From the Bottom: The Bassists of THE NIGHTFLY (1982) 

I apologize for not giving the great Roger Nichols the credit he deserved regarding WENDEL and WENDEL II. Donald Fagen and company were definitely beneficiaries of his genius invention!

The Nightfly is one of the best albums of the 80's. I was astounded when I first heard it. In my opinion it is Fagen's finest album.

The Nightfly is a desert island disc. One of the best records ever. Sheer perfection.

This album is an absolute masterpiece.

When The Nightfly came out I was playing bass in punk bands while privately worshiping this album. I had been a Steely Dan fan from the first album, but didn't have the right stuff to play that kind of music. So I was playing dive bars, getting paid in beer, and keeping my jazz fantasies to myself.

I'm 68 years old. I've played bass since I was 13. I listen to countless hours of YT. The fact that yours is the first channel I have ever subscribed to is a testament to the quality of your research, the interesting foci you choose, and the natural flow of your delivery. If that weren't enough (and it is) you add the charts. Thanks so much Paul. I'm in.

Anthony’s glamour profession bassline is insane. It blows my mind

Will Lee saw this video and shared it on Facebook a few hours ago. You're almost internet famous, amigo!!!

Still hope the new generations of players get into this music. It may feel overhyped, but it does live up to the hype and it's the gift that keeps on giving. Anything by Steely Dan is sort of a gold standard for aspiring studio musicians (and audio and recording engineers as well). Donald Fagen's solo stuff is just as meticulously crafted and is just a large collection of absolute killer musicians and vocalists. Everybody involved is a master of their craft and the sort of people that become school subjects. You follow the rabbit hole of each player... it's one of the most satisfying music to discover.

The engineering on the "Nightfly" CD is second to none. It was actually the first 100% digital CD. Digitally recorded, mixed and mastered. That coveted DDD marking on the disc cover. It sounds so excellent to this day! None of the harshness of setting the mics too close or EQing it brightly. Just that beautiful natural sound, with nice solid bass for a subwoofer. I believe it was all done with gear from 3M. 🎸🎸🎸

This amazing album has been in my life since 1993 when I heard it played in my local record store. I was only 18 and Kamakiriad would come out just a few weeks later. I immediately bought the very CD they were playing, and it later introduced me to Steely Dan, via "Pretzel Logic" all the way to becoming a lifelong Donald Fagen & Steely Dan fan !

I was speaking with Hadley Hockensmith who played guitar in the group Koinonia with Abe Laboriel. I was commenting on how great a bass player Abe was and Hadley said, "You ought to hear him play drums". Of course, now Abe's son plays drums for McCartney.

This is one of my favourite albums of all time...total classic!

I love this album so much and the song Maxine so much that I named my daughter after it ;) Thank you!

A perfect album. I named my daughter Maxine after the song. Donald Fagen is a genius!

I listened to this album on my boom box as soon as it was available back in the '80s (I was and am a HUGE Steely Dan fan), and I knew I was the only person in my life who knew about it, except, of course, for IGY. As I've grown older, the pathos of the song The Nightfly is truly haunting, beautiful, and sacred. Seeing this music being paid so much respect is very heart-warming.

Yep, one of the greatest LP's of all time, IMO. What an A list of bass players, well, everyone on this LP.

When this album dropped, I acquired it because I was a big Steely Dan fan. I got the CD and cassette as well and played the hell out of them. Over time I got away from all things Becker and Fagen, because I was exploring different genres of music. I recently rediscovered this incredible recording as well as all the Steely Dan catalog and am enjoying it all over again.

God man listening to you play these songs and talk about them is really amazing to hear. You really killed those lines man. Thank you for this.

One of the greatest albums, it is absolutely timeless. I listen to it every Saturday.

In re: Walk Between Raindrops, one of my favorite moments of this album as a bassist, is the noticeable yet smooth shift from key bass to Will's electric in the 3rd bar of the last verse when it hits the tonic, sounds like Will comes in on an open low E on the + of 1, the textural change from the 'doon' key bass C on the downbeat to the open sustained 'bawww' sound of the low E on the +, swings so hard. Just one of countless pinnacle moments on this album. Thanks for shining some light on the bottom of this wonderful album!

You have literally listed the bass players who helped bring about and nurtured my love of bass playing. Chuck Rainey, Marcus Miller, Anthony Jackson, and Abe Laboriel in that order were the foundational players in my bass-loving life. I enjoyed this video tremendously! Thank you so much.

Whenever I’m listening to high end audio equipment I use this as an example of very well recorded music. And the musicianship is astounding.

