Steve Gadd Discusses Playing On Steely Dan's "Aja"

In this clip, prolific session drummer Steve Gadd discusses playing on the Steely Dan track "Aja", as well as his warm-up routine, and where he gets ideas for grooves.
Full Video: • Steve Gadd: Interviewi...
📚The Beato Ultimate Bundle - $99 FOR ALL OF Rick's Courses. Get it here: ⇢ rickbeato.com
👂- The Beato Ear Training Program - $99.00 value
📘- The Beato Book Interactive - $99.00 value
🎸 - Beato Beginner Guitar - $159.00 value
🎸- The Quick Lessons Pro Guitar Course - $79.00 value
… all for just $99.00
Get it here: rickbeato.com
Upcoming Live Dates:
NYC - Oct 17 - livemu.sc/3CdE3pD
Berlin, Germany - October 28 at Passionskirche.
www.ticketmast...
My Beato Club supporters:
Justin Scott
Terence Mark
Farren Mahjoor
Jason Murray
Lucienne Kilpatrick
Alexander Young
Jason Wagner
Todd Ladner
Rob Kline
Nicholas Long
Tim Benson
Leonardo Martins da Costa Rodrigues
Eddie Perez
David Solomon
MICHAEL JOYCE
Stephen Stubbs
colin stead
Jonathan Wentworth-Linton
Patrick Payne
MATTHEW KARIS
Matthew Barouch
Shaun Samuels
Danny Kurywchak
Gregory Reedy
Sean Coleman
Alexander Verbitskiy
CL Turner
Jason Pappafotis
John Fulford
Margaret Carno
Robert C
David M Combs
Eric Flatt
Reto Spoerli
Herr Moritz Adam
Monte St. Johns
Jon Beezley
Peter DeVault
Eric Nabstedt
Eric Beggs
Rich Germano
Brian Bloom
Peter Pillitteri

[@rickbeato2]

Full Interview Here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGmaZ2Wid9mob6Msi=1V09AbTgEYkuVxnx

[@zabaladrum]

Great inspiration for learning an instrument.

[@kevinthompson1334]

He's not even on the same set as Gadd!

[@kevinthompson1334]

Photo shopped!

[@mod_incllc3235]

The King!

[@andrewSUN17]

Great one w a truly amazing legend! The artists he has played with and the songs he has played on is really epic. And what feel!

[@AltGrendel]

That section at the end of Aja is one of the best minute on a record I’ve heard.

[@Capgpro1]

The last minute feels exquisite.

[@cirenosnor5768]

Let’s not forget about the drum fills and simultaneous Wayne Shorter solo

[@genewilliams617]

From the mouth of the master. The simplicity of displacement! Pure genius!

[@jas_bataille]

@@genewilliams617 Simple yet unthinkable to execute such a complex part with a displaced downbeat - and he improvised that. Sublime mastery.

[@caprise-music6722]

@@mattdelany6799 Tory Slusher is great, but I don’t think she played on Aja lol

[@DiamondTheifGaming]

Steve Gadd??? Holy shit, Rick! This channel just keeps getting better and better. How is that even possible?? Nice work, my friend. 👊

[@jim5148]

How can it get better? I'm from the future to say that it does indeed just keep getting better. Gotta go.

[@ruminantmelanoid5444]

I'm a bassist, not a drummer, but Steve Gadd & "Aja" rewrote some of my brain wiring.

[@craigchapman8220]

Mr. Gadd is a very nice person. Very humble. Met him in Rochester. Insane drummer.

[@anthonylewis-zb3tq]

I sold him and his wife a "Bose Wave System" at Eastview Mall!!! Great guy.

[@scottmoyer1357]

The drums 4:11 for the Aja session were a Ludwig Red Sparkle set with a 12, 13 and 16" set of toms and a 22" Bass drum. Steve used his new Zildjian 21" Rock Ride cymbal and two 17 and 18 inch cracked crash cymbals . The snare was his Ludwig chrome 14" x 5 1/2 " Super Sensitive. I delivered the drum set . It was a rental from SIR where I worked as the head of the Drum Department in 1976 and 1977. The studio was the Producer's Workshop in Hollywood.

