Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More

Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker, who died last week at 67, was as vital to that group's success as his partner Donald Fagen was.  While Fagen was the face of Steely Dan, with his cynical voice and his fluid keyboards, Becker's cool jazz guitar and his stellar bass lines gave the group - originally a sextet but later just Becker and Fagen and whatever session musicians they brought into the studio with them - its jazz undercurrents and its soul vibe.  Becker was just as responsible for the band's lyrical fascination with all sorts of seedy and moody characters as Fagen was, and with Fagen he brought a new sophistication and clever cheekiness to pop songwriting.  The best way to describe Steely Dan?  Imagine Chuck Berry hanging out with Charlie Parker in the 52nd Street clubs in New York back in the fifties.

Donald Fagen has vowed to keep the music of Steely Dan alive by continuing to perform it as a solo artist and in different revues like the Dukes of September, but the chemistry that made Steely Dan possible is now gone.  Fagen will no doubt honor their legacy with respect and dignity, and that is gratifying to know.  But if you want to know just what made Steely Dan - whose most popular album, Aja, was released forty years ago this month - so unique, do yourself a favor and listen to Aja . . . or their greatest album, 1974's Pretzel Logic.  RIP.