Denny Diaz (Steely Dan) interview with Rick Beato

[John A.]

That tends to happen when someone gave up music for another career, programming computers in this case, "has been" is the term generally applied to such people.

No it isn’t. “Has been” is a condescending term for people who are seen as longer able to keep up, or are outmoded. The term for professional musicians who decide to do something else is “formal professional musician.”

[Mick-7]

No it isn’t. “Has been” is a condescending term for people who are seen as longer able to keep up, or are outmoded. The term for professional musicians who decide to do something else is “formal professional musician.”

Well then, condescending or not, by your definition it applies to him, because he suggested in the interview that he quit the music business because he felt outmoded and was unable or unwilling to change with the times (a.k.a., keeping up with them). Either that or he enjoys programming computers more than playing music, which seems unlikely.

[pamosmusic]

Well then, condescending or not, by your definition it applies to him, because he suggested in the interview that he quit the music business because he felt outmoded and was unable or unwilling to change with the times (a.k.a., keeping up with them). Either that or he enjoys programming computers more than playing music, which seems unlikely.

I know lots of people who enjoy programming computers more than playing music. There may even be a couple of them on this forum, if I were a betting man.

A good friend of mine likes both quite a lot and majored in computer science because — well — let’s face it. So he’s doing systems security and laying it down at brunch gigs on the weekend. Really fine player and knows recordings I don’t know.

Works fine for him and his house is bigger than mine, so I feel like he made a pretty good decision for himself.

Not really sure why you need to be judgmental about it.

[wolflen]

few pass the test of time with all the framework that supported them in their youth.

In a way I think it is sad to see the Rolling Stones now..though it may be whispered at becoming a "novelty act"

Advanced age takes its toll..like it or not..SD was 50+ years away from DD..he was able to use different skills and not just survive
but prevail !

Same for Skunk Baxter and other alumni of the Dan.

Sorry Mick..I find the term has been a bit harsh in this case.

Miles "left" the public eye for a period..

I can see it now..

Young brash wanna be " say Miles..you be a has been.."

Miles grins..

"Well youngblood..you be a never been..and enjoy drinking your meals"

[Mick-7]

I know lots of people who enjoy programming computers more than playing music. There may even be a couple of them on this forum, if I were a betting man.

A good friend of mine likes both quite a lot and majored in computer science because — well — let’s face it. So he’s doing systems security and laying it down at brunch gigs on the weekend. Really fine player and knows recordings I don’t know.

Works fine for him and his house is bigger than mine, so I feel like he made a pretty good decision for himself.

Not really sure why you need to be judgmental about it.

Actually sorry I said anything, my comment could be considered in bad taste.

However, I do think it's odd to interview a guy now who hasn't recorded anything in... what, 50 years? Has Beato interviewed any other members of Steely Dan?

[jameslovestal]

I know lots of people who enjoy programming computers more than playing music. There may even be a couple of them on this forum, if I were a betting man.

A good friend of mine likes both quite a lot and majored in computer science because — well — let’s face it. So he’s doing systems security and laying it down at brunch gigs on the weekend. Really fine player and knows recordings I don’t know.

Works fine for him and his house is bigger than mine, so I feel like he made a pretty good decision for himself.

Not really sure why you need to be judgmental about it.

While computer programming was my profession, I clearly enjoy playing music than programming. The reason I went in the software profession was for money. I was part of a start-up in the 90s and that set me up for life. I assume the reason many people give up on being a professional musician, is because for most (like being an actor), one can't play their bills.

[Litterick]

Scott Miller, Game Theory / Loud Family:

Miller attended the University of California, Davis, intending to study art. After switching majors, he graduated with a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering and obtained a full-time job in LISP compiler development at Lucid Inc. with several future Loud Family bandmates. Miller stated in an interview that his employers "let me go whenever I have to do band stuff, which is very big of them." Miller described his job situation as "kind of a carrot in front of me and a boot behind me," acknowledging that his engineering work was highly paid and noting his need to make a living.

