When we posted Golden City a few toll booths back, I wrote :
An early recording also includes a strange and wonderful duet; if we can find a good edit we’ll post it here.
In honor of Sayan Becker’s recent birthday — a special day for Walter’s pride and joy, whom he adored “to the next galaxy” — here’s a snippet of that duet performed many many years ago (completely uncorrected for the harsh sound levels).
Sa could often be found on dad’s lap as he fiddled with his little midi set-up. She was a really musical tyke — still is; musical that his, no longer a tyke but now an amazing young woman — and in this brief excerpt you may be able to hear a few early indicators of that talent.
(Skip my observations please if you simply want to enjoy the sweetness, unadulterated).
First, young as she was — oh gosh, she must have been no older than 3 or so — she had the good instinct to blow over the segments when her dad wasn’t singing. In other words, she took solos … and knew where the blowing should go.
The full duet also evinces a narrator’s soul; she told stories about her life, her family, the fun to be had…and issued invites to her listeners to come along for the ride (or for the cookies). I’ve not posted a longer segment because some of you may be coping with diabetes, and I doubt your pancreas could handle such a dumptruckload of sweet.
But one of the first things that struck me when I heard her duets was that she had a natural way with syncopation. You guys can hear that, right? Indeed, throughout this full track, she actually approaches rapping at times. Was that from listening to her similarly rhythmic dad…? Or was it already in her genes? Probably the latter; she also became a very talented dancer while still quite young, and damn sure she didn’t get that from observing Daddy Longlegs B.
Her intervals are pretty interesting, too. While I don’t know many itty-bitties, I’m quite sure I’ve never heard any tiny humanoid jump and scat like Sa does here, and elsewhere in her early recorded oeuvre.
So please to enjoy just a little bit of Sayan Becker and her dad making some sweet music together, as they always did...and still do…and always will.
Happy birthday, SaGirl

Auntie D
A delightful, beautiful and precious personal moment, showing a gifted child and a Dad happy to share his passion for music making. Thanks for sharing. Walter may have crossed the rainbow bridge, but he will live on for many generations yet, with the legacy of music, words, photographs and memories he leaves. As a family friend wrote on the occasion of my father's passing: No man is truly dead until the last time his name is uttered, his words (and music) re-read (and listened to), his photograph viewed, his conversations (and concerts) recalled. In this way, Walter will live on for a very long time yet.