[@danlc95]

I wonder what kind of heads he was using.

[@ciadella1971]

Those drums sounded amazing. Why did he use cracked cymbals?

[@alvarezfrederic4997]

Hé didn't played on yamaha 9000 rc

[@scottmoyer1357]

The drum heads were all clear black dot Ambassadors

[@danlc95]

@scottmoyer1357 - Thank you! Very much appreciated.

[@thirdmanzither9605]

There was an embarrassment of riches in the 70s with Aja topping the list, and at the time it seemed completely normal to have classic albums drop one after the other. And now 46 years later we know the sad truth that hit me hard listening to Gadd’s drumming and Wayne Shorter’s sublime counterpoint of a sax solo: it was a minor miracle something like that was put on record, and I will always treasure it.

[@RobertDore-w4l]

Cream always rises to the top.

[@normsaunders4980]

God, you are so right! That period was giving us so much wonderful music. Not just simple chords but complex feels. Taking ideas from 50's and early 60's jazz, the growing ideas from pop music, using other genres, then mixing it with their own original ideas. Not just the Dan but so many other groups and artists. We were so fortunate in the 70's -- early 80's...

[@deepsix1827]

I don't even understand how people can drum like that. It blows my mind.

[@RetiredEE]

When I bought "Aja" many moons ago, I remember being awed by Steve's drumming. I looked on the jacket and instantly committed Steve's name to memory. What an outstanding moment in musical time. Thank you for the memorable performance. 🙂

[@jackmalvern2394]

Steely Dan. Always the best musicians.

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

I had CTI records before I had Dan records LOL I came in the side door to the pop world, kinda following where Gadd went I was such a die hard got me into drumming.

[@pretorious700]

Gadd had been a first call studio musician for decades before Aja.

[@jhorton4791]

Same here! I remember poring over the liner notes in the album.

[@ChuckSchickx]

Aja is on an entirely different plane. For me, I think it's the most well produced album I've ever heard.

[@melodymakermark]

Agree. My Jenson 6X9”coaxial speakers wore themselves out playing it back when.

[@davidwitt5347]

I have always regarded Aja as the pinnacle of 70’s rock music. So good that it is really jazz

[@Boots-zh9iu]

I would add 90125 by YES on there as well :)

[@johnwelsh2769]

@@melodymakermark Yes! My Jensen 6x9's were on the rear deck of my 1972 Maverick Grabber.

[@melodymakermark]

‘73 Gran Torino, I had. With which receiver did you power the Jenson’s? I had a Craig “road rated”.

[@Emlizardo]

And there's the key to being a great musician: being a lifelong student.

[@lavalp]

I bought Aja album when I was 14. Love it as much now as I did then. Steve Gadd - what an incredible drummer. His feel for whatever he's playing is astounding.

[@stefonjackson2154]

Steve Gadd work on Stanley Clarke "School Days" 1976 and "Aja" 1977 was the most talked about drum playing those 2 years. The 70's with Steve Gadd playing was unbelievable! Awesome drummer! A legend!!

[@mauricekelly1585]

Steve on Stanley's Silly Putty and "Concerto for Jazz/Rock Orchestra, Parts 1-4" both from Journey to Love. Killer groove and dynamics.

[@skineyemin4276]

I believe that Greg Brown played drums on track 1 of "School Days".

[@volvo945]

@@skineyemin4276Gerry Brown

[@petehelme7714]

​@@skineyemin4276yeah, it was Gerry Brown on "School Days" and "The Dancer" Steve G. was on "Quiet Afternoon" and "Hot Fun"

[@ajahanna6293]

I was named after this song this Album and it’s so interesting. I feel so connected to the music.

[@_Ben4810]

Give me regards to your brother next time you see him... He's a lovely guy is Pretzel Logic...!?! 😉

[@MrMjolnir69]

Or sister Katy. 😅

[@JamesDavis-sh9gh]

Aja Wilson, a member of the defending WNBA Champs Las Vegas Aces , was named by her parents after the LP as well.

[@frumious2946]

Been waiting for this interview for 40 years. Thank you Rick for asking these questions that have been on my mind for so long.

