Down the Rhodes Webisode: Donald Fagen

[@pwkpilot]

Those chords in Hey Nineteen still give me goosebumps!

[@norsketilbakeblikk3717]

pwkpilot Josie too!

[@nealbradleigh5069]

Add yo that the Circus stylings in Kid Charlemagne!

[@Wushutigercranekungfudragon]

Those R&B chords progressions are nothing to sleep on

[@IronMan-tk8uc]

...and so on. Donald's stoicism and economy of words are simply legendary!

[@wizardofx]

Donald is a Hi-Fi player in a Lo-Fi world we now live in. Keep your needle sharp Donald... We're all counting on you.

[@zeeman3684]

Perfectly phrased. Donald is special.

+wizardofx Ultra cringe

[@samrotolo2006]

Very very well put.

[@jotapecu]

Cute words.

[@teleespantoso]

Donald Fagen is the coolest cat in our time.

[@TacoCrisma]

Donald is the GOAT. When I hear the Rhodes I immediately think of him every single time.

[@kendramiller3677]

Donald is so amazing I can't even explain him. He is so interesting and intelligant. I just adore him with all of my heart. Its a pleasure just to hear him talk. Love Donald

[@bruceledingham9009]

wow... what a great Rhodes story! way to stay on topic Donald

[@Katy51844]

It's nice to know that one of the coolest musicians (and maybe people) can go into a rage enough to destroy the object of his anger.

[@gregmirr]

I enjoy listening to Donald discuss music and instruments ; he and Walter (rip)have been the leading edge of good music for a long time . I can only thank you Steely Dan for making my musical life much richer ......please keep the ball bouncing in 2018

[@Katy51844]

I love that face. And the fact that he's a wonderful musician helps too.

[@cesarbaca]

RIP Walter Becker

[@Joel_Powell]

Very Cool. I idolize Donald and study jazz today because of the influence Steely Dan has on me. I practice keys and guitar daily and I never get through a session without playing with some Steely Dan tracks. I find this clip especially funny and I relate to it as I owned and ARP Odyssey in the late 70s. I didn't recall the tuning problem, but I don't have the ear this man has. I have learned a lot and have certainly been influenced by him. Thank you Donald Fagen.

[@NathanMacAdams]

This is too me, something I crack up watching. It doesn't matter how many times. I know exactly what is coming when I listen/watch this video. I find it absolutely HILARIOUS the way he keeps a straight face throughout.

[@georgehampton25]

Makes me feel better that I never did get that Odyssey I so craved.

[@MikeFloutier]

Wow, there are some yt videos that are totally priceless! 🎹🍾❤️

[@RMoribayashi]

Well I guess that's one way to deal with it, but ARP's were usually very stable instruments. From the description, that one probably had bad capacitors in the power supply. The real problem was the keyboard mechanisms used by both ARP and Moog. Under each key were tiny contact springs that were very fragile and almost impossible to keep clean and correctly adjusted.

[@flstffatboy3910]

That’s exactly what he was talking about how unreliable they were

[@RMoribayashi]

@@flstffatboy3910 That wouldn't affect the tuning, it would just cause static. Ironically, one of the Odyessey's selling points was that it was much more stable than it's nearest competitor, the MiniMoog. They were also very easy to repair, unlike modern keyboards. A keyboard tech could have fixed it in a hour.

[@ClassicTVMan1981X]

@@RMoribayashi The Odyssey also allowed players to do two notes at a time instead of just one.

[@fitza9107]

he played part of "19" and actually had a little laugh as well. cool!

[@polara01]

There has to be more of this discussion with Fagen on the Rhodes; anybody know where the entire interview is to be found...?

[@waynedurning8717]

Has Anybody ever seen this cat have an honest to goodness laugh like this? 😮

[@errolingram1131]

I would first hear "Deacon Blues" until I realized I had the "Aja" album from 1977 where Joe Sample played the Rhodes on that track. Victor Feldman played the Rhodes on "Black Cow" and "Deacon Blues" and until I heard "Hey, Nineteen" on the radio that was Donald Fagen with Steely Dan.

