Steely Dan tribute with Vinnie

Hey Guys,

I haven't posted for a while...I guess I enjoy just being a silent participant. Anyway, I thought you guys should know about this. My friend Jeff Richman has just finished the basic tracks for a fourth in his series of guitar tribute records on the Tone Center label. This latest is a Guitar tribute to Steely Dan. The Rhythm section contains Peter Wolf on keys (of Zappa fame among others), Jimmy Haslip on bass and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums. The songs songs include Home At Last, Peg, and beleive it or not Aja, complete with drum solo. I guess if anyone is going to redo that solo...

When I read the thread title I thought, uh oh, they're going to redo Aja.

I'm very interested in this one. Wouldn't it be cool if Vinnie played the exact same solo that Gadd did? Or is it just me....

I dig Jeff's playing. He seems underrated to me as a guitarist. This looks very interesting. When some of the local LA HODers caught JR at Caf? Cordiale over the summer, that band played some difficult covers, one of which was a Dan tune. IMO, they sounded better than SD Live, at least the Live concerts aired on TV I?ve seen over the years of the original duo.

DIdn't not believe it was for real when i read the title,but yes,at last a SD tribute.Love the fact that Vinnie is gonna be all over it but quite doubtful about what it's gonna sound like.I mean,it's gonna be all instrumental right??
Well,i can't really imagine SD's music which is my personal fav. ever without vocals you know?To me,Fagen's peculiar voice is a huge part in the magic of their music so i'm quite afraid of what could come out of such a tribute.

Any version of Aja would not be as good as the original. That version is perfect. Full stop.

Would like to hear any other stuff though. Sounds fun.

The orignal version is indeed a masterpiece, even with the two (somewhat infamous) audible glitches. There is one very brief acoustic piano phrase and one very brief lead guitar lick that are just perfect for that song. I love Gadd's drum sound on that--especially those fat, funky, dark, pitch-bending floor toms. His use of dynamics on that track is genious.

And yes, Brad, that would be cool if Vinnie were to play the entire piece note for note. As starrdrum said, if anyone is gonna play drums on Aja besides Gadd...

Yeah, I heard about this SD tribute. They're going to be tracking it all very soon. I look forward to it. The Miles and Mahavishnu ones are really great.

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Originally posted by Vdrummer:
When I read the thread title I thought, uh oh, they're going to redo Aja.

I'm very interested in this one. Wouldn't it be cool if Vinnie played the exact same solo that Gadd did? Or is it just me....

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm not sure Gadd could do it exactly that way again.

This is very cool news.

I enjoyed the MO trib, not because they tried to cop MO note-for-note, sound-for-sound, & vibe-for-vibe, but because it was THOSE great musos interpreting the orig compositions [of the orig great musos of MO!]...you're never going to get the EXACT vibe of grit & excitement of the orig happening again, altho you can, well, pay homage to it [& THX again to the HODhost-broeski!! You know who you are..."mucho-appreciatavo," again...]

Yeah, Gadds solo is superb on the orig Aja. Not much topping it there. But I'd rather not hear another muso such as of VC's stature replicate the "Almighty Gadd" [img]wink.gif[/img] note for note; i'd rather hear Vinnie in it. Or Vinnie interpreting the impact had on himself of what Gadd played. I wouldn't want to hear a guy like VC play SG, or one great muso try to cop another great muso; as it's already been done. I'd rather let the new muso bring their own goods [not "gadds"] to the table.
I mean, perhaps quoting one or certain specific notes or phrases that may be interpreted as integral to the overall surrounding musical statement is fine by me, but not the whole thing, necessarily...jmho

I've no doubt Gadd could play it his same way again after re-listening to it. The real question would be, as a life-in-progress muso, would he even WANT to...I'd be inclined to think he'd come up with a "fresh" or "new" solo arrangement so to speak, but just as musical & Gaddalicious.
Ersk's approach is prob the closest SD has ever had to either Gadd, Marotta, or Jeff's...again, jmho...although i also enjoyed Dennis' interp immensely AW, but for diff reasons...& because, well, it was Dennis' [own] interp...&, um, Dennis doesn't exactly "s*ck," now, does he... /;-p

Altho i totally agree about Fagen's voice, it's a muso's trib to that great band. Still going to be interesting & prob a good purchase.

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JR at Caf? Cordiale over the summer

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">THAT would've made a great boot... [img]wink.gif[/img]

LOL...benrand has now officially lost it [img]tongue.gif[/img] ...some pressure, that is...

Hey, can i bring some ill-wind over here from that Abe&Frnds/"religious" thread & start some more shindig here? NO [you say]?! Eh, allrightey then...majority rules...[we're better off. anyway] [img]wink.gif[/img] ...Sorry; J/K you cats...

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ December 14, 2005 02:53 PM: Message edited by: got_a_match_grip? ]</font>

What are the infamous audible glitches? Have i missed something?

Donald Fagen had some bad sushi before tracking that and let out an audible belch at 3:35 then blasted a fart at 4:01.