Outkaster Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 Don Grolnick has never been mentioned to me before but he worked with a ton of people and JD Souther who was a writer with the Eagles. Someone gave me this song and wondered if it was Roy Bittan and I can see why. When I looked him up I found out he was from the Tri-State area in Brooklyn so I could see why people would think that just the way it sounds. I would play this song like just like this with the call and answer parts: [video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKt0BQAu4tk "Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello" noblevibes.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synthizen2 Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 I saw a lot of jazz shows in NYC back in the 80s with Don in the band... Lots of "one-off" type gigs, like a brief reunion of the Brecker Brothers, the band "Stuff" where he would step in for Richard Tee now and then; backing up David Sanborn... etc. IMHO his biggest achievement was his work with Steps Ahead, before the debut album came out where he was replaced by Eliane Elias. He wrote the opening song of the album "Pools"... great tune! He died way too young... at 48. RIP Don. Kurzweil PC3, Yamaha MOX8, Alesis Ion, Kawai K3M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outkaster Posted September 29, 2016 Author Share Posted September 29, 2016 Yeah Cancer. Probably could have been cured but at any rate he was pretty awesome. "Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello" noblevibes.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Analogaddict Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 He played a lot with James Taylor too... Great player, very versatile and swinging..! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Song80s Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 Don played on the first 4 Brecker Bros albums . In the '70's thru 1981. A great player. Why fit in, when you were born to stand out ? My Soundcloud with many originals: [70's Songwriter] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aronnelson Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 Take a listen to smoking in the pit - steps - just incredible playing. Korg Kronos, Roland RD-88, Korg Kross, JP8000, MS2000, Sequential Pro One, Micromoog, Yamaha VL1, author of unrealBook for iPad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reezekeys Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 A very original writer fluent in lots of styles. I saw his own band at Mikell's a few times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timwat Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 +1 Smokin' in the Pit. Also, the voicings in Run for Cover (the Marcus / Sanborn tune). And his work with James Taylor. And Michael's Don't Try This At Home. And.... .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyM Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 Funny Thing.... when I was a teen and learning new songs, one of them was Living In The USA by Linda Ronstadt. I never realized until a couple of years ago that it was Don Grolnick who did the sessions for that album. It made perfect sense because Peter Asher produced it! Thus his connection with James Taylor as his long time Music Director and Pianist/Keyboardist. By the way - if anyone has a transcription to his parts in that song, please let me know. I've been trying to decipher it for awhile. It seems simple like straight out rock n' roll... but the parts are a little intricate in the solo. I tried to slow it down - but the recording didn't translate well at a slower speed. ~ Thanks, Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aronnelson Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 Every now and then (that's the problem), we play Steps material and specifically from Smoking in the pit. Tall order to play that stuff only once a year and be able to execute it. Of course the vibes player is all over it and BTW he plays the you know what out of the drums too! I'm the weakest part of that band.... but it's fun. Korg Kronos, Roland RD-88, Korg Kross, JP8000, MS2000, Sequential Pro One, Micromoog, Yamaha VL1, author of unrealBook for iPad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyB3 Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 Yes, Don was a superb composer and arranger. One of my favorites is "Nothing Personal". Here is a 1987 super hard swinging version with Mike Brecker (1:04), Mike Stern (5:17) & Joey Calderazzo (9:29): [video:youtube] And his last album (Latin Jazz) Medianoche: [video:youtube] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MortenL Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 Pools and the Steps Ahead album is what made me want to play other stuff than "just" standards and bebop. Another favorite of mine is The Cost of Living which I later heard M. Breckers band play live in Copenhagen. According to Michael that evening, the band initially found the melody so immensely sad that the only title they could come up with was Death - which of course could not work. Eventually they settled on The Cost of Living. I remember transcribing it as best I could from a cassette recording, but unfortunately I never found a saxophone player who wanted to play the melody. I am not sure why, really. Regards, Morten Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outkaster Posted September 30, 2016 Author Share Posted September 30, 2016 Hey was able to play 3 or 4 styles pretty easily. 80% of keyboard players/pianists usually can't that I see. That's impressive. "Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello" noblevibes.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerrythek Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 The original configuration of Steps recorded three albums - all wonderful. Besides "Smoking In The Pit" they are: Step By Step Paradox All highly recommended. Don also released a few albums under his name. Jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmammal Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Pools is one tune I really miss playing. It was a staple in the last "real" band I was in 10 years ago. That band was together for quite a while, had good players and we got to rehearse a few times a month. Pools required a lot of rehearsal and it put a lot of pressure on the stand up bass player. Bob Hammond SK1, Mojo 61, Kurzweil PC3, Korg Pa3x, Roland FA06, Band in a Box, Real Band, Studio One, too much stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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