[@kevhead1525]

The drumming was great of course but the entire song was epic. Just a very well made song.

[@tulyar57]

Up to 1977 and the release of Aja I thought drummers were just percussionists laying down the rhythm. Gadd's work opened my eyes to the fact that drummers had individual and charismatic voices. That solo is still one of the best even nearly 45 years later.

[@MauricioLJ]

Steve Gadd is a legend. Such a master, surely one of the greatest.

[@Jaybirdwhittaker]

I went to MI in ‘88-‘89, the drummers all called him “Steve God”. Couldn’t disagree.

[@scottmoyer1357]

The Rhythmic Oath: I swear to play the Groove and nothing but the Groove so help me Gadd!!

[@Ghoopty]

“I was letting the MUSIC DICTATE WHAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO”. A lesson many musicians need to learn (myself included) 👍👍

[@jmamarq]

And that's exactly what Ringo Starr did. Played to the song. And got crapped on for it. Both Gadd and Starr are geniuses.

[@Ghoopty]

@@jmamarq Couldn’t agree more. I’ve been drumming for 3 + decades, and when people ask me my favorite drummer, I say Ringo for PRECISELY that reason! Plus I fucking love The Beatles.

[@ronaldviens7862]

Play to the song, not the formula.

[@danlc95]

​@@jmamarq- Ringo, Jeff Porcaro, and Mike Mangini have all taught me that very recently. The cover band I'm in has been getting more gigs, and the original bands I'm in are now getting feedback of "tight", "danceable". Most of you won't have a problem with that, but I've been the "icing" since I was a kid. Now I'm working on the "cake". It's been fun. Ringo was who got me started when I was 9 (1986). Jeff Porcaro was my first other favorite drummer. I'll Be Over You was on VH1 constantly. Phil Gkuld from Level 42 was there too. Their song Something About You was released the year before, so he was also on VH1 all the time. Those three - Ringo Starr, Jeff Porcaro, and Phil Gould were all at the very beginning of my drumming life. Mike Mangini was a curveball. Known for complex, odd time, polyrhythmic prog drumstravganza, upon listening he pats razor sharp attention to everything everyone is doing musically. His ability to pick out different musical ideas and support them intentionally was brilliant, a little confusing, and what I had hoped would be played by someone (anyone), but though no one could ever do - he did (somewhere near the beginning of On The Backs Of Angels he's playing Jordan's part on a stacker, Myung's bass line on the kick, he's keeping the snare consistent, and accent John Petrucci at the needed points in the rhythmic structure. It was so subtle that unless you were really paying attention, one may not have noticed. For the most recent song one of my original bands did, I went to Ringo. I don't hot a crash until I get to a chorus, amd there are maybe a total of six crash hits on the whole song. I went minimalist. I applied this concept to our back catalog and the band leader couldn't be happier. He was fearful that all the Mike Mangini I was listening to was going to turn me into a prog head and make everything unnecessarily complex, but it was quite the opposite. Mangini is a classical trained musician. I've learned from his use of space when and when not to say something. Thank you for mentioning Ringo.

[@meekoloco]

This is pure gold! I’ve loved Gadd’s playing for decades!

[@mnegline1971]

Only Steve Gadd could make playing a coffee table sound so good.

[@annanikia7949]

Haha, I was just thinking that, listening to him!

[@FazMaTaz]

Super talented drummer.

[@toprymin]

I would buy his record even if it was just him playing a counter. His feel is so natural.

[@ryanand154]

He replaced the coffee table.

[@danlc95]

In the video of "In Session" he's literally playing brushes on a tape box, and it was incredible.

[@SteveGrossmanOnline]

There's one key to his playing on Aja that I've never heard or seen discussed: It's the fact that the primary band kicks come in threes and twos, but Gadd hits twos and ones and then begins his fills on the third and second hits respectively. This is musical brilliance and a huge part of the flow of the track.

[@Anand_KL]

I first heard AJA on a cassette and was blown away. I was 17. 4 years later I bought the album. It's 2023 now and AJA is my favorite album of all time for the last 46 years. Deacon Blues is my favorite song. What an album. What genius. Thank you God for making these guys come up with it.