[@Nessthegreat]

Mr. Fagen. How does one keep a straight face through a story like that. xD Good God man.

[@habyss]

Nessthegreat As straight as his face ever gets, anyway.

[@Complicaadd0rock]

Dude you should know you're lucky just to watch him smile at all like he does when he ends that story, I had never seen that, never knew the guy's teeth 😂😁

[@floofytown]

Man, I love the Odyssey. Mine is always in need of a tune but when it's in, it's amazing. It's got such a remarkable sound.. kinda smooth, but really biting and hard. It's really a big sound. I love Kamakiriad and Fagen's unreal Rhodes sound so I can forgive him for hating on the Odyssey.

[@mrose77]

I believe this happened while they were recording "Bodhisattva". They were doing that repeating four-chord phrase during the outtro/guitar solo, and each note of the chord had to be multi-tracked individually since it was a monophonic board, and that's when the tuning problems were happening. After countless takes had been ruined by this issue, Fagen became fed up. Once the last part had finally been completed, he unleashed his wrath upon the object that had given him so much grief.

[@SPAZZOID100]

Fagen lost a few points with me over this.

[@wri6345789]

Loved this little story, hahahaha!!!! I can relate via my own moments of rage!

[@ronswanson1704]

Damn, what a legend

[@TruthSeeker13]

I might not know, or quite frankly, care much about today’s music , but I sure do love my Steely Dan music. Thank you Mr Donald Fagan; you effortless genius you. 😎

[@tellitlikeitisalways]

Hey nineteen played at the end also. 'What i say' is correct and Joe Sample has made it clear on hearing this Ray Charles classic and that particular groove that he wanted that sound. Joe said he didn't even tour these days with his original Ray model choosing to use his second choice. You would think Fender would be able to recreate this instrument for such artists,it's a beautiful instrument lacking in music today,unless heard sampled and bastardized anyway.

[@LearnColorPiano]

I'm thinking that Donald Fagen doesn't really keep up with music instrument technology as much as myself and other gear junkies. But I don't blame him because he's not looking for a better mousetrap. The Steely Dan sound is Rhodes Piano with phaser effects among other things. I was surprised when I first watched this because "King of the world" has a synth part that's always made want to listen to it over and over. I always assumed that synth technology was something he really "dug" as they used to say. Oh well, I"ll always have my copy of "Can't buy a thrill".

[@OneOffization]

The Steely Dan sound is his VOICE. But yes, the Rhodes too.

[@ClassicTVMan1981X]

And _Countdown to Ecstasy_, which "King of the World" closes out the 2nd side of.

[@SPAZZOID100]

+Cedric Harris tuning an odyssey is not rocket science. I own two of them...

[@kell1reilly2]

where can i find a full account of that story?

[@MattSmith-iq1ld]

He said that synths back in the day would stay in tune for a period. Perhaps the part for King Of The World was done on a newer machine

[@NathanMacAdams]

It's "Hey Nineteen" off of Steely Dan's 1980 release, "Gaucho."

[@lauras.3469]

Nothing but nothing has that cool stank funk like the Rhodes!

[@amydavidval]

Who knew they had an office space moment of beating up a machine together?? 😅

[@philhall1910]

Don't know if Cole Porter played keyboards, but if he did, he would have done what Donald has done - composed thoughts .alonngside melo riffs. Thanks for this

[@krisscanlon4051]

The ARP Odyssey story was replayed in Katy Lied liner notes

[@paulmayerpiano]

Haha, Fagen is great. Barely talked about the Rhodes at all... XP BTW, who cares if he smashed an ARP Odyssey? He bought it with his own money, he can do whatever he wants to it. It's his to smash, play, whatever. If somebody buys an expensive instrument and just polishes it and babies it and never plays it, how is that worse? I can't begin to guess how many grand pianos or expensive guitars suffer such a fate. But I digress, just like Donald, here. I feel like I have so much in common with this man... Excuse me, I'm going to go smash an Ableton controller now.

