Steely Dan

Steely Dan is a Jazz-Rock fusion band that formed in 1972. The main members of Steely Dan are Donald Fagan and Walter Becker until his death in 2017. Other members of Steely Dan featured future Saturday Night Live actor Chevy Chase, future Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, and Denny Dias.
Steely Dan's debut album Can't Buy a Thrill featured jazz style guitar and keyboard riffs, particularly on their songs "Do It Again", "Kings", "Fire in the Hole", and "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again
Their sophomore album Countdown to Ecstasy would featured more progressive jazz rock songs, more so on "Bodishattva", "Razor Boy", "The Boston Rag", "Your Gold Teeth", and "King of the World".
Pretzel Logic would be more pop-oriented, but it features their only cover and instrumental which is their rendition of Duke Ellington's "East St. Louis Toodle-oo" that uses guitars to recreate a 1930's jazz band.
Katy Lied would return to jazz-rock fusion with session musicians to back Donald Fagan and Walter Becker. "Throw-Back the Little Ones" would use brass arrangements which would be used often on Steely Dan albums throughout the 1970's.
The Royal Scam, which featured artwork that was supposed to be for a Van Morrison album that became unreleased, would be a prime example of jazz-rock fusion.
Aja, which would be Steely Dan's successful album until Two Against Nature, used horn arrangements throughout the album with the exception of "Peg".
Between 1977 and 1980, Donald Fagan and Walter Becker were going through personal issues while recording their seventh album Gaucho. After it's release, Fagan and Becker would do solo work for twelve years.
In 2000, Fagan and Becker would release Two Against Nature which won a Grammy and in 2003 they would release their final studio album Everything Must Go. As of today, Donald Fagan would use the name Steely Dan on his live tours.
Category:Bands
Category:Jazz-rock