Steely Dan - Gaucho [38]

Title: Steely Dan - Gaucho
Year/Genre/Sub-Genre/City: 1980, Jazz Rock, Yacht Rock, Los Angeles, California 10/26
Matrix #: MCA-6102 (MCA Records)
Condition: Ex (LM) | Members: Donald F (48' - ), Walter B (50' - 17') | Producer: Gary Katz
Cultural Facts: [38]

1. A $150,000 Drummer Named Wendel: Tired of great drummers missing tiny details across endless takes, engineer Roger Nichols built a custom sampling computer he named Wendel that could fire drum sounds in perfect time. It reportedly cost about $150,000 to build, years before samplers were standard studio gear, and it is all over Gaucho.
2. The Song an Assistant Erased: Steely Dan worked for weeks on a song called "The Second Arrangement," which people who heard it rate as one of the best things from the sessions. An assistant engineer accidentally recorded over most of the finished track, and instead of trying to rebuild it, Becker and Fagen dropped it from the album.
3. Keith Jarrett Got a Writing Credit: Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett heard his 1974 tune "'Long As You Know You're Living Yours" in the title track and took legal action. Jarrett was added as a co-writer of "Gaucho," which is why a Steely Dan song carries the name of one of the most famous solo jazz pianists alive.