Wow! I love your music history. I listened to most of the Dan albums when they came out but didn't understand them musically. Now after 50 years of playing bass, these extraordinary musicians deserve all the accolades, videos and print that can be mustered.

Ahhh, The Nightfly.... One of my favorite albums of all time. Staggering sound quality and, indeed, Fantastic bass playing. Nice review! My compliments!

Guitar player here, but great coverage and an awesome album bringing back memories for sure! I discovered Abe Laboriel through Lee Ritenour's many sessions with him on bass.

I'm probably not that into bass playing as most of the viewers here, but I found this video very interesting and entertaining and very well recorded. Oh, of course I love Steely Dan and Fagen!

The Nightfly is one of of the most durable albums ever. I've listened to it again and again countless times - and I am never bored. Ever. I love this album. I play bass. Thank you so much

The Nightfly is probably one of my most favorite albums of all time. I got it on vinyl in 82, then CD in 2011 now on mp3 today in this phone.

Just great! What a treat for a bass player like me who adores the night fly. Thanks a lot. I learnt a lot. I now have so much to practice!

I feel that this record get's underapreciated and isn't mentioned much. Thank you for shining a light on this record!

Great analysis for one of my favorite albums. I never really paid a ton of attention to the bass on these tracks before. Donald and Walter were kind of like Miles in that they really knew how to put together a good band and use each party’s talent to the fullest extent.

Great job with this video~!~ I've been probably the BIGGEST Larry Carlton fan in the universe~!~ And when the "Night Fly" came out I instantly bought it and shared it with all of my musical friends~!~ We were all blitzed and blown to bitzz by the intricate and marvelous production~!~ ~~Larry Carl-tone~~ was chosen as the soloist on most of the album, with a few other fellow studio guitarists who mostly played the rhythm parts mostly. My three most influential guitarists are 1) LARRY CARL-TONE lol, 2) ROBBEN FORD, and 3) DICKEY BETTS from the Allman Brothers~!~

Thank you for your wonderful analysis of the stuff that tends to get overlooked - the Bass. And what would we do without this beautiful instrument? Even the Drummers in the back get more respect!! Anyway, I had to watch this cuz The Nightfly has been one of my favorite albums ever since it came out. The Vocal arrangements are lush, the songs extremely cool, the keyboards - amazing. I am a Recording Engineer - and Roger Nichol's work is stellar! BTW - Roger was a Nuclear Scientist in another life (before getting heavily involved in the studio) and invented "Wendel", which I think was the first Drum Machine - also an audio sampler - way back in 1978. In the case of The Nightfly, he did use his re-invented Wendell II machine. Whenever I have "Fine Tuned" the PA System in an Arena situation - I have always put on my trusty Nightfly CD to check out the System. The clarity and range of frequencies quickly tell me what is going on. Besides, it's fun to listen to. I was shocked when I discovered that Engineer after Engineer also use that album - to this day - to do the exact same thing!

I was 22 in 1972 and listened to a variety of music, but rarely bought music. Once I heard Steely Dan, I began purchasing record albums. I would record them onto cassette tapes, so the quality was pretty low. Bought some good headphones to listen at home and my appreciation of music began. I am not a musician but am considering learning guitar. Have been watching videos about the Steely Dan world and it is so interesting learning about the process of creating great music. Thank you for adding to my appreciation.

40 years as a gigging bass player and still learning. My favourite album of all time, the bass lines & harmonies remain a reference point for everything since. Love it. Thanks.

Thanks for the great video!! I was a young drummer in high school when The NIghtfly came out and, like you, have loved it every time I played along with it and listened to it. I never tire of it and consider it as close to perfect as a record can be, if there is such a thing. Take Care!!

I'm only halfway through this video. This analysis and research paired with playing knowledge you have and showing the bass lines.. as well as the studio stories from the musicians themselves. Man, just awesome. This format is perfect. Great great video.

Thank You very much! This is exactly what i was tried to explain todays studiomixer who thought that "Nitefly" is outdated...NOT! Warm Greetings from nearby the Arctic Circle, Finland, where,also, Jaco Pastorius´s granndma came from :

You’re very gifted…what a masterclass!!!!! You know exactly how to spotlight these legendary players doing their thang on each bass track of one of the greatest album of music-in all one mankind’s greatest accomplishments! Love your style! You’re know indelibly woven into the fabric of THE NIGHTFLY-in my mind.

I'm not a bass player let alone a musician. Love your bass breakdown of the beautiful album. I never stop playing it.