After Lucid's dissolution in 1994, Miller was a manager and software developer at Objectivity, where he became director of development and technical publications. From 2011 until his death, Miller was a lead engineer at MarkLogic.

U.S. patent 7,761,475 was issued to Miller on July 20, 2010 as the inventor of a technique for object-oriented database management.

[supersoul]

Scott Miller, Game Theory / Loud Family:

Miller attended the University of California, Davis, intending to study art. After switching majors, he graduated with a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering and obtained a full-time job in LISP compiler development at Lucid Inc. with several future Loud Family bandmates. Miller stated in an interview that his employers "let me go whenever I have to do band stuff, which is very big of them." Miller described his job situation as "kind of a carrot in front of me and a boot behind me," acknowledging that his engineering work was highly paid and noting his need to make a living.

After Lucid's dissolution in 1994, Miller was a manager and software developer at Objectivity, where he became director of development and technical publications. From 2011 until his death, Miller was a lead engineer at MarkLogic.

U.S. patent 7,761,475 was issued to Miller on July 20, 2010 as the inventor of a technique for object-oriented database management.

Pete La Roca Pete La Roca - Wikipedia

In 1968, with the market for acoustic jazz in decline, Sims decided to enroll in law school.[5] By this time he was already earning most of his income by driving a taxi cab in New York City, a job he held for five years during the 1960s.[4] Sims became a lawyer in the early 1970s, and was still practicing at the time of a 1997 radio interview with WNYC's Steve Sullivan. When his album Turkish Women at the Bath was re-released on Muse Records as "Bliss" in 1973 under Chick Corea's name (without Sims' consent), Sims filed a lawsuit and served as his own legal counsel. Sims won his suit, and the erroneously-labeled records were recalled.

[pamosmusic]

Actually sorry I said anything, my comment could be considered in bad taste.

Seems like, yes, it probably could be.

However, I do think it's odd to interview a guy now who hasn't recorded anything in... what, 50 years?

Rick Beato has 5 million subscribers so I’m comfortable trusting him to know what his audience would like to see.

[Christian Miller]

Actually sorry I said anything, my comment could be considered in bad taste.

However, I do think it's odd to interview a guy now who hasn't recorded anything in... what, 50 years? Has Beato interviewed any other members of Steely Dan?

Try an internet search, maybe?

[John A.]

Yes I know all of that.

You get a degree from a good music college and you learn "jazz theory" (actually chord scale theory) and you are a strong and capable player. He's clearly transcribed a fair bit, because he can sing the solos. They do that at school, the kids, you know. Doesn't mean you are a jazz guitar specialist. If he was, he'd probably know more about jazz guitar, so there's that.

In interviews he invariably describes himself as a jazz player and says he played jazz almost exclusively for many years. I take him at his word.

What does 4 years or whatever of degree really get you? Or whatever a master's is in the US (it's two years here in the UK.)

A masters degree in the US is typically 2 years. It gets you training, networking, and a credential for teaching. NEC is a top tier conservatory.

I have a master's degree in Astronomy, and that doesn't qualify me to do anything in Astronomy lol.

What, they don’t let you look through telescopes with masters?

He has a strong grasp of a number of styles of guitar playing. He strikes me as the type of player who would have been a good call for just about any gig you might need someone for, including a jazz standards gig, background classical, top 40, whatever. (Maybe less so know, you do get deskilled if you haven't done that type of thing for a few years.) There's loads of players who come out of the colleges like that and they are solid, even great players and they make a living.

They are not necessarily people who know a million standards off by heart and have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the players and who focus their energies on just that area of music. There are people like that on the forum, such as Holger.

Beato seems more of Steely Dan, Pat Metheny, Holdsworth kind of guy. He likes Wes, Joe and Oscar though. It's cool.

That seems like an awful of inference from not a whole lot of data.

[James W]

My sister has a master's in medical statistics. That straight up qualified her to be a medical statistician, which is what she does now.

(I just have a 2:2 undergrad degree in music. That qualifies me to be a bum. )

[pamosmusic]

My sister has a master's in medical statistics. That straight up qualified her to be a medical statistician, which is what she does now.

