Jazz Articles about Steely Dan

Steely Dan at Jacobs Pavilion

by C. Andrew Hovan
August 11, 2013

Steely DanJacobs Pavilion at NauticaCleveland, OhioJuly 23, 2013Time flies when you are having fun and it's hard to believe that Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, collectively known as Steely Dan, are well into that life niche known as the senior years. Fortunately, they still have a thing for the road, which means their iconic repertoire can be heard live in select cities once every few years. For Cleveland fans, it has been a long haul. ...

Steely Dan Plays Aja in Akron, OH

by C. Andrew Hovan
December 9, 2009

Steely Dan E.J. Thomas Hall Akron, Ohio November 16, 2009

Since coming back on the scene in 2000, hit makers Donald Fagen and Walter Becker have made it a habit to regularly hit the road each summer tour season, a practice that in their earlier years was looked upon with trepidation. In fact, after some live gigs to support their first album, they stopped touring altogether and weren't to be seen in ...

Steely Dan at Wells Fargo Theater in Denver

by Geoff Anderson
November 19, 2009

Steely Dan Wells Fargo Theater Denver October 29, 2009

Going to a Steely Dan concert is like riding in a luxury car; you know just what you're going to get: a smooth, comfortable ride. There may not be much in the way of surprises, but it sure feels good. That predictability applies even more on the current tour in which the band has been playing some of their classic albums in their entirety. ...

Reeling In the Years: Steely Dan at Mud Island, Memphis, Tennessee

by C. Michael Bailey
September 5, 2009

Steely Dan Mud Island Memphis, Tennessee August 14, 2009

The only relationship Steely Dan had with the 1970s was the temporal fact of having existed and been popular then. The band's music was always light years ahead of its time. Intelligent, inventive, and way too clever, Steely Dan's music could have just as easily been created now, or for that matter, well in the future.

“Reeling in the Years" from the 1972 recording ...

2009 Montreux Jazz Festival : Chickenfoot, Dave Matthews Band, Steely Dan

by Phillip Woolever
July 15, 2009

Chickenfoot, Dave Matthews Band, Steely Dan Montreux Jazz Festival/Auditorium Stravinski Montreux, Switzerland July 4, 2009

The United States were impeccably represented as the land of the free form during a Fourth of July special that showcased three distinct improvisational imports.

A packed, international crowd of well over 4,000 was ready for fireworks as Steely Dan proved up to the task of opening in the emotionally electrified environment. The veteran songwriting duo of guitarist Walter ...

Steely Dan: Aja

by Craig M. Cortello
August 6, 2006

Steely Dan Aja MCA 1977

In the movie Mr. Holland's Opus, Richard Dreyfuss, playing a high school music director, recounts his childhood memory of first hearing a John Coltrane album. He recalls how he hated the music, but couldn't stop listening to it. He played the album over and over again until he appreciated every note--until he knew it would be an inspirational force in his life.Steely Dan's Aja was like Dreyfuss' ...

Steely Dan: Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz

by John Kelman
April 10, 2005

Purists may balk at the idea of piano legend Marian McPartland tarnishing the unadulterated nature of her NPR series, Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz--which has seen her interview and play with artists including Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Chick Corea, and many others--by inviting pianist/vocalist Donald Fagen and guitarist Walter Becker, more commonly known as the pop group Steely Dan, to the studio for conversation and performance.

But anyone who knows Steely Dan knows that, while it's unabashedly a pop group, it ...