[@mikeruane2121]

Named my daughter after it! Born also on my birthday, 47yrs later. 2-16-1963 2-16-2010.

[@Anand_KL]

@@mikeruane2121 That's wonderful. Hope she grows to love SD as we all do.

[@Aerospacer77]

The fact one of the greatest drummers in the world can sit down and study rudiments and learn new rythems and concepts only proves his infinite wisdom and expertise on the drums. A legend.

[@steveogle3679]

That solo always moves me. Like hes playing a different structure with every arm and leg. Just blows me away every time.

[@mrreemann3739]

He never said shit about his iconic solo?

[@barnyfife335]

I'll never get tired of hearing about Abby Road, Blow by blow or Aja! Thank you for this.

[@nysaxman]

Steely Dan definitely were jazz buffs. The opening eight bars of "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" were taken from the opening four bars of jazz pianist Horace Silver's 1964 composition, "Song For My Father".

[@MrSteveG58]

Autumn Leaves and Aja……

[@hoisin75]

The greatest feel in the drum business in my humble opinion

[@Mrtellitlikeitis]

The SD albums were all recorded great. They just sounded different than any other

[@d36williams]

Rick... you pull the best interviews, this is a really remarkable chapter in your career and for your channel

[@steves2176]

Major icon here! Not "Mr. Flash" like many other drummers with 32nd not double bass stuff, twirling sticks, etc. but rather, so humble, so solid and so creative like it just comes out of him naturally! Everything he plays for whatever music it happens to be is always so appropriate and perfect for that song! I've played a lot of complicated, odd meter music in my life but for whatever reason, those riff's in Aja near the end are to this day almost impossible for me to replicate!

[@cortical1]

Rhythmic displacement does have brain-based mechanisms for the difference in perception that the listener experiences, as Rick alludes to here. One of these mechanisms relates to how the left and right cerebral hemispheres manage auditory temporal dynamics. I've always loved good examples of rhythmic displacement. Cool to see Steve being into this phenomenon. 🧠

[@IAm-qf2xb]

Hm. There are some who dismiss popular brain hemisphere memes as pseudoscience.

[@jas_bataille]

@@IAm-qf2xb Yes, the left and the right hemispheres are not actually a thing. However, they are still correct about how the brain perceive those dynamics.

[@mootbooxle]

fascinating concept!

[@neuromancer5703]

Gavin Harrison is brilliant at this.

[@jeremychurch5683]

Such a legend. I just turned 44 and have been drumming for about 25 years and I’ve really started to appreciate Steve as a drummer these last couple years, he is just so incredibly talented. his drums have such an iconic sound to them, his snare drum and tom’s are perfect.

[@briumphbimbles]

Aja is one hell of a record. Home at last is definitely a favourite

[@scurvybro8850]

Bernard Purdie is the drummer on Home at Last.

[@briumphbimbles]

That explains why its so funky

[@alwayssomewhere74]

Bernard Purdie another great drummer.

[@sms9106]

One of the all time great drummers. Thank you Rick, for so many great interviews of so many unsung heroes.

[@racs_knives]

Steve Gadd is my favorite drummer ever, an absolute legend!

[@joegarbus]

I have been playing drums for almost 50 years and remember when this album came out,. I still have the original ABC Records vinyl. Whenever and wherever I am, when I have hear the song Aja and the middle and end drum parts kick in, I just stop what I am doing and take it all in. It was incredible then and still is. The next generations have picked this up too and you can find younger people on KZbin playing along to this song

[@joecrowaz]

I saw him with a group called Stomo Yomashita and Go. He's amazing.

[@Stevedrums741]

Wonderful that he mentioned John Tropea as I went to school with his daughter and was in a band briefly with her in high school years. One time we had all gone to her Dad's place and sitting there was Steve Gadd who couldn't have been nicer to me. I think he was having some personal issues of his own at the time (1986-67 or so), but I wish I had the maturity then to have a solid conversation with him. I think I mumbled something about loving "50 Ways...."

