexpected directions, I might add, "Unlike other Steely Dan
albums, the core group of Becker, Fagen, guitarists Jon Herrington and
Hugh McCracken, pianist Ted Baker and drummer Keith Carlock, recorded
the basic tracks live in the studio. It gives the album a sense of
immediacy that makes it a new experience for Dan fans."
An attribute of Jazz music, whether on record or live, has always been both the listener and artists experience of music spontaneously made. Althought I'm sure there are probably some exceptions, I believe lots of Jazz fans would say that Jazz music that is subject to overdubing, multiple-takes, editting is not really Jazz or has lost a key element of the creation process that makes music Jazz. So to hear that an SD record, which in the past have always been hailed for the maticulous production, was to some level recorded live gives a bit more Jazziness to the record. Question: What does 'live in the studio' really mean? All of those band members recording together? Some of them? Entire tunes? Pieces of tunes? Dave goes on to shine the light on Walter Becker's increased presence and seeming progression as SD guitar soloist and makes a jazzy comparison, "His fill work, not to
mention his solo on [base "]The Last Mall[per thou] for example, is the height of
restraint. Miles Davis often spoke of how if only one note was
required, then only one note should be played. It is obvious that
Becker subscribes to this philosophy."
I loved the comparison with Miles Davis and think there's something
there. From an interview on the 25th Anniversary of "Can't Buy A
Thrill", Walter (and Donald) talk about Becker's authentic blues guitar
roots. I've always thought of authentic blues artists having a sense of
playing (and bending, tweaking, howling) the 'right' note for all it
was worth. An irony Dave's Miles / Walter intersection is that in that
same CBAT interview, Walter gives one reason for himself (and SD?)
moving away from Jazz and into pop which can in some ways be attribute
to Miles,"Jazz had moved into a modal thing that seemed to be a dead end and not a direction we wanted to go in."
That's a total paraphrase (sorry Walter), not having that interview
right in front of me (which I will correct, since there are other
Jazz-related gems in it), but I think gets across the small point I
wanted to make.Question for Walter: Would he say that Miles had an influence on him, especially in his solo approach? Were there other Jazz / Blues musicians that had an impact in his playing approach? Any musical examples of this? Question: Any answers / comments to my questions above? Let's start a conversation (in a pool of margaritas). And I wonder if Dave would have any other insights to contribute to The Jazz In Steely Dan? I'd love to hear from any and all Jazz Journalist's on the subject and would be overjoyed to link to anyone's website who wants to post something on their own site. I'm a weblogger, that's what we do! 7:34:14 AM comment [] trackback [] Google It! - See Also: Jazz * The Jazz In Steely Dan |
Last update: 9/1/03; 5:30:58 AM .
