Boz Scaggs Commands New Dukes of September DVD

This is the sort of gig that looks promising on paper: three respected music veterans, each one as ostensibly integral to the lineup as the others, all of them playing together on a set of some mutually-loved old favorites (classic soul and R&B covers, mostly) while sprinkling in a few of their respective radio hits along the way. As is often the case with these things, though, all three artists on the bill aren’t all playing at the same level, with the same spark or apparent interest. In other words, someone usually packs more of a punch than the rest. 

On the just-released DVD (and Blu-ray), The Dukes of September: Live at Lincoln Center, which captures a performance by Boz Scaggs, Donald Fagen, and Michael McDonald in November 2012, it’s Scaggs who reigns supreme, connecting with the crowd through the sheer passion of his musicianship while delivering showstopper after showstopper with soulful, unassuming command. The hits (“Lowdown,” “Miss Sun,” “Lido Shuffle”) sound fresh and funky; the covers (“Willie Dixon’s “The Same Thing,” Teddy Pendergrass’ “Love T.K.O.”) sound inspired. Point blank, Scaggs knows his way around a groove, and his quiet confidence enthralls the audience at every opportunity.

That’s not to suggest nobody else brought anything to the party. Fagen, in particular, is spirited throughout, whether in taking a turn on the Isley Brothers classic “Who’s That Lady” or in satisfying the Steely Dan prerequisite with hits (“Peg,” “Hey Nineteen,” “Reelin’ in the Years”) and even a deep cut (“Pretzel Logic”) to boot. McDonald, however, is another matter. When providing backup to Fagen (much like he did on Steely Dan’s albums of old) he’s fine, but when he takes the lead—huffing and puffing through “What a Fool Believes,” “Takin’ It to the Streets,” and “I Keep Forgettin’”—he too often sounds overwhelmed, out of breath, and just plain tired. Such moments are relatively few, though, and Fagen and Scaggs capably pick up the slack.

Live at Lincoln Center is sort of a reprisal of the New York Rock and Soul Revue collective of the late ’80s/early ’90s at the Beacon Theatre, which in addition to featuring the same three principals also boasted such artists as soul man Chuck Jackson and the late Phoebe Snow. This 90-minute performance by the Dukes achieves much the same easygoing, collaborative vibe of those shows twenty-five years ago and, at certain inspiring moments, it exceeds expectation.

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Kick Off Your High Heel Sneakers, It's Party Time: Steely Dan Comes To Town

“This is a special night,” Walter Becker announced after introducing the 10-piece band. “It’s Donald Fagen’s birthday.” As cheers and well wishes abounded, Fagen hunched over his keyboard in embarrassment, reticently raising his arm in gratitude. Moments later, Becker recanted, saying that, actually, his partner’s birthday is “sometime in January. Who knew?”

Shaking his head in mock-astonishment, Fagen retorted dryly, “He sure knows how to work a crowd.”

Truth be told, the sold-out audience inside Clearwater, Florida’s Ruth Eckerd Hall on June 9 didn’t mind being duped into unwarranted applause given that Steely Dan ultimately earned genuine approbation by playing a vibrant two-hour set.

Incidentally, the album most represented on the setlist was The Royal Scam, yielding four songs including the title track, which began the show.

On this, the second stop on their “Think Fast, Steely Dan” summer tour, Becker and Fagen drew on a diverse range of material, forgoing a number of their more familiar works – including “Deacon Blues,” “My Old School,” “Bodhisattva,” “Don’t Take Me Alive,” and “Aja” – in favor of lesser-played fare. While this may not have satisfied some, most responded well to hearing album cuts like “I Got The News,” “Everything You Did,” and “Glamour Profession” played with gusto and fresh perspective. Also dusted off was “New Frontiers,” from Fagen’s first solo work, The Nightfly.

Consistent with Steely Dan tours of late, Fagen ceded his lead vocal duties for a couple tracks, as on a storming run-through of “Parker’s Band” – courtesy of backup vocalists Cindy Mizelle and Tawatha Agee – and a competent (albeit comparatively less exciting) take on “What A Shame About Me,” sung by keyboardist/vocalist Jeff Young.

Much like they exhibited in playing rarities, the Dan delivered the night’s most recognizable songs with invigorative panache. They jazzed up “Show Biz Kids” with vehement percussion while, on “Babylon Sisters,” they leveled a hard line of bass and brass. Becker served up some particularly heated guitar solos on “Hey Nineteen” and “Josie” while Fagen – ever the image of hip in dark shades and black leather coat – worked his mojo on “Black Friday” and “Kid Charlemagne,” swaying and twitching in time. “FM” then escalated into a rollicking jam to close the set, the band vamping just long enough for Becker and Fagen to saunter off stage.

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Book Review: Steely Dan: Reelin’ In The Years (Updated Edition)

On the surface, this book tells the story of a legendary band. Technically speaking, though, the band in question really isn’t a band at all, at least not in the rock ’n’ roll “group” connotation. Consider its principal members, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, more as auteurs of a joint enterprise, if you will.

Basically, these two jazz and literature buffs from Jersey write their own stuff – weird stuff – while utilizing the skills of proficient musicians to interpret it, yet not always (and more often than not) by using the same musicians. More to the point, they interchange session players like most bands swap out guitar strings and drumsticks.

In Steely Dan: Reelin’ In The Years, author Brian Sweet traces the history of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker’s songwriting partnership, giving the reader a meticulous account of some of the most enigmatic, cynical, and hippest sonic compositions in modern music. First published in 1994 following the Dan’s long-awaited comeback to concert performing, this updated edition (released March 2008) covers the making of their successive albums, Two Against Nature and Everything Must Go, as well as Morph the Cat, Donald Fagen’s third solo release.

While this book doesn’t reveal much in the way of personal specifics, it does, however, chronicle Steely Dan’s emergence and progression within context of the 1970s music scene. Recalling an era saturated with sentimental pap, the author illustrates how albums like Pretzel Logic, The Royal Scam, and Aja injected the zeitgeist with biting lyrical satire and cunning embellishments of traditional song forms. The Eagles or Three Dog Night they weren’t; Steely Dan didn’t convey any “Peaceful Easy Feeling” or “Joy To The World” vibes whatsoever, yet their songs undeniably resonated both with critics and record buyers.

The most illuminating aspect of Steely Dan covered here – which will interest fans and drive detractors to the brink of insanity – is Fagen and Becker’s infamous and meticulous work ethic. Before the days of digital recording and modern computer technology, most Steely Dan albums resulted from inordinate amounts of painstaking performances and production. The author sheds light on extensive (and expensive) recording sessions as well as the minutiae involved in mixing and mastering songs. Sardonically commenting on the fastidiousness that he and Becker applied to their craft, Fagen is quoted as once saying, “This is music, music we care about. We don’t make records to find girls. We already have girls.”

Drawn from a myriad of source material and rendered with considerable insight, Steely Dan: Reelin’ In The Years reveals the lowdown on a “band” that conformed not to convention or popular style, but rather to the rhythm of its own quirky groove.

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