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VHS-Donald Fagen - Concepts for Jazz/Rock Piano

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While not a treatise on jazz re-harmonization, this video offers interesting insights into how one can modify well-known blues structures to obtain interesting music. On the tape Warren Bernhardt interviews Donald Fagen about song writing. Using several of his own songs, Fagen explains how he started from twelve bars blues and then extended the structure until he got something he liked. When he departs from the blues structure, he also offers alternatives to his choice. Fagen explains his thought process as an auditory exploration. Bernhardt jumps in to name the chords and the scales for the viewer. After discussing the structure, the two play the pieces as duets. Fagen plays an acoustic grand piano, while Bernhardt plays an electric. They switch instruments about two-thirds through the tape. The overhead camera lets you pick up some keyboard technique. Fagen keeps all his notes within an octave in each hand. For a change "Big Hands" Bernhardt does the same, so the music is playable by anyone willing to practice a bit. The tape comes with a songbook that has the chords and sheet music for the tunes discussed. If you want the inside track to playing "Peg" this is the tape.

Don't get me wrong--the actual content on here is great, but talk about high pricing. Even the subsequent DVD version has a list price that's currently $10 less. See what you can do as far as getting "Concepts For Jazz/Rock Piano", preferrably in DVD form, for a reasonable price, because as far as the actual content is concerned, this is a great addition for any serious Steely Dan fan. If you're looking for a video that truly "puts the focus on the music", you'll be in for a treat with Donald Fagen's "Concepts For Jazz/Rock Piano". I will point out that if you're someone who likes to listen to great music, yet isn't super interested in its actual writing/ arranging process, you will probably find your attention wandering during portions of this video. On the other hand, although this is an 'instructional' video, any Steely Dan/ Donald Fagen fan should certainly be able to derive enjoyment from this for the marvelously rich sound of Fagen's classy piano playing. Fagen's 'sidekick' on here is Warren Bernhardt, a man who played live with Fagen supporting the "Kamakiriad" album in 1993, the same year this video/ DVD was originally recorded. The songs that are given in-depth musical analysis here are Steely Dan's "Chain Lightning", "Peg", & "Josie", plus "On the Dunes" & "Teahouse On the Tracks" from Fagen's "Kamakiriad"; sheet music is supplied for these 5 tracks as well. Not coincidentally, the aforementioned Steely Dan songs are 3 of their most overtly blues-based, & Fagen shows how traditional blues ideas were tinkered with to ultimately create these masterful compositions. For the most part Fagen is on piano with Bernhardt on electric piano--they do swap positions for "Josie"--& they're playing is a joy to watch & listen to. Indeed, plenty of time is devoted to straight up musical performances from Fagen & Bernhardt, which are conveniently indexed on the DVD version, which is ideal if you're not in the mood for the talk. You consistently get a bird's-eye view of Fagen's hands so you can actually watch what he's playing, something that can be of frustration to certain viewers as far as certain live concert videos/ DVDs are concerned. Although you don't generally hear Donald Fagen or his Steely Dan co-hort/ writing partner Walter Becker's names when great songwriters are mentioned, these guys are really on a whole different plateau as far as "pop songwriters" go, which is made abundantly clear by viewing this video--the harmonic/ chord ideas are incredibly sophisticated, yet have a way of making perfect musical sense--something that Fagen himself makes reference to--a big part of what makes their music so endlessly fresh & compulsively listenable. That said, Donald Fagen is an ideal person to do a video of this nature, & if you're blown away by Steely Dan's sophisticated, yet irresistible songwriting, this is a must-have video/ DVD. Fagen clearly knows his stuff--he uses lots of sophisticated musical terminology, speaking seriously, yet vibrantly; he's in great spirit on here--you really don't get the slightest sense of Don & Walter's trademark sarcasm. Warren Bernhardt, a jazz pianist, is clearly an excellent, tasteful musician who seems super thrilled to be doing this video with Fagen--he lavishes Fagen with a load of praise and unfortunately does tend to be rather corny in his offhand remarks, plus he annoyingly seems to be trying to one-up Fagen at times when analyzing the compositions, but on the other hand, Bernhardt does do a respectable job of interacting with Fagen & bringing even more out of him than he may have otherwise. So, there are Bernhardt's occasional annoyances, plus the extremely high list price. Still though, it runs 70 solid minutes & the positives steamroll the slight negatives of the actual video content which is highly informative and compulsively watchable/ listenable. Ultimately, any true Steely Dan fan will find "Concepts For Jazz/Rock Piano" a real treat, & it makes for a very nice companion to Steely Dan's "Aja" installment in the "Classic Albums" video/ DVD series.