Donald Fagen's "Maxine"

[JonUrban]

So I was playing around at the piano, trying to figure out "Maxine", from "The Nightfly" by Donald Fagen (DVD-A, of course), and realized I actually had the song book from 30+ years ago. Sadly, even with the book, my lower skill levels at the piano are no match for the abilities of Mr. Fagen, so I went to YouTube to see if there was a video showing how the song could be played, just basically to watch it being played. Of course, like almost everything you could think of, there are video's there of people showing you how to play the song - or almost every song ever recorded.

Anyway, that's not why I am creating this thread. As I wandered through YouTube searching for Maxine related posts, I found this one. It's amazing. It's so amazing I watched it multiple times. It's one guy doing the entire song with the exception of the sax solo. All the voices, all of the instruments. It's astounding.

If you like this song, please spend the 4 minutes or so it takes to watch this video, then comment. This guy is excellent. I would love to hear his tribute band live, and I usually despise tribute bands.

Anyway, check this out. The dude's name is Scott Sheriff, and he's from Nashville:

 

[windhoek]

Fantastic - I love Maxine and that guy has got the skills as well as the confidence to pull it off with aplomb!

And I think I now know which record I'll be putting on next

 

[4-earredwonder]

So I was playing around at the piano, trying to figure out "Maxine", from "The Nightfly" by Donald Fagen (DVD-A, of course), and realized I actually had the song book from 30+ years ago. Sadly, even with the book, my lower skill levels at the piano are no match for the abilities of Mr. Fagen, so I went to YouTube to see if there was a video showing how the song could be played, just basically to watch it being played. Of course, like almost everything you could think of, there are video's there of people showing you how to play the song - or almost every song ever recorded.

Anyway, that's not why I am creating this thread. As I wandered through YouTube searching for Maxine related posts, I found this one. It's amazing. It's so amazing I watched it multiple times. It's one guy doing the entire song with the exception of the sax solo. All the voices, all of the instruments. It's astounding.

If you like this song, please spend the 4 minutes or so it takes to watch this video, then comment. This guy is excellent. I would love to hear his tribute band live, and I usually despise tribute bands.

Anyway, check this out. The dude's name is Scott Sheriff, and he's from Nashville:

Sensational, really, Jon!

 

[4-earredwonder]

Fantastic - I love Maxine and that guy has got the skills as well as the confidence to pull it off with aplomb!

And I think I now know which record I'll be putting on next

DAY TRIPPER ....by the Beatles, Derek?

 

[JonUrban]

Sensational, really, Jon!

The amazing thing is that he figured it all out himself. The arrangement and the vocal harmonies! It's amazing for sure. This guy is the real deal.

I am really glad you guys like it. (I don't know why, but it somehow validates my multiple views)

 

[Jim the Oldbie]

Very nicely done, thanks for the link Jon.

At first I thought this version sounded a slightly slower tempo than the original, and was surprised to find it's actually the other way round! I verified this by playing both files on top of each other (not recommended, heh).

 

[humprof]

So I was playing around at the piano, trying to figure out "Maxine", from "The Nightfly" by Donald Fagen (DVD-A, of course), and realized I actually had the song book from 30+ years ago. Sadly, even with the book, my lower skill levels at the piano are no match for the abilities of Mr. Fagen, so I went to YouTube to see if there was a video showing how the song could be played, just basically to watch it being played. Of course, like almost everything you could think of, there are video's there of people showing you how to play the song - or almost every song ever recorded.

Anyway, that's not why I am creating this thread. As I wandered through YouTube searching for Maxine related posts, I found this one. It's amazing. It's so amazing I watched it multiple times. It's one guy doing the entire song with the exception of the sax solo. All the voices, all of the instruments. It's astounding.

If you like this song, please spend the 4 minutes or so it takes to watch this video, then comment. This guy is excellent. I would love to hear his tribute band live, and I usually despise tribute bands.

Anyway, check this out. The dude's name is Scott Sheriff, and he's from Nashville:

Very nice! Thanks for sharing that, Jon.

At the risk of turning your thread into a "Steely Dan Covers" thread, there's a Montreal drummer named Max Sansalone who's done some great quarantine covers with his band:

DONALD FAGEN : NEW FRONTIER QUARANTINE COVER - YouTube
DONALD FAGEN : GREEN FLOWER STREET QUARANTINE COVER - YouTube
STEELY DAN "BABYLON SISTERS" COVID COVER - YouTube

 

[privateuniverse]

So I was playing around at the piano, trying to figure out "Maxine", from "The Nightfly" by Donald Fagen (DVD-A, of course), and realized I actually had the song book from 30+ years ago. Sadly, even with the book, my lower skill levels at the piano are no match for the abilities of Mr. Fagen, so I went to YouTube to see if there was a video showing how the song could be played, just basically to watch it being played. Of course, like almost everything you could think of, there are video's there of people showing you how to play the song - or almost every song ever recorded.

Anyway, that's not why I am creating this thread. As I wandered through YouTube searching for Maxine related posts, I found this one. It's amazing. It's so amazing I watched it multiple times. It's one guy doing the entire song with the exception of the sax solo. All the voices, all of the instruments. It's astounding.

If you like this song, please spend the 4 minutes or so it takes to watch this video, then comment. This guy is excellent. I would love to hear his tribute band live, and I usually despise tribute bands.

Anyway, check this out. The dude's name is Scott Sheriff, and he's from Nashville:

Many years back, I found that Nightfly sheet music book in a used bookstore. Knowing full well that Fagen's chords can be a challenge, I figured I would start with the shortest song on the album, "Walk Between the Raindrops". It's only two minutes long, shouldn't take me too long to get it down. It took me days! I felt proud of myself once I was able to play it without too many mistakes, but it was a lot of work!

Now anybody can write a song with complex chord changes, but the beauty of Fagen is that he can do it but make it sound so fluid, so melodic; you don't even know that you're listening to complex stuff until you sit down and analyze it.

The guy in that video clearly has an amazing amount of talent to be able to do such a flawless version.

 

[blue.monk]

I know Scott. He’s a very talented guy. He is Carrie Underwood’s keyboardist. We’ve played gigs together in Nashville and here in Atlanta. I played keys for an evening of Steely Dan and Chicago music he fronted in Nashville a few years back. Great fun and a killer band.

 

[GOS]

Amazing. Not being a musical type guy, I'm flabbergasted at folks like this with so much damn talent.

 

[JonUrban]

I know Scott. He’s a very talented guy. He is Carrie Underwood’s keyboardist. We’ve played gigs together in Nashville and here in Atlanta. I played keys for an evening of Steely Dan and Chicago music he fronted in Nashville a few years back. Great fun and a killer band.

Nice! I am impressed immensely.

 

[JonUrban]

Many years back, I found that Nightfly sheet music book in a used bookstore. Knowing full well that Fagen's chords can be a challenge, I figured I would start with the shortest song on the album, "Walk Between the Raindrops". It's only two minutes long, shouldn't take me too long to get it down. It took me days! I felt proud of myself once I was able to play it without too many mistakes, but it was a lot of work!

Now anybody can write a song with complex chord changes, but the beauty of Fagen is that he can do it but make it sound so fluid, so melodic; you don't even know that you're listening to complex stuff until you sit down and analyze it.

The guy in that video clearly has an amazing amount of talent to be able to do such a flawless version.

How true. The complexity of some of his songs is hard to wrap my head around. How can he come up with those harmonies. If you look at the sheet music in that book, there are so many instances where two notes are together that are right next to each other on the piano. That's not supposed to work. Somehow he gets it to work.

It's all too much for me to even comprehend. I'll just listen and tinker.