(I just have a 2:2 undergrad degree in music. That qualifies me to be a bum. )

Only if it’s Music Performance.

(don’t ask me what my concentration was)

[lammie200]

Actually sorry I said anything, my comment could be considered in bad taste.

However, I do think it's odd to interview a guy now who hasn't recorded anything in... what, 50 years? Has Beato interviewed any other members of Steely Dan?

Pretty sure he has interviewed Skunk Baxter, Larry Carlton, and Bernard Purdy, but not positive.

[Christian Miller]

In interviews he invariably describes himself as a jazz player and says he played jazz almost exclusively for many years. I take him at his word.


A masters degree in the US is typically 2 years. It gets you training, networking, and a credential for teaching. NEC is a top tier conservatory.


What, they don’t let you look through telescopes with masters?



That seems like an awful of inference from not a whole lot of data.

Just from watching his videos.

He’s good at playing rhythm parts, fast to learn songs and parts, has a good attention to detail, and understand the tropes and conventions of popular music. He also obviously has a good grounding in jazz, and he said he was gigging a lot in his younger days. I understand he also studied classical.

There are many highly capable guitarists in the world like that, and that’s no slight. I’m certain he could teach a Wes solo, or a Pat solo, a Bach fugue or an EVH or Jimmy Page solo otoh. There’s lots of us out there doing that gig basically.

But it doesn’t make you a jazz specialist. The jazz path certainly isn’t for everyone.

In fact jazz specialists might lack some of the tacit knowledge that would make someone like Rick useful as an all rounder studio player. (Just ask some working session players about jazzers overplaying on pop gigs.)

People get jazz degrees all the time from top conservatoires and go on to do non jazz stuff. It’s a good qualification in music and equips you with a useful skill set to be a professional musician in many different fields.

Re Astronomy,the usual route is to do a phd to enter the field. You then spend time as a research fellow etc building a career in your specialism. Anyone in fact could apply for telescope time but you may not get it. You will be taken more seriously if you are attached to an academic institution.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk lol

[John A.]

Just from watching his videos.

He’s good at playing rhythm parts, fast to learn songs and parts, has a good attention to detail, and understand the tropes and conventions of popular music. He also obviously has a good grounding in jazz, and he said he was gigging a lot in his younger days. I understand he also studied classical.

There are many highly capable guitarists in the world like that, and that’s no slight. I’m certain he could teach a Wes solo, or a Pat solo, a Bach fugue or an EVH or Jimmy Page solo otoh. There’s lots of us out there doing that gig basically.

But it doesn’t make you a jazz specialist. The jazz path certainly isn’t for everyone.

In fact jazz specialists might lack some of the tacit knowledge that would make someone like Rick useful as an all rounder studio player. (Just ask some working session players about jazzers overplaying on pop gigs.)

People get jazz degrees all the time from top conservatoires and go on to do non jazz stuff. It’s a good qualification in music and equips you with a useful skill set to be a professional musician in many different fields.

Re Astronomy,the usual route is to do a phd to enter the field. You then spend time as a research fellow etc building a career in your specialism. Anyone in fact could apply for telescope time but you may not get it. You will be taken more seriously if you are attached to an academic institution.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk lol

By this standard almost nobody is a jazz specialist since almost everyone does things besides jazz. Maybe it’s a US vs elsewhere thing? IME, US musicians mostly play a lot of music outside their putative genre (especially guitariasts), whereas the Europeans
I’ve met don’t have nearly as much of connection to other styles. I mean I just did a blues/rock gig last night with a jazz drummer and bassist. So far as I know it didn’t threaten their membership in the International Jazz Specialists Society.

Anyway, a dude has a jazz degree from a top tier place like NEC, says he spent years gigging and teaching jazz, and calls himself a jazz player; good enough for me.

Of course I realize that to call yourself an anything-ist in the sciences you need a PhD. I’ve watched Big Bang Theory.

[pamosmusic]

I don’t know man. This isn’t that weird.