[@annanikia7949]

Great memory…

[@Stevedrums741]

@@annanikia7949 : It was. Hadn't thought about that in decades until I watched this. Actually, one time John Tropea was coming to the bass player's house to pick up his daughter after our rehearsal and we knew John was a big deal and I think we played either "Rock & Roll" or "Sunshine Of Your Love" for him. He did single me out saying I sounded like Ginger Baker!! I wasn't huge on Ginger, but it was a great compliment and I happily took it. A compliment or a word of acknowledgement can last years and cover many miles.

[@guillermodelnoche]

Amazing how someone like Steve Gadd can have a whole new line of inspiration by syncopating what he already knows. Brilliant!

[@jas_bataille]

Not syncopating, displacing. He's taking the downbeat and changing it places, but it makes a lot more sense to "move" whatever you're doing an 1/8th to the right, if you would - or 1/16th. When he's gonna start displacing in triplets I'll lose my mind.

[@guillermodelnoche]

@@jas_bataille you just defined syncopation. To take a phrase and place it over onto the “e” and “a” in a phrase is syncopation. Same thing, different name.

[@CaptainCraigKWMRZ]

This proves that absolutely no one is immuned to the bad decision of 3rd grade tattoos.

[@1DaTJo]

Paul Simon’s “Late In The Evening” introduced me to Steve Gadd’s drumming. He uses two sticks in each hand and it’s so great. Love you Steve!

[@FAlex-gj5uq]

Thank you for this! Always a pleasure to hear Mr. Gadd speak on drumming and his (sizable) contribution to music history.

[@ikkenhisatsu7170]

I've been listening to Steve Gadd and trying to emulate his playing for well over 40 years. He's a drum god among gods.

[@michaelmccloskey2713]

😊

[@Meatbalzz]

Steely Dan always puts together the most amazing troupe of studio musicians.

[@scottmoyer1357]

I was with the cartage company called SIR when I delivered the drum set for the Aja session. Just another day at work but more memorable than most.

[@nazfrde]

The stuff about displacement is genius... one of the best demonstrations of what you have to be able to do to be a drummer that I've ever seen.

[@roskoeusa]

Rick. I just watched your full session with Steve Gadd. I don’t know anything I’ve ever watched here on KZbin that was as compelling, thoughtful and we learned so much about the man. To hear his excitement about new learning that is going on in his craft now, how humble and refreshing he is. There is no ego interfering with his quest to try new things, to go from being uncomfortable to comfortable at least eventually with what he is discovering. I suspect this session has inspired many of us. Thank you Rick

[@officerlawnmower]

You know how good Steve Gadd is when you sit and watch him play a table for 10 minutes! He was one of the drummers for Simon and Garfunkel live in Central Park. Just wonderful to watch play

[@tuby1502]

This man is 78 years old in this vide and he learned something new just two years earlier. He really is one of the greatest.

[@jas_bataille]

I'm not quite sure how people understand the level that Gadd is on. Displacement is something you do in the most modern jazz but you don't just move the downbeat of a complex rudimental part like that - you do it for a simple groove, backbeat style, something like that. To take an entire improvised rudimental solo and to displace everything perfectly by "pushing it to the right" in your mind is unthinkable - but on top of all that, he improvised that part, then repeated it perfectly, while displacing the downbeat by 1/8th. That's not supposed to be possible. Yet here we are...!

[@gregh3248]

He plays an 8min drum solo. One of my favorite drummers.

[@arthouston7361]

When Steve talks about displacement, it is a concept which seems alien at first. But, when you start thinking about it when you listen to these tracks, you realize what a difference it makes.

[@jeemjam17]

The perfection of his work in that song,no one else is able to get it so right.

[@winschmitt4919]

I dropped out of college as a music major, and drummer, joined the navy. A year later I was standing lower level aux machinery space watch on a frigate after picking up this album on cassette and absolutely wore it out! It was transformational!🙌🙌

[@DianeLee999]

What an inspiring musician! Finding new ideas 💡 following his muse. 💜

[@paulmarr7873]

"just some rudiments" PLAY FLAM RATAMACUES EFFORTLESSLY....jeesh. Also, that a legend of his craft is discovering beat displacement NOW is mind boggling, what a legend.