[@SPAZZOID100]

I love his music, but destroying a great synth because you could not figure out how to tune the oscillators?? Tuning a guitar takes much more effort.

[@NathanMacAdams]

The greatest.

[@wri6345789]

Hahahaha!!!!

[@lenscaffidi1670]

Great info...but to clarify: The first riff Dnald plays is from a Ray Charles classic, played on a Wurlitzer electric -- not a Rhodes.

[@saftpackerl]

He actually says that in the beginning...

[@neilslade]

These days you can stretch tune digital sampled Rhodes.

[@MattSmith-iq1ld]

The story of the destruction of the instrument and many other stories can be found in Brian Sweet's excellent biography called "Reelin' In The Years." In my opinion, it's the best rock/pop biography ever penned on a band or performer. Incredible amount of detail, and incredible interviews with so many of the studio cats who played with them. It's the only band bio that I know of where, say, the writing and recording of "Katy Lied" takes up an entire chapter. If you want Albert Goldman-like sensationalism, this will be a dry read for you. It's about the music. Some of the stories about when Donald and Walter used to back Jay And The Americans are just hilarious. Same with the early Steely Dan road stories. The book really gives you an understanding as to why they quit the road until the early 90's. I guess someone finally figured out that it made more sense to play Phoenix after San Diego as opposed to Providence.

[@andyinoregon]

Saw them live April 21, 1974 at the U. of Toledo. Such a fine show that I had no idea how miserable things could get on the road. When they didn't tour behind the release of "Katy Lied" my wife and I followed Jeff Baxter and Michael McDonald over to The Doobie Brothers to get our live music fix. I only wish that if they weren't going to tour for nearly 20 years they would at least have given fans a concert album from 1974.

[@stevebirks2186]

It would be great to know what track Donald was recording when that happened ? Very Rock & Roll !

[@steelyd2]

I believe it was an “arp soloist” synth and during the recording of the synth part for “king of the world” on “countdown to ecstasy”

[@ClassicTVMan1981X]

Does anyone here know how I can get that same harmonica-like sound (on both "Hey Nineteen" and "I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World)") on a Minimoog model D?

[@MattSmith-iq1ld]

I think the thing that people are not understanding here is that the ARP that Fagen had may have been just a flat out lemon. Not every musical instrument is made perfectly. I once had a Strat that 3 guitar techs couldn't keep in tune. I just broke it Pete Townshend style. The Strat is a beautiful instrument. I own one right now that is great. But the one I had was a piece of shit. Not all musicians view instruments as works of art. They view them as a tool.....something that is no different than a good hammer is to a construction worker. You should also read Brian Sweet''s biography called "Reelin' In The years" about Steely Dan. When Fagen was recording his "Nightfly " solo record, they had major issues with a song called "Ruby Baby" where there was a splendid piano solo that was rubbing against an out of tune synth. From the book: " They had to take the whole track apart to figure out what was the problem. What they found was that the tuning increments of synths were too big, one notch would be too flat and the next notch too sharp. So Fagen and company rented a high piece of Hewlett-Packard equipment to change the clock frequencies on the machine so they could move the tuning around in tiny increments. Then they took some of piano solo (which was perfectly in tune), put it into Wendel (an early sequencer invented by Fagen's engineer Roger Nichols) looped it so they could get a tuning reference on a rota tuner and started again from there tuning the synths. The song caused plenty of headaches and for a long while things were touch and go, but much to Fagen's relief the synths worked out at the third attempt." So you can imagine why Fagen, who has spent more time in recording studios than anyone probably on youtube.com, might be very frustrated by the performance of synths. They caused two major traumas in the making of his albums. This is already a man who can detect a bass note in bar 44 that is a little softer than all the rest of the bass notes in a 6:47 minute song. Studio musicians have said he might have the most perfect pitch of any musician they have ever worked with. And Steely Dan and Fagen himself were notoriously known for being perfectionists in the studio. They spent over $100,000 recording a song for the "Gaucho" album that never made the record. Over course having an assistant engineer erase the best take of the song didn't help. He also had first rate engineers and technicians in the studios with him to correct any issues. I can't blame him for his frustrations and his desire to continue to use a fender Rhodes and his negative view of synths. I also don't blame him for thrashing what was probably a lemon ARP.