I really don’t particularly care about Rick Beato, mostly because he doesn’t really talk about stuff I’m interested in.

But it’s really not that weird for people to go to school for jazz and not really have that be their primary interest.

I mean ……… Snarky Puppy anyone?

Commercial music degrees are proliferating somewhat but are still fairly new and not super common even now. So jazz is what you studied (study) if you wanted to be awesome at guitar but not play classical.

I have a good friend who’s an incredible player and went to a New York conservatory and just doesn’t play jazz anymore. He’s a shredder. He’s a serious musician and did the thing and was glad he did and now he’s moved on.

Not really invested in the Beato of it all, so call him whatever floats your boat, but lots of graduates from elite music schools were there for all kinds of jazz adjacent and jazz tangential reasons.

[pamosmusic]

Addendum: I was a classical performance major in college. I played in masterclasses with Manuel Barrueco and Ana Vidovic. I gave my recital.

I even teach beginners and group guitar.

I do not perform classical guitar anymore at all. I don’t really practice it. I am not an expert in it.

So [shrugs]

EDIT: I went to play the intro to Capricho Arabe the other day and literally couldn’t remember it

[Christian Miller]

By this standard almost nobody is a jazz specialist since almost everyone does things besides jazz. Maybe it’s a US vs elsewhere thing? IME, US musicians mostly play a lot of music outside their putative genre (especially guitariasts), whereas the Europeans
I’ve met don’t have nearly as much of connection to other styles. I mean I just did a blues/rock gig last night with a jazz drummer and bassist. So far as I know it didn’t threaten their membership in the International Jazz Specialists Society.

Nah. I know loads of very versatile musicians who play everything from Klezmer to Steely Dan tribute bands. And I also know people who specialise in various types of jazz.

Anyway, a dude has a jazz degree from a top tier place like NEC, says he spent years gigging and teaching jazz, and calls himself a jazz player; good enough for me.

I don't know why you are so into this idea. It's all relative anyway. To someone who plays no jazz, being able to comp and solo on the changes of Stella by Starlight probably seems like being a jazz player. To someone who can do that, they look up to someone who has the bop language dialled in and knows a bunch of tunes, and they look at Pete Berstein with awe... and so on.

I'm actually trying to defend Beato from sgcim lol (not sure why haha). I think he's a good musician even if he is sometimes annoying and doesn't know who Billy Bauer is. I don't think this makes him a bad music YouTuber either.

Clearly not someone who is out playing jazz clubs every night, maybe he did back in the day. We all fall in and out of this stuff.

There are many players who have done their jazz degrees from highly esteemed schools (I know and play with many of these sorts of players) who are great players, super versatile, really good sight readers who can certainly handle a pick up jazz gig etc etc and also don't have instant recall of six hundred standards, an encylopedaic knowledge of the history, and all the other stuff the top jazz people seem to know because it's the thing they love and - well - specialise in.

One friend studied with Pasquale Grasso in New York and focusses on bebop (but I'm sure could play other things too). He's what I would term a specialist. But his studies are beyond just that course of study...

And as I say, there are people on the forum who have that type of relationship with it.

[James W]

Addendum: I was a classical performance major in college. I played in masterclasses with Manuel Barrueco and Ana Vidovic. I gave my recital.

I even teach beginners and group guitar.

I do not perform classical guitar anymore at all. I don’t really practice it. I am not an expert in it.

So [shrugs]

EDIT: I went to play the intro to Capricho Arabe the other day and literally couldn’t remember it

Cool. I still use classical stuff for my morning routine, left and right hand warm ups plus a few arpeggio studies and a Bach piece I've mostly memorised and can play - the prelude from BWV 997. Then the rest of the day it's jazz, though everything sort of feels like technique practice for my right hand, waiting for it to develop, which is only natural I suppose at this stage. That, and memorising/internalising various things.

I majored in composition FWIW. I can compose, but generally I prefer the more tactile and tangible nature of playing my instrument - I say 'though' but actually one of the things I love about jazz is it's a blend of composition and performance.