How does Donald Fagen do it?

stuogawa, if your kids want to study at a conservatory, CCM has a small but excellent jazz program. It’s like the Juilliard but without the insane tuition costs. Their art music programs are strong also.

https://ccm.uc.edu

What the hell is wrong with Katy Lied?

reubent,  l love Traffic and Blind Faith so I want to see Fagen and Winwood but I’m not sure what’s happening given my location and the COVID.

I might want to see Dead and Company though John Mayer’s singing makes me cringe.

I was never really a fan of Becker’s solo efforts. However, he did a great job producing Donald Fagen’s ‘Kamakiriad’. I like all of Fagen’s solo records except for ‘Sunken Condos’ which to me doesn’t even sound like Fagen. Can’t wait to hear from the Steely Dan band.

Interesting article nicotico, nevertheless ‘Katy Lied’ is one of Steely Dans best records. Listen to the most recent remaster that Donald and Walter did, it crushes any vinyl release. 

As far as ‘Gaucho’, it’s a good sounding recording, much like ‘Aja’ but the material doesn’t live up to their first five albums. My favorite is ‘Countdown to Ecstacy’ but ‘Katy Lied’ is a close contender.

As for recording quality, ‘Two Against Nature’ and ‘Everything Must Go’ are easily better sounding than their previous recordings. I’d also argue that their isn’t one weak song on either of those records.

I’ve been loving Steely Dan since the early 1970’s and still do, to the point where my friends say I’m living in the Steely Dan past. They were one of the few rock bands that made me feel grounded. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen them live but I’m hoping to catch Donald with Steve Winwood.

reubent, yes I graduated from DAAP but my grandparents met at the college of music before the college and the conservatory merged.

stuogawa, I have some friends that attended Berkeley in Boston. My old pianist from a jazz trio I played in when I was junior high went on to Berkeley after high school. Berkeley a little easier to get into than Juilliard or CCM but their playing skills are right on. Plus Berkeley is a big school and so there are more opportunities to play in ensembles. The thing about jazz and popular music is that being able to transcribe four part Mozart piano sonatas isn’t really important. Some conservatory graduates over think jazz. It’s really about listening not thinking.

Does anyone own the Aja Speakers Corner vinyl reissue? It’s out of print so I’m sure it’s costly but word has it, that nothing else out there sounds as good. 

Cisco is now Impex and yes, they released Aja in 2007 but Speakers Corner also released a vinyl reissue and I’ve read that it is the best.