The science that is no fiction

Rumpus and Bud have recently joined some social media Steely Dan groups just to keep their toes in the water, so to speak. The buzz for a Summer of Living Dangerously is in the process of defrosting as we type, meaning that people are warming up inside by the thought of a great summer tour with two of their fav bands, while shoveling their driveways and keeping the engines of their cars running before they hit their daily dosage of traffic jamscapades. But the timeline’s always a bit blurry and fuzzy when it comes to the Dan and their fans. Folks leap from past to present, to the future and back. Not persé reeling in rages of nostalgia, often more realizing the value and layers within the music their young ears, at the time, might have missed out on because their whole being got overwhelmed and absorbed by a catalogue full of creativity and studio craftsmanship that is classic as well as timeless, or ahead of its time, even.

In one of those groups, we saw this astute observation by one of our dearest former Sign In Stranger/Yellowbook friends, mr. Steve Barbour, a musician and private music teacher in Raleigh. Folks were discussing Dr. Wu, a track from the 1975 Katy Lied album of which we posted another track and great cover not long ago, on our Wake Up and Scroll Down page.

Steve posted what we immediately recognized as a great tagline to be served up in our humble Mizar6 abode:

in retrospect, Katy Lied was a watershed record with more ties to the future than the past

So, let’s just jump ahead twenty years in the future, from 1975 to 1995, and listen to Herbie Hancock’s take on a Katy Lied track:

We probably don’t need to explain all the ties and history for this particular video: Chain Lightning, performed at the Jeff Porcaro Tribute concert in 1992, with Denny Dias on lead guitar.

One of our favorite covers in 2006:

But we adore this instrumental version as well:

We hope Steviedan, as we knew him back in the old Yellow days, will occasionally grace us here with some of his insights and knowledge that kept us glued to the screen in those early internet community days.

Springtime with Ed Motta

Are you ready for Spring? We sure are! Just press PLAY and reel it all in. Thanks to Carsten Jacobsen for introducing us to Ed Motta, a wonderful Brazilian musician you will absolutely adore!

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“From my all-time favorite album Aja, there are so many details, as usual, in their music. I’ve listened to this album every week since my teens. It has all the music elements I love: perfect songwriting, tight band-playing, very open harmonies, sarcastic lyrics, imaginative solos, and state-of-the-art sound quality. Becker and Fagen make my life better”. – Ed Motta

 

 

 

Ed Motta has just released a new album called Perpetual Gateways. Perpetual Gateways is Ed Motta’s first album recorded in the U.S. Cut over five days in Los Angeles, Perpetual Gateways features a studio dream team of players: Greg Phillinganes, Patrice Rushen on various keyboards, Marvin “Smitty” Smith on drums, bassists Tony Dumas and Cecil McBee, and horn men Rickey Woodard and Curtis Taylor on tenor sax and trumpet, respectively.

Visit Ed Motta in Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/EdMotta

Bud’s Choice: Contemplation

It’s been more than a while! Bud was supposed to share his favorite albums on a monthly basis, but somehow his intention got lost in a cybermaze. There really is no valid excuse but the fact that he was on a journey, barefoot. And whilst traveling, he discovered so much in the world he didn’t know about yet, he needed all his spare time to think all of those discoveries through and give them in place in his mind and heart.

But we have good news for you! As one of his traveling companions, he brought this very fine album by Chicago pianoman John Erickson, ‘Contemplation,’ released in 2000. Listening to this music guided Bud through many difficult moments and especially blister hell, so to celebrate the album’s 10th anniversary, Bud would like to offer you a humble review of this must own CD. There are still a few copies left via CD Baby, so don’t linger and order this rare gem! And before Bud’s gonna spill some of his own magic beans, here’s an excerpt from a M5 Interview with John Erickson:

M5: Your first CD, Contemplation was released by Astarte Records, an independent label founded by acclaimed singer-songwriter Joy Eden Harrison. The CD has four piano/bass duets with Steve Rodby, known as being the bassist/producer for the Pat Metheny Group. How did the two of you meet and what was it like to work with him on your debut album?

JE: I was working at a record store soon after I got to Chicago and Steve wandered in one night with his wife. I said “hello”, told him how The Pat Metheny Group is one of my favorite bands, but more importantly that one of my all-time favorite albums is a duo record that he (Steve) did with guitarist Ross Traut. “Which one?” he asked. I said “You mean there’s more than one???!!!” I was speaking of “The Duo Life”, but apparently they also did one called “The Great Lawn”. It was out of print by then, but a few days later I went in to work and found that Steve had dropped off a copy for me that he had laying around in his garage–still in it’s longbox! ( remember those? ) Anyway, when it came time to record, I e- mailed him to see if he’d be willing to play on a few tracks. I figured he’d be too busy, but I guess my timing was good. He’s a super nice guy, great to work with. My only regret is that it was over too quickly. He showed up, read my charts and played beautifully. It was so very inspiring and I just really love his sound. One of the songs “The Universe and Dave”, I wrote with Steve in mind. It’s built around a simple 2 bar vamp that I thought might be fun for him to play on bass. He improvised an intro that felt so good and was so much fun to listen to I had to work really hard to keep from laughing out loud while tape was rolling.

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Bud’s Choice


If you’re a frequent visitor of Mizar6 or our guestbook the Rumpus Suite, you’ll probably know that Rumpus isn’t alone anymore. His friend Bud will present albums you might wanna check out: Bud’s Choice.

Due to Bud’s somewhat philosophical tendencies, he might throw in a little cosmic advice from time to time, depending on his mood and schedule.

To kick off, he’s had some help from Carsten Jakobsen (Denmark), who sent us a link to the album Underdog, and Other Stories.

Bud once dated a girl named Aja, back in the seventies when he still had long hair and shoes. And so he’d like to dedicate his first choice to her. You can click the album cover for more information.