Hi Tim, You are right that I was imprecise -- I should have said written something more like "which is famously (but incorrectly) thought to modulate through 12 keys during the first [A] section." I'll revise the post accordingly. But regarding your analysis of "The Duke," you seem to be using the Real Book changes, which are not entirely accurate. You're also wrong about there being no chords on G -- as Red mentions, there's a composed bass line (parts of which are doubled by Dave's left hand) that's an integral part of this tune, and it lands on G on the downbeat of the second bar (Em/G), and also on beat 2 of the eighth bar (G7). Anyway the point here was that the commissioned piece I wrote has chords on all 12 chromatic tones in its first phrase, same as "The Duke."

Hey Russ! The fact that Levon could play so well while simultaneously singing gut-wrenchingly powerful lead vocals only adds to his mystique. It's hard enough to keep up four-limb independence behind the kit, but Levon would also often sing in a different subdivision from what he was playing, and with different placement (i.e., singing straight 8ths while shuffling on the drums, or vice versa).

A thousand apologies! I (evidently) missed the all-important "jr." You are, I take it, the Seattle music journalist? I grew up just across the border, in Vancouver. Hope things are good on the Wet Coast.

Hi Larry, WOW... thank you so much for stopping by commenting! Your music has been a great inspiration to me and it was a great experience for us to perform it live. Also, much respect for the Road House reference.

Tom, if you'd taken the time to listen to the multitrack breakdown of "Think Twice" in the video I referenced above, it would be clear that there is a ton of spontaneous interaction going on within the rhythm section. These players are masters at their peak — it's not hard to hear if you'd care to open your ears a little.

I respect that people are willing to cop to liking "Disco Monk." Trombonist Dave "Smoota" Smith contributed the following, via Facebook, which is too good not to share: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIqwF2oWcQ4