[@NathanMacAdams]

"went to the top of ABC dunhill records and just DROPPED IT. LOL

[@アナールオナール]

he is genius !!!!!!!!!!!

[@irishguy13]

...a pioneer. We've got to have someone music on the New Frontier.

[@h.j.w2783]

completely off topic, but can someone tell me what glasses Donald is wearing, they're lovely.

[@jtpinnyc]

I thought the same thing. I don't think anyone has ever suited a pair of frames as much as they suit Fagen.

[@AveryGrimmette]

Ray-Bans

[@dreammfyre]

My dream grandpa.

[@Espectro101]

can anyone tell me what the chord is he is playing at the end of the 2nd bar when he does hey 19 at the end of this video? Its wrapped up in jazz dissonance... i can't make it out!

[@karenmurray2141]

Yes, it's a D7b5 - from the bottom up, D, C, F#, G#. Quite hard to hear!

[@Rick-zw7zv]

Karen Murray That chord is definitely not on the record.

[@bourniplus]

@@Rick-zw7zv I was surprised to hear this too, then I listened to the original, and indeed you can sort of hear it, even though the bass plays G# B C#...

[@dvamateur]

Come on... Yamaha DX7II has micro-tuning. You can tune each key separately.

[@hc121]

love fagen but that arp is a great synth. though it is kind of funny that he plays "what id say" and mentions ray charles, who did play rhodes some, but that song is the most iconic example of the rhodes competition, the Whurli not the rhodes.

[@Lattjolars]

Well, I have a Korg SV1 and you can actually tweak the rhodes-emulation a lot..

[@viralbuthow000]

Donald's lips have been through a great many recording sessions. Great dude tho.

[@DykyKryl]

Please volume up

[@Mark-cv9cd]

I thought he was going to say after smashing, burning and dropping the ARP from a balcony, it amazingly did the trick of tuning it!! lol

[@maevey3]

😆

[@maramé.r]

Not one for the Pearlman Foundation perhaps. Maybe he’d appreciate the plug-in version of the Odyssey or the Korg model. Happily for us all Donald chose the Rhodes and does wonderful things with it

[@Trollbot007]

Real musical nerd that guy

[@marcelodonati]

Is there a phaser pedal somewhere, isn't?

[@chinitosperon1462]

3:21 That part is kind of a Tango...

[@irishguy13]

That's 'Retha Franklin.

[@kai326]

La guardia vieja

[@77hodag]

So, instead of smashing up hotel rooms, Donald & Walter smashed up a synthesizer😂

[@ryanmichaelmurphy]

lost it when he said that

[@AdamBorseti]

"It wasn't very flexible" he says...... about the ARP Odyssey. This fuckin' guy.....

[@mariahmmm1845]

why does Fagens voice sound so deep here????😂

[@clusha2]

Does anybody know in which recording studio the defaced Arp Odissay is kept on display?

[@ClassicTVMan1981X]

+clusha2 It wasn't an Odyssey but instead a Soloist (not Pro-Soloist).

[@KarlGeorges]

Well, he talks more about the Arp Odyssey than about the Rhodes. Herbie Hancock BTW will object you can't do much with the Odyssey (bassline Chameleon, to name just that ..)

[@TheHollywoodWaltz]

a ray charles song. 'what'd i say' i think its called. one of his songs though

[@LikeWiseLikeYou]

Hey, you're right.

[@freebreeze9042]

He plays a vintage model. You wont see him with a mk7. His Fender Rhodes has a warmer sound.

[@AfferbeckBeats]

I wonder if he'll get a mk8. They seem to be doing a beautiful job on those.

[@musiqsoundsproductions]

Imagine he had a midi rhodes too.