[@davidcammilleri5526]

What a phenomenal album. It was musical perfection. So many talented musicians in one place.

[@stevereed8786]

Aja came out when Disco was really beating us up and Aja saved our brains from melting into the Abyss. What a refreshing piece of work that pushed millions of Musicians all over the World to explore the basic fundamentals of rhythm and Jazz. Steve was part of this wonderful time that still effects us all.

[@MichaelVLang]

He could play on a collection of garbage and debris and it would sound good. Such a touch and mindset.

[@annanikia7949]

Well stated!

[@nmjazz09]

Thank you, Rick. Steve is such a treasure. No words really. Just thank you....

[@DoctorD250]

I saw James Taylor live a couple years ago, and I was surprised to see that Steve was the drummer. I always thought of him as Eric Clapton's drummer. But I guess he is in high demand. It is easy to see why. He's fantastic.

[@putinkhuylo]

There are drummers and then there's Steve Gadd. 🙏

[@MrFg1980]

When this came out in '77, it was at the time, the greatest thing I ever heard. I still listen to that album regularly and always look forward to hearing his solo.

[@Gruuvin1]

Gadd's first real work as a drummer was in the Army. I love that Gadd's drum foundation is marching snare. You can even hear it in his warmup. He pops those accents like drum line marches. That kind of musicality is designed to move people into action.

[@cirenosnor5768]

@cirenosnor5768 0 seconds ago Can definitely hear the marching band influence with that warmup and his playing in general. Paul Simeon’s 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover and so on

[@charlie-obrien]

​@@cirenosnor5768 As a former member of our Drill team in High School, I recognized it instantly.

[@davefiano4172]

As a drummer, I think I need that. Any particular name for the warm-ups you’re thinking of?

[@Gruuvin1]

@@davefiano4172 nope. Marching snare line cadences, I guess.

[@ChristopherSmithNYC]

East Coast Cats are just cooler. Coming up with new sticking and displacement of the strokes/accents at close to 80 is incredible dedication to craft. Might be why he's the greatest living drummer.

[@donfletchersr.6644]

" Steve GOD....50 Ways...Chuck E's.....Aja Fills and Outro....Crazy Army.... With Chic at The Blue Note... " How much time ya got, ? lol As an old 70's drum Corp guy myself, I've learned so much from his recordings and clinics because we spoke the same language. . He taught me to use the kit as an instrument as well. Back in the 90's, I drove with my 11 year-old son, from Maryland to the Blue Note in NYC ON CHRISTMAS EVE to see Steve play with Chic Corea. He signed a drum head for my son and was most gracious to everyone there to see him after the show. What a humble, American Music Treasure.

[@danlc95]

He is just on another level. Even outside of that ending, the subtlety, touch, dynamics, tone, tensioning, cymbal nuances. But that ending solo.... "In Gadd We Trust".

[@ADNeverCalling367]

I Love hearing two musicians from Rochester NY park benching.

[@formfaktor]

I had never heard of Steely Dan until i was in my early 20s, and I had been a Jazzhead from an early age. I think Steely Dan is its own category because they brought Jazz to Pop music better than anyone, probably because they were so anal retentive and control-freaky about their music and every detail of it (which funnily is the opposite of Jazz). Because even though they brought a Jazzsound to Pop, they really produced the hell out of very tune and you can really feel that. At the same time, I always giggle when pop fans talk about how the drum solo is crazy at the end, a staple of the Jazz vamp... :)

[@markhealey3660]

The full album is one of my faves. The title track…..GOLD!!

[@geoffm.6842]

I wish someone would ask him to break down that triplet time sequence on Chick's Humpty Dumpty.

[@pc7573]

Damned good music back then, the stuff of legend these days. Top tier musicians all.

[@glenrose7925]

Displacement! Perfectly said

[@dennistaylor6342]

Aja is still my favorite LP of all time. The summer of 77 this album was my jam. Driving out to the Hamptons.

[@fabferrari]

Fantastico! Gadd + Beato, amazing conversation amongst great people.