Cannot thank you enough for this, it is superb! I’m not a bassist, but this album has been one of my favorites of all time, and you analysis will take the entire record to another level of enjoyment for me. The cats you profiled here - all bass royalty - have given us all years of sonic pleasure. I have SO much respect for all the work you put into this presentation. Wish you all blessings my brother!

Absolutely superb analysis! Your work on this is spectacular: your research is very accurate, your delivery and narration are most pleasant, your examples are beautifully recorded and filmed. This should be shown in Music schools and colleges all over the world! You are a natural teacher. Thank you for this! I subscribed and I will be watching again and again.

May I add something about Marcus Miller, on top of his huge talent he is a very good French speaker and that takes skills!! We're lucky in France to have him speak to us in our native language when he plays there. Same for Kyle Eastwood on a different kind of bass though ;)

As a bass player, I really appreciate this. Thank you.

THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS VIDEO. I've just recently dove into to Donald Fagen's and Steely Dan's work about a year ago, getting into all the bassists they used, and I'm having a ball learning everything I can. This album IS a masterpiece. And with your input and knowledge of this album I'm learning more than I would have ever learned whether it be the musical approach a bassist takes to a song or how they recorded it. Thank you so much for this content. I would love to see you cover some more Steely Dan work! Keep up the great work!

I love The Nightfly and I'm very impressed by your analysis. Just got the live version of the album on CD. There are some amazing differences between the original and the live version, particularly the vocals in the bridge of "Maxine" and the end of the title cut.

Thanks a lot for making revelatory video. To me, The Nightfly album is the pinnacle of what pop ever has achieved.

You ain't lying about it being an "all-star cast" of players. I'm 50 and have been playing music (drums & guitar) since I was a teenager. I just started seriously learning the bass less than a month ago, and one day I decided -- while practicing -- that I'd throw in some Steely Dan and see if I could play along to Peg, or Hey Nineteen, or one of those other songs I've heard a MILLION times, & even played (as a drummer) many, many times. As an aspiring bassist? That song kicked my a$$ in about... oh... 10 seconds? I've said this a hundred times, but it's really hitting home now: you never fully appreciate a song until you try to play it. Those cats playing with Donald Fagen & Steely Dan are ridiculously good musicians.

I read that Greg’s solo on Ruby Baby was the first take. He had been sleeping on the couch when they woke him for his solo. He was just goofing around with the “You Really Got Me” quote but Donald loved it. “Thanks, Greg! Next!”.

pd this is my all time favorite Donald Fagan album for musicality, I can tell each song by the bassline, choice of musicians, All my favorite bassists are on this album!! This is my NYC album...

Very cool! Thanks for putting this together. The Nightfly is a masterpiece.

This is such a great breakdown of one of my favorite albums of all time. I wore this thing out when it came out. I always thought this was a masterclass on how to play bass. Such great songs and musicianship. You did an amazing job with this video. I will be watching this again. Thanks much!

This is awesome. The Nightfly reframed my concept of what recorded music should be. Bravo.

The Nightly is my favorite album of all time and Donald is my favorite song writer of all time.

On "Walk between the raindrops", I think it's much more difficult for bass men than hearing from the outside. Thank you for your posting.

Nightfly is my favorite album!

I stumbled upon this video in the typical random RU-vid feed (which I know is not particularly random, but I'm 60 and don't get some of this stuff). I'm glad I did. Your knowledge combined with your willingness to let the bassists speak for themselves is just exactly the right way to present this history. I love all these players, but for me, Chuck Rainey has an organic way of appealing to the listeners ear--of course, comparing the various members of the pantheon you are exploring is pointless. They all have genius. Good video.

Abe is an incredible player, his lines on 'New Frontier' are sublime. Chuck Rainey is another amazing player, thanks for a great podcast.

Being born in '98 I have no idea what it was like to grow up living in the time but this is one of the few albums that makes me feel like I can get an idea, it's truly a snapshot of the period (imo) and I absolutely loved watching this breakdown!

Definitely my favorite album. I can’t believe the detail you have revealed. I will enjoy it even more!

....and I thought I was the only person on this planet that likes this album, have done from day one and still today together with Aja. Great video, thanks.

Fantastic presentation! I graduated HS (barely) in '82 and jumped out on the road immediately to chase my dream. I brought one cassette along, this one. With lots of downtime, I listened until every song was in my DNA. It changed my approach to really locking in with the bass player no matter the situation. I started getting a lot of work because of this record and to this day, I'm inspired by all of these brilliant musicians, and one in particular. JTP 4Ever. Peace.

I'm really enjoying this bass breakdown of a great album! To set the record straight on your comment about the Wendel 2 drum machine, it was actually all due to the genius of the Immortal Roger Nichols. He created the Wendel and perfected the process of using it with real drummers in the studio. He left us way too soon, but his legacy lives on.

