Walter Becker, half of Steely Dan, DONK DOWN

Steely Dan is genius. Pure fucking genius. Becker was an incredible musician and songwriter.

I saw them live 7 times. The last time, in Vegas in April, Becker looked old and haggard, and sat down for part of the show. He mentioned a visit to his doctor who had advised him not to drink any more. I thought he might go soon but I didn't think this soon. Donald Fagen said he intends to keep Steely Dan alive which I'm guessing means continued touring, but I'm happy I saw them with Walter once more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea3Bofkmwlc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JkS8WB94ME

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeMbSuPX5oc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDAFsFeskKE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBcr4bWve5g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-zhjJatmpA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rFaLRrGq1I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ3OZEiM9OQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ay8tPN8Rys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FobZ3by_T4

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Originally Posted by hongkonger

[Placeholder for what I'm going to write after Vegas1369's fantasy draft]

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Either make a thread or don't.

Legendary for sophisticated lyrics, acoustic perfectionism, layering and balancing sound, and laying down a solid jazz/rock base and adding pop, country or blues sensibilities on top... you can go on and on with their catalogue of incredible tracks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4epAsS8gD1E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRjItDLnAwc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCFJ_gJj_YQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tub5csVUG2k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbfWXOPKFeg

Listen to Fagen talk about how they composed Peg (2 parts):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP_2r9zbaIY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0UVxZGRwC4

Fucking geniuses.

Not many musicians invent new chords and them have the chords named after them, though SD themselves nicknamed it the "mu."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2-idudwW3w

Walter missed the Classic East and West shows in July, so I think the last performance at the Opaline Theatre at the Venetian during their brief Vegas residency this April, which I attended, was his last show.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hongkonger

Not many musicians invent new chords and them have the chords named after them, though SD themselves nicknamed it the "mu."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2-idudwW3w

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True that not many musicians invent new chords, and SD didn't either. They just added a name to a weird chord voicing they used all the time. Almost everyone else in the world would call it an add9 (or add2) chord.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crowe Diddly

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hongkonger

Not many musicians invent new chords and them have the chords named after them, though SD themselves nicknamed it the "mu."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2-idudwW3w

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True that not many musicians invent new chords, and SD didn't either. They just added a name to a weird chord voicing they used all the time. Almost everyone else in the world would call it an add9 (or add2) chord.

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That's not how many see it but ok.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_chord

They're geniuses either way.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hongkonger

That's not how many see it but ok.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_chord

They're geniuses either way.

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Even what you posted doesn't make the claim you do. It says it is associated with them and they popularized it, because they used it all the fucking time. They did not invent it. Direct quote from the article: "Usage of the chord itself had been present for decades in jazz music from bebop to free jazz".

Why did people think they invented it? Because they gave it a cute name. That's literally the only reason.

Some of the best written lyrics and most relaxing music ( at least for me) has been made by Steely Dan. Saw them live last year @ Beacon theatre in NY and were very good live.

Just mowed my lawn and had a Steely Dan mix on obv