Steely Dan-Josie

cjbdrm
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Re: Steely Dan-Josie

Postby cjbdrm » Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:07 pm

Ardent15 wrote:Man, one of my favorite songs lately that I keep going back to is Josie by Steely Dan.

The WHOLE song is such a hip, funky, downright interesting piece of work. But a big part of that is Jim Keltner's drumming. Those grooves and fills-what possessed him to play like that? Performances like that are few and far between. The FEEL that Keltner oozes with every ghost note, snare drag, hi-hat flourish...everything lives and breathes groove. It literally makes me want to dance, since Keltner is dancing on the drums in this performance.

So anyone else feel this way about Josie? Which songs or performances ooze feel and musicality to you, at this point in time? Which songs, like Josie for me, do you listen to many times and pick something out new each time?


Agreed 110%!

No one can touch Jim's performance. It's perfect. If you're a long time Steely fan, you've heard the song hundreds of times before you heard a different drummer play it...so it's etched in the brain, so to speak...

Not to take anything away from those great players, of course...but IMO it's just one of those stellar peformances that was captured in time and will never be duplicated.

Dennis was great with Steely, but those 12" hi-hats really didn't fit in with the music, IMO...

To answer the second part of your question, John Robinson's playing on "Back in the High Life" album., namely 'Split Decision' and the title track...
Last edited by cjbdrm on Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Clint Hopkins
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Re: Steely Dan-Josie

Postby Clint Hopkins » Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:09 pm

Gaddabout wrote:
Rodge wrote:Funny or not, I don't like Jim's take on "Josie", my favorite take is DC's one, the song sounds closer to the Rythm'n Blues, his groove is fat and I like that.
Keith does a great job on it too, Ricky too.

I think that I'm disturbed by Jim's hi-hat playing on the "and", it makes the song "jumping", not well "seated", you know what I mean... :-)


I get what you're saying, and I sort of agree. The bass line is what holds that song together, IMO. But I have to disagree with you on Carlock. He played some half-Keltner thing interspersed with his manic sixteenth-note stuff. I wanted the engineer to pull him to the back of the mix during that song.


I enjoy Keltner's general quirkiness. Those fills that go into '1' without a crash. The trashcan lid overdub. The really quiet ghost notes I mentioned before.
I heard a recording of Carlock playing it and it sounded too 'on top' for me.
Gaddabout
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Re: Steely Dan-Josie

Postby Gaddabout » Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:29 pm

Clint Hopkins wrote:I heard a recording of Carlock playing it and it sounded too 'on top' for me.


Yeah, but that's buyer beware with Carlock, right? His interpretation of the pulse is part of his signature. He's not going to lay way back on the pulse like the original. But I guess that was partly why it made me feel a bit nervous during the song ... the drummer should be laying back so much he falls backwards. ;)

DMB has really lost me with their new direction, but this song just slays me every time. Carter really channeled and old school muse for this one. I love it.

“Let's try some of my songs.” Dave Grohl, top sign drummer will be fired.
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langmick
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Re: Steely Dan-Josie

Postby langmick » Thu Sep 01, 2011 2:20 am







I have a Sat Night Live DVD that has Bob Dylan as the musical guest.

He plays this tune that simply does not end. It just goes on and on, and if I read Bob's face right, that's the way he wanted it.

Jim Keltner played drums on this track and was as solid at the beginning as the end, just playing a solid groove the entire time.

No flourishes or any fills, just a backbeat, in the pocket. But it perked your ears up, and wasn't boring. It was pretty interesting.
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gretsch-o-rama
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Re: Steely Dan-Josie

Postby gretsch-o-rama » Thu Sep 01, 2011 2:32 am

It's funny, a guitar player(a phenomenal one at that) tried telling me there's a measure of 3 at the drum break going into the outro. I kinda of feel like they just didn't use a click and it's just keltner being keltner.IDK
"Ding ding da ding." Apollo teaching Rocky how to Jazz.
Clint Hopkins
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Re: Steely Dan-Josie

Postby Clint Hopkins » Thu Sep 01, 2011 4:01 am

Keltner on 'Josie':
"When I first heard 'Josie' back I didn't like it," said the ever-sunglassed bandito. "It was a funny groove. It was such an odd song, especially for that time. In retrospect, I love the sound of it, the feel. Fagen had been through full sessions with other drummers for the same song. He was such a commanding musical figure, you knew that when he told you to play a little figure, you'd better play exactly what he wanted. That was a lot of pressure on me at the time, but I relished the musicality of it. I concentrated heavily. It was a five page chart with no repeat signs.

"As for that fill near the end, it was a bar of 7/8. That's definitely not something that I would've played. That figure was written on the paper, it was totally Fagen's thing: I wish I could get a copy of that chart. I've had more drummers ask me about that lick. I was playing a 5x14 Ludwig Vistalite snare drum, a Super Sensitive---weird instrument.

"Later, they wanted me to overdub something over the breakdown, but they didn't know what. The beauty of those guys is that they truly wanted something weird. So I played this garbage can lid with rivets in it that I'd been given for Christmas. They liked the way it sounded, so it became a part of the song."


Source: http://granatino.com/sdresource/md1.htm
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gretsch-o-rama
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Re: Steely Dan-Josie

Postby gretsch-o-rama » Thu Sep 01, 2011 6:26 am

Clint Hopkins wrote:Keltner on 'Josie':
"When I first heard 'Josie' back I didn't like it," said the ever-sunglassed bandito. "It was a funny groove. It was such an odd song, especially for that time. In retrospect, I love the sound of it, the feel. Fagen had been through full sessions with other drummers for the same song. He was such a commanding musical figure, you knew that when he told you to play a little figure, you'd better play exactly what he wanted. That was a lot of pressure on me at the time, but I relished the musicality of it. I concentrated heavily. It was a five page chart with no repeat signs.

"As for that fill near the end, it was a bar of 7/8. That's definitely not something that I would've played. That figure was written on the paper, it was totally Fagen's thing: I wish I could get a copy of that chart. I've had more drummers ask me about that lick. I was playing a 5x14 Ludwig Vistalite snare drum, a Super Sensitive---weird instrument.

"Later, they wanted me to overdub something over the breakdown, but they didn't know what. The beauty of those guys is that they truly wanted something weird. So I played this garbage can lid with rivets in it that I'd been given for Christmas. They liked the way it sounded, so it became a part of the song."


Source: http://granatino.com/sdresource/md1.htm



Who knew? Awesome!
"Ding ding da ding." Apollo teaching Rocky how to Jazz.
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sjj123
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Re: Steely Dan-Josie

Postby sjj123 » Thu Sep 01, 2011 7:43 am

Amen DSOP.....I like playing to those with head phones for 25 years now. "I got the news" is a fav to play. I still have a f of a time with the shuffle on Babyl. Sisters...
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Rodge
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Re: Steely Dan-Josie

Postby Rodge » Thu Sep 01, 2011 8:08 am

"I Got The New", the way too underrated Ed Green on drums, I just love that guy's groove.
I come from Tain, Vinnie, Omar, Jeff, Fish, Stewart, and many more...
Gaddabout
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Re: Steely Dan-Josie

Postby Gaddabout » Thu Sep 01, 2011 10:57 am

Was that Ed Green? I had no idea who it was, but I've got that dook-digga-dook lick permanently stuck in my head. That groove is monster funky.
“Let's try some of my songs.” Dave Grohl, top sign drummer will be fired.

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