By J. D. Considine Baltimore Sun Walter Becker still remembers what happened when word first got around that he and Donald Fagen were writing songs together again. This was 1986, just six years after the two had called it quits for Steely Dan, and already, the interest in a reunion album was enormous. “We had […]
Tag Archives | Interview
Interview with Michael McDonald on AOL
OnlineHost: The wheels of “Blink of An Eye” were set in motion when Michael McDonald teamed up with arrangers Jimmy Bralower and Jeff Bova, a duo that has worked with such musical luminaries as Steve Winwood, Cyndi Lauper, Eric Clapton and Womack and Womack. Bralower and Bova were largely responsible for the album’s rhythm and textural […]
A Big Hello from Hawaii
Seeking to recover after Steely Dan, Walter Becker hid out on an island in the sun. From where he granted Giles Smith a rare interview By Giles Smith The Independent Online If you want to speak to Walter Becker, at home in Hawaii, you phone his record company in Los Angeles. Then you hang up […]
Two-Decade Countdown to Ecstasy
After a 19-year hiatus, those sophisticated, subversive jazz punks Walter Becker and Donald Fagen are back to do it again live, out on the road. It’s not some kind of nostalgia sell-out thing, is it? By Chris Willman Los Angeles Times Flash back to the late ’70s, exact date undetermined. You turn on “The Donny […]
Steely Dan Reelin’ Again
By Steve Morse Boston Globe Take two alienated suburban kids. Throw in an early love of jazz, blues and Bohemian culture. Send the youths to Bard College, where they meet and become fast friends. Add a fussy, workaholic nature. Toss in a zest for strangely alluring lyrics that Frank Zappa once dubbed “downer surrealism.” Then add […]
Interview with drummer Peter Erskine
This is a reprint of a 1993 interview that originally appeared in “The Rhythm Section,” a newsletter published by Rhythm Tech, a percussion accessory manufacturing company in Mamaroneck, NY. By Paul G. Hichak Going out on tour with Donald Fagen and Walter Becker a/k/a Steely Dan is supposed to be somewhat of a serious exercise, […]
Donald Fagen’s ‘Kamakiriad’: Words and Music
From the radio show “Words and Music” with Donald Fagen, featuring music from his new Reprise Records release, Kamakiriad. This program was written and produced by Davin Seay, and edited by Rick Dasher for Marc Graue Recording Services, Burbank. Executive producer, Larry Butler. Segment 1 INTERVIEWER: Donald Fagen, it’s been over a decade since one […]
Q&A with Donald Fagen
By Chris Willman Los Angeles Times When it rains, it pours for drought-stricken Donald Fagen fans. For starters, this week brings to record stores his first new studio album in 11 years, Kamakiriad. While futuristically themed in part, the record will sound instantly familiar to fans of Steely Dan, with the kind of literate, jazzy […]
The Unabridged Walter Becker Interview
By Christopher Hoard Jazziz October 1991, Lower Manhattan just another gig at the Road House, featuring Walter Becker’s one-time songwriting partner sitting in on keyboards with guitarist Jimmy Vivino’s feisty blues rock and R&B house band. With the four-piece horn section, Vivino’s New York Nights renders tunes like “Deacon Blues” and “Green Earrings” with an accuracy and looseness that celebrates the […]
Becker Reels In Years with Solo Effort
By Melinda Newman Billboard Donald Fagen isn’t the only ex-Steely Dan member with a new album coming out. Walter Becker is hard at work in his Maui recording studio recording his first-ever solo record to be released on Giant Records. Becker, who hasn’t recorded since Steely Dan’s last album in 1980, was spurred on by […]
