Steely Dan
Steely Dan was the studio-bound partnership of songwriters Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, formed in 1972 and named after a device in a William S. Burroughs novel. Abandoning touring to work with a rotating cast of hand-picked session musicians, they fused jazz harmony, R&B, and rock into meticulously produced albums like 'Aja' (1977), pairing cryptic, sardonic lyrics with immaculate playing. Their perfectionist blend of accessibility and harmonic sophistication became a touchstone for a generation of Los Angeles studio craftsmen.
Steely Dan's records reach repeatedly for the cool, modal, space-conscious jazz that Miles Davis pioneered, favoring restraint, mood, and improvised solos over rock bombast.
listen forPlay the modal, unhurried 'So What' and then Steely Dan's 'Deacon Blues' — both build patient, blue-lit atmospheres and hand long stretches over to jazz-inflected soloing.
Becker and Fagen steeped themselves in classic jazz, and Ellington's lineage of lush, unconventional harmony and orchestral color runs through Steely Dan's chord choices and arrangements.
listen forListen to the minor-key sway and rich horn voicings of Ellington's 'Caravan,' then the title track of 'Aja' — both drift through sophisticated, non-obvious harmony and treat mood and texture as the main event.
Becker and Fagen were devoted bebop fans, and Parker's fast, chromatic melodic language and harmonic daring shaped their sense of what a pop song's chords and solos could reach for.
listen forCue Parker's darting, chromatic bebop line on 'Ornithology,' then the jazzy changes and extended soloing under Steely Dan's 'Do It Again' — the same restless, jazz-schooled phrasing surfacing inside a pop record.