Steely Dan

Unlike most rock ensembles that forged their identity through prolonged rehearsals in neighborhood garages and local clubs, Steely Dan rejected that model outright. Functioning purely as a vessel for the songs of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, the group upended every rock expectation. Becker and Fagen felt little affinity for rock itself, favoring jazz, classic pop, blues, and R&B instead, while their sharply ironic wit and enigmatic verses betrayed a clear debt to Bob Dylan. They forged an elegant, singular sound built on memorable melodies, intricate harmonies and rhythmic structures, and an unwavering commitment to studio craft. Alongside producer Gary Katz, the pair gradually shifted Steely Dan from a live band into a purely recording enterprise, bringing in seasoned session players to realize their arrangements. Although the group avoided the road entirely between 1974 and 1993, its popularity swelled through the seventies as albums won widespread critical approval and singles became fixtures on AOR and pop stations. Long after the early-eighties dissolution, the catalog sustained a devoted following, underscored by the remarkable success of their unanticipated stage return in the early nineties.

Walter Becker on bass and Donald Fagen on vocals and keyboards remained the constant core across every version of Steely Dan. The pair first crossed paths at Bard College in New York in 1967 and soon began performing together in various groups. Those ensembles, among them the Bad Rock Group that included future comedian Chevy Chase on drums, spanned jazz to progressive rock. Over time Becker and Fagen turned to writing original material together, aspiring to the professional songwriting tradition of the Brill Building. In 1970 they joined the backing band for Jay & the Americans, appearing under assumed names—Becker as Gustav Mahler and Fagen as Tristan Fabriani—until mid-1971, when they recorded the soundtrack for the low-budget film You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It, produced by the Americans’ Kenny Vance. Afterward they attempted to launch a band with Denny Dias, but that effort collapsed. Barbra Streisand included the Becker/Fagen song “I Mean to Shine” on her album Barbra Joan Streisand, issued in August 1971. Around the same period the duo met Gary Katz, who brought them to ABC/Dunhill in Los Angeles as staff songwriters. Katz proposed they form a band to record their own material, leading to the swift creation of Steely Dan, a name drawn from a dildo in William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch.

Guitarists Denny Dias and Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, drummer Jim Hodder, and keyboardist/vocalist David Palmer completed the original lineup when Steely Dan officially debuted in 1972 with the release of Can’t Buy a Thrill. Palmer and Fagen alternated lead vocals, yet the album’s two hit singles, the Top Ten “Do It Again” and “Reeling in the Years,” featured Fagen alone. Despite strong reviews and sales, the supporting tour proved disastrous owing to insufficient rehearsal and indifferent crowds. Palmer departed after that outing. Countdown to Ecstasy arrived in 1973 to further critical acclaim but produced no hit single, even as the band toured in support. Before recording Pretzel Logic, Steely Dan replaced Hodder with Jeff Porcaro and added keyboardist/backup vocalist Michael McDonald. Issued in spring 1974, Pretzel Logic returned the group to the Top Ten behind the single “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” Once the accompanying tour ended, Becker and Fagen chose to abandon live work altogether and concentrate exclusively on the studio. For Katy Lied in 1975 they assembled an array of session musicians that included Dias, Porcaro, guitarist Elliot Randall, saxophonist Phil Woods, bassist Wilton Felder, percussionist Victor Feldman, keyboardist Michael Omartian, and guitarist Larry Carlton. Katy Lied proved another commercial success, as did 1976’s The Royal Scam, which followed a similar approach. On Aja in 1977 the sound grew more refined and jazz-inflected through the addition of fusion players such as Wayne Shorter, Lee Ritenour, and the Crusaders. Aja quickly became their largest hit, climbing into the Top Five within three weeks and earning one of the earliest platinum certifications. Its stature among jazz musicians was confirmed when Woody Herman released an album of Becker/Fagen songs in 1978.

After ABC was acquired by MCA Records, contractual complications postponed the next album until 1980. In the meantime the group scored a hit with the theme for the film FM in 1978. Gaucho finally appeared at the end of 1980 and reached the Top Ten once more. During summer 1981 Becker and Fagen announced their split. The following year Fagen issued his solo debut, The Nightfly, which earned both critical and commercial success. Fagen remained silent on record until 1993, when he reunited with Becker, who produced Kamakiriad. The album coincided with Steely Dan’s first tour in nearly two decades; although sales were modest, the concerts drew enthusiastic crowds. In 1994 Becker released his solo debut, 11 Tracks of Whack, produced by Fagen. Another reunion tour followed in 1995, and in early 2000 the duo issued Two Against Nature, their first studio album in twenty years, which captured the Grammy for Album of the Year. Everything Must Go arrived in 2003. Fagen’s solo album Morph the Cat appeared in 2006, and Becker released Circus Money in 2008 while Steely Dan toured once more. In September 2017 Becker died in Maui, Hawaii, at age sixty-seven.

Fagen continued Steely Dan under the informal banner “the Steely Dan Band.” The new configuration was documented on two live albums issued in September 2021: Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live and Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly Live, both captured between 2018 and 2019.