129: Donald Fagen

Just when you think you know all there is to know about Donald Fagen, he surprises you. There are legendary stories, traded like playing cards in chat rooms, fanzines, and merch lines. Along with his musical partner, the late Walter Becker (who passed away in 2017), Fagen has influenced countless musicians, producers and songwriters by setting the gold standard in record production and arrangement with his band Steely Dan. This is known. There are the solo records, including The Nightfly, which was nominated for seven Grammys and which continues to be one of the best sounding records ever made nearly 30 years on. This is known. 

Much is known about Donald Fagen and his work, it’s true. But much is still left to be revealed. Stage fright, a general aversion to appearing on television (he and Becker lacked the large heads and “swaths of cheek” that they felt necessary to really make it on the small screen), and nearly 20 years with no touring created a mystique that endures to this day, despite the fact that they’ve toured regularly since the mid 90s. 

Joey Dosik's "Inside Voice" from Inside Voice. Out Aug 24 on Secretly Canadian. Order here: https://joeydosik.ffm.to/insidevoice Director: Carlos Lopez Estrada Producer: Tessa Travis & Kimberly Stuckwisch Production Company: Little Ugly Director of Photography: John Schmidt Production Designer: Annie Chernecky Editors: Taylor Brusky & Carlos Lopez Estrada VFX: Tanner Merrill & Andrés Jaramillo Puppets designed and created by Cristina Bercovitz Puppeteers: Carlos Lopez Estrada & Annie Chernecky.

Joey Dosik's "Don't Want It To Be Over (ft. Coco O.)" from Inside Voice. Out Aug 24 on Secretly Canadian.

Donald Fagen discusses and plays the Steely Dan hit Peg with Warren Bernhardt

VULFPECK /// Running Away buy on bandcamp → https://vulfpeck.bandcamp.com Joey Dosik - composer, vocals, wurlitzer, sax Jack Stratton - a&r, mixing Theo Katzman - guitar, bgvs Woody Goss - organ, wurlitzer Joe Dart - fender bass James Gadson - drums David T.

Born and raised in L.A., songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joey Dosik crafted 'Game Winner,' an EP's worth of love songs inspired by basketball after suffering a knee injury during a pick-up game. Watch his performance from Brooklyn's Big Wrench Piano Care.

So Donald can surprise you. He does it not by telling you what happened, but rather what he thinks about it. Or more to the point, how he thinks about it. He tells you that Steely Dan has “more in common with punk than with the confessional California singer songwriters” that they were often compared to. He tells you why Stravinsky was a precursor to funk music. He tells you what’s postmodern about his music, why making his first solo record was so personally disruptive to him, how he falls asleep, when he decided to finally grow up, and who he never wants to see again.

With Donald Fagen, Manhattan, July 2019

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