Fantastic video, man! I really appreciate you taking a deep dive into the phenomenal players and grooves on this album. The Nightfly is one of my all-time favorites, and the often overlooked and under appreciated bass parts are a huge reason why the album is so amazing! Kudos!

I love DF and Steely Dan..Nightfly is one of my all time favorites...the musicianship on all their stuff s just outstanding. Currently I have on repeat DF's "On the Dunes"..Love the bass .it's like being enveloped in a warm comforting blanket then the Drum fade out ..my gawd!..interspersed with that sax is insane.

OMG I love this Album!...I now I realize/remember how awesome and unique bass was!! Thx

I love this album so much! It is so alive with imagery of the early 1960’s It is up there with Pet Sounds as my favorite

Great deep dive into this masterpiece album, Paul. I’d love to see you play through these tunes with the record. You’ve got great touch. Thanks for a great video!

Congrats, you understood it all ! In 1982, I was a 20 y.o. bass and guitar player (and still ) I fell in love instantly with this album (still have my vinyle) I learned to play the whole album on bass and guitar at that time, and I learned sooo much on how to play correctly my instruments. Still listen to it, and love it. Yes it's such a masterpiece ! Great respect for these musicians. Love from France.

My gosh, the bass line in "New Frontier" is indelibly etched into my brain. Such a great gift, Abe. Love.

I used to play bass in a band, and learnt by listening to McCartney. I still have my P-Bass and must get it out again.

Great video, you obviously put loads of effort into this, I love watching it. Great stories and explanations of the songs, and superb bass playing too! Much appreciated 👍

Still have this CD- and still listen to it- ✌️😎

Love this man - Great video!

This is fantastic. Thanks for all you put into this, especially the transcriptions!

Excellent breakdown of this album. Keep up the great content. I really enjoy your knowledge and enthusiasm about music.

Great Video! Thank you for doing this!

My female cousin put me on to this album. Even though I am heavily into R&B Donald Fagen made me a true lover of fusion jazz. The whole album is a masterpiece and not too many artists can say that about their music.

Brilliant video, one of the best I’ve EVER seen on RU-vid! I’m a big Steely Dan fan and one of the best bass lines of all time has to be Kid Charlemagne ....any chance of you doing a tutorial on that please. Keep up the good work dude 👍

Man this is incredible! Great playing and tone and this is incredibly well researched. Thanks for this!

Fabulous job! Thank you.

I LOVE THIS ALBUM AS WELL! ONE OF MY FAVORITES from Donald Fagen! The sessions musicians he picks are always phenomenal!

Such an important record. Thank you for this!!

On "new frontier" i think Abe Laboriel plays the line without octave jumps, like you plau it at 22.32. Also Abe surely always used to keep his nails long, to achieve his unique sound and a lot of techiques and shreds taken directly from his flamenco-guitarist experience, prior to the bass. Anyway great video, i'm gonna practice the hell out of these basslines! Love your work and your videos, i discovered your channel with the Bob Cranshaw video, keep it going Paul! :)

This is so fantastic, thank you for doing this😄

An outstanding video and so well researched! Great work!

Great job!! And thanks for mentioning the Phillinganes solo on Ruby Baby. ..it was the greatest..I learned it for a class in college.

fantastic and very interesting bass docu - thank you

Loving this - wonderful research, info and playing. Thanks!

Very nice analysis and playing! Enjoyed it a ton.

This remains my ALL time favorite album of all time. It was also my very first CD I ever purchased in 1985. Probably the best recording ever created. Thanks for giving this amazing justice! You did well!

Absolutely fantastic video, thank you so much. This album has been in my life since it's release, such a classic. Loved hearing someone as passionate about the audio/sonics as I am! 👍😊

That's really cool! Thank you very much for this video and info

Very nice review! Every bassist on this landmark album deserves all the credit you mentioned. 'Massive talent that we have all learned from! One thing I would question. On "New Frontier" I am 99% sure that Abe played a Yamaha BB2000. I have seen videos of Abe playing a natural-finished one, and I also have owned one since the mid eighties. I'd know that sound anywhere!

OMG I haven't gotten a chance to watch yet but I'm so glad this was in my recommended. Thank you! I love this album and all these bassists. It's gotta be on my top ten albums and might be my fav Steely Dan project.

Great video, awesome job Paul! The Nightfly is one of my favorite records!

What a great video. Very thoughtful analysis.

Really enjoyed this video! Thank you.

That was brilliant, I love this album, I really never knew all of that about the bassists on there, thank you.