[@ManicOrganica]

I've always suspected that he preferred to have other guys do the synth playing because of his frustration with the digital world, musically speaking

[@MattSmith-iq1ld]

Fagen is notoriously known for his meticulous ear. He can hear a bass note that is played too softly in bar 39, and can pick it out the same time everytime.

[@BlixtenMarlowes]

He is a God! :-D

[@kell1reilly2]

what was that very little thing he played at the beginning?

[@kai326]

What I Say by Ray Charles

[@micindir4213]

Part about sharp at the top and flat at the bottom is SUPER IMPORTANT. Fascist 440 scum keep people stupid, never to hear good intonation, let alone 432! Anyway, I know its true with samples, but the stretching of the samples is not really in fundamentals, its the formants that get stretched, thus giving this chipmunk feel to overall intune sound. Sampling every key does cure the problem. As with synths, they have overall control over key scaling, not with every 88 or 73 key. Usually analog or digital synth is configured to fit specific register with specific timbre, and usually 3 octaves are enough even for the most blazing soloist. But usually there is no patch in traditional synth architecture that works in all registers

[@ERICtheLATE]

Electrolytic Capacitors. And maybe thinly enameled transformer wire. Oh well.

[@jeffsimon9594]

DF is a bit like Geddy Lee in that he seems to look cooler the older he gets

[@NathanMacAdams]

21 people dislike this. huh.

[@CriticalElixer]

the reason these instruments are demonized is si fallen angels can maintain control. these instruments have chips. powerful computer chips. some musicians rise above or beside or etc. where others just wonder why they sound so bad.

[@Katy51844]

Donald Lover or not, LISTEN TO DAN HICKS SINGING CAROL OF THE BELLS AND SOMEBODY STOLE MY SANTA CLAUS SUIT" If you want to get happy, DO THAT.

[@RubberGooseNeck]

how to destroy equipment with Donald Fagen haha

[@MrCamelneck]

I think Fagen is loosing his mind. He told this same story 30 years ago, but he said the synth that he destroyed was an ARP Soloist. Now the ARP Soloist (not the Pro-Soloist) was a shitty instrument. However, the ARP Odyssey was one of the best synthesizers in the 1970's and it stayed in tune a lot better than a Minimoog.

[@loubamour]

he seems nice... lol

[@doctorgarbonzo2525]

Donald is Cooler than Cool! Your Funkadelic.....................

[@ChrisNova777]

lol awesome.. smash the arp oddysey;)

[@SPAZZOID100]

Not kool at all.

[@ChrisNova777]

+James Reeno i appreciate his passion + honesty;)

[@SPAZZOID100]

Nothing awesome about that.

[@andrewgoldringmusic]

Dear God I hope that's not a true story..

[@MattSmith-iq1ld]

God I hope it is. Lemon instruments deserve a rightful end.

[@richardthayer5907]

666 people like this who will be 667?

[@BlixtenMarlowes]

:-D

[@spactick]

THIS is why they call The Donald a genius. I mean come on, who else could make such a nerdy conversation interesting? certainly not Miles Davis

[@sundevilification]

+spactick Keith Richards?

[@spactick]

+sundevilification ya, I guess. I have a lot of respect for Keith because he's showed a lot of respect for those (Elvis, Chuck Berry, Beach Boys etc;) who came before him. He's a good guy, I'd buy him a beer in a minute and thank him for sharing his art with us

[@sundevilification]

I couldn't agree more. He set up a different string profile for rhythm guitarists. Pat Metheny's version of the Association tune 'Cherish' is a great example.

[@spactick]

+sundevilification i'm not a musician, so by 'string profile' what do you mean? as to Metheny? I give him a lot of credit for re-establishing a lot of respect for the 'white' jazz musician as being in the forefront of creative/progressive jazz. Not that I'm biased in my musical taste, but the white jazz musicians had not really made much contributions to the creative progression of jazz since Bill Evans, Stan Getz (1955-65) came onto the scene. Metheny changed that, and that's good for the artform

[@sundevilification]

He double tuned a guitar by using 2 strings instead of one for a richer, fuller acoustic affect for the rhythm guitar.