[@toughlikerocks]

I love how he is answering the questions so gracefully and thoughfully even though hes probably been asked about Aja hundreds and hundreds of times. Dude is a class act

[@joseph-ow1hf]

As an avid student/ amateur drummer, Gadd is my hero. I bought a pair of Zildjean K's that he developed w/ the company. When I started taking lessons, I knew from the get go I'd found the right teacher, because he has a Gadd poster in the studio. Lot of great drummers I love in rock, jazz and fusion, but something about Steve's playing just does it for me.

[@joecharles5368]

Pure music magic. That Gadd/ Shorter thing!🎶💞

[@stephenmahlstedt7276]

I don’t think there are too many people that could interview, appreciate and connect with an artist as creative and talented as Steve Gadd, like Rick did. All is well with the universe ❤

[@rickvicente452]

Aja and 50 Ways….. Man!! No Words!

[@sherrilldean211]

❤ WHAT A CONTINUAL JOY TO LISTEN TO EVERYTHING STEELY DAN HAS COMPOSED ALL THESE MANY YEARS … MY FAVORITE SING A LONG MUSIC OF ALL TIME … ❤

[@robertphillips2492]

I first heard the Aja track on the radio as a teen when it first came out. I was in bed in the dark and half a century later I still clearly remember how utterly astonished and mesmerised I was. Many years later I found myself playing this track in a UK Steely Dan tribute band…. Sweet!

[@HarryJoiner]

2:34 - If a drummer could only learn one song perfectly, there’s like four different styles of drumming in this one song. Aja pretty much runs the gamut.

[@FullContactDrummer]

Damn amazing technique. New players need to make their hands look like his hands.

[@johnnyxmusic]

Can rhythmic displacement be likened to modes? Otherwise the form is the same but you start one step over or one beat over so everything shifts and it becomes something else…

[@autonomousindividual7780]

I wish I could be in a mind like that for just one day. What a gift. Thankfully he's good enough to share it with everyone.

[@DiogoBaeder]

COVID-19 hit in 2020. Gadd was 75 years or so, then. Him talking about how he used the extra time to learn about "displacements" is absolutely incredible - I mean, to be this passionate about studying at this age is heart-warming and makes him even stronger as a role model. What a drummer!

[@dgstjohn]

Those comments about displacement just destroyed my brain for the rest of the night. So wonderful that at that point in his career, already just about the most acclaimed drummer anywhere, with mountains of beyond-great work behind him, he could find something that fresh in the music and get to yet another level. The music always wins! But if we keep at it, there are ALWAYS new secrets that we can get the music to yield up to us....I can always listen to Steve Gadd. His work on Kate Bush's 50 Words For Snow is not one he's as well known for doing, but it is sublime to the nth -- go listen.

[@3599515]

Steve Gadd… Stewart Copeland… Ritchie Heywood from Little Feat and of course that Ringo chap. Love ‘em to bits

[@samkallaos775]

Hands down the most influential drummer in my lifetime. Thank you for the interview and thank you Steve Gadd for your career.

[@antoniofongaro6833]

Aja is a masterpiece in producing, recording, playing. The album sounds so good after so many years. What more can we say about the track Aja? Pure perfection, pure bliss. The music of Becker and Fagen introduced me to jazz.

[@MarkKidwell-y1i]

Steve Gadd is still picking up new beats that he hasn't thought of before! That's incredible!

[@ralphjas3725]

I think it is time to do one of these conversations with the great Donald Fagen.

[@manifestgtr]

Steve is in particularly rarified air. Being a studio player requires precision, the ability to execute over the course of hours and ultimate adaptability…that’s STEP ONE. Step two is being reputable enough to get a Steely Dan call. Then there’s that elite group who improvised leads that made the record. Aja is unique in that it has several of those moments…

[@lopezmotorsports]

Dude, such clean flams and flam diddles. So smooth!

[@michaelmennies1685]

I am a huge Steely Dan fan, and it wasn't until recently that I was struck by the idea that the song Aja is actually quite close in style and execution to Doctor Wu.

[@robc1961]

The drums on I got the news is genius. Aja too but the direction changing Steve talks about is present in I got the news. That whole album was worth wearing out.