[@AdamBorseti]

The ARP Odyssey wasn't very flexible? Stick with the Rhodes, Donny.

[@kai326]

For the time, I'm sure it was great. You have to take into account two things 1.) He's judging it from his current viewpoint in the twenty first century, where we now not only have music at our disposal in a much easier way, IE computers, pro tools, etc. and also the fact that Donald is simply a fan of acoustic instruments, because as he said, they're easier to tune 2.) I'm sure you already knew this, but in case you didn't, Walter and Donald were notorious for their extremely perfectionist like methods when it came to making songs. They wanted it to be perfect in every sense of the word, and still have a genuine charm to it. Donald's impatience and rage with a defective synthesizer that would occasionally go out of tune, especially since they would spend days working on one song part, is completely justified

[@herrbonk3635]

@@kai326 I'm an amateur (former semi professional) jazz pianist and percussionist. Never touched pro tools or any other pc-computer stuff. All our recordings are done "live", without computers. The only exception being embedded computers in digital pianos and effect units.

[@romulus_]

gotta love with some nobody comments. he has twice the hair and a million times the applicable talent. time to get real.

[@wut6486]

This man is a true musical genius. Fuck the momentary infatuation with all this new bullshit that Gen Z's unfortunately are growing up with. THIS is real, lasting music.

[@mootbooxle]

Not cool, Donald. Not cool! That ARP deserved better!

[@SPAZZOID100]

Agreed. LOVE Fagen but that was a sacrilege and quite childish.

[@mootbooxle]

+James Reeno Ha! I guess I did know that story LOL!

[@MattSmith-iq1ld]

Again, wonder if it was a lemon? The thing was probably a piece of shit. I would've pissed on it.

[@MattSmith-iq1ld]

If an instrument sucks and is a lemon, break it. I smashed a a Strat Pete Townshend style that 3 guitar techs could not tune. Instruments are just TOOLS.

[@kevinlewis1017]

Perfectionist picky nerd love his music but way too high brow

[@SPAZZOID100]

Love Donald but destroying a great musical instrument just because you didn't know how to use it ain't kool.

[@fretbuzz59]

+James Reeno Umm, did you listen to the story? He knew how to use it, but he wrecked it because he got frustrated by it's constantly going out of tune. Like he said, it was a useful device, but I don't think I'd go so far as to call it a "great musical instrument."

[@SPAZZOID100]

+fretbuzz59 huhhh?? You ever heard of Herbie Hancock?? George Duke?? Zappa?? Chick corea?? They would strongly disagree. Let me guess, only "traditional" instruments are great for you??

[@SPAZZOID100]

+fretbuzz59 guitars go out of tune FAR MORE often than synths, btw.

[@fretbuzz59]

James Reeno Sparky, I owned an Arp Odyssey. It was a cool synth, but a "great musical instrument"? Not really. As an electronic device it was fairly primitive, certainly by today's standards. Even compared to some of the great synths from the 80s--Oberheim, Prophet, Jupiter 8--it was pretty clunky. And actually, you're wrong about guitars, in relation to the issue at hand. Most guitars hold a tune pretty well. And they don't drift such that the entire instrument goes out of tune the way old synths did.

[@SPAZZOID100]

Yes...the Arp Odyssey is a classic, up there with the Moog Minimoog. Just ask George Duke, Herbie Hancock, and a bunch of other important artists. In fact, this instrument is so revered, that Korg has re-issued it!!! And btw, comparing a mono synth to the poly-synths you just mentioned doesn't make much sense.

[@17golfstar]

thank goodness Fagen sounds so good. "cause he sure aint much to look at! lol

[@LisaRichards_123]

Let’s see how accomplished you are at his age, and what you look like then.

[@ssonpli6819]

Haha he is supposed to talk about Rhodes but he only talk bullshit about Arp...