Home » Jazz Musicians » Donald Fagen

Donald Fagen

Donald Fagen’s Morph The Cat is just your average soulful and sexy masterpiece about love, death and homeland defense. “There’s nothing sexier than the Apocalypse,” Fagen explains helpfully. “I suppose you could call this album Apocalypse Wow.”

The darkly beautiful third solo effort from Fagen - the longtime co-leader of Steely Dan - follows 1981’s classic The Nightfly and 1993’s acclaimed Kamakiriad, and represents the latest installment in what now appears to be a powerful and at times deeply personal trilogy. “The Nightfly is sort of looking from the standpoint of youth, “Fagen explains. “Kamakiriad would be more about midlife. This new one is about endings really. So in a way this really has become a sort of trilogy. In fact, there are plans to put all three albums out in a box where they belong.”

Along with his recording and touring with the reconstituted Steely Dan over the past decade, the inspired Morph The Cat offers the latest evidence that Fagen - whose long bout with writer’s block ate up much of the Eighties - has become some sort of late-blooming workhorse. How does Fagen explain his productivity of late? “I don’t know - marriage?” offers Fagen who married singer-songwriter Libby Titus in 1993. “Marriage is good, but I think I’ve actually been fairly consistent except for that spell in the Eighties. Other than that time, I’ve either been recording or touring pretty solidly. And I’m always writing - I have a lot of cassettes in a box with ideas.”

The material that Fagen wrote for Morph The Cat goes back a number of years, but the project crystallized in the past two years as he began to ponder life and death issues in a new way. “I’m starting to get older, and began to think about mortality a little more,” says Fagen. “My mother died in 2003 and that was a big shock. When your parents start to die off, that’s going to be a revelation. So for me, this album - although it might sound quite cheery - is really talking a lot about death.”

On first impression, for instance, the appearance of the album’s title character “Morph The Cat” might sound like some adorable feline visitation. Yet by the time this characteristically groovy and jazzy title tune reprises at the end of the album - following the vaguely frightening “Mary Shut The Garden Door” - it becomes clear Morph might be more Trojan Horse than just some warm and fuzzy pussy. “Yeah,” Fagen says by way of confirmation, “Morph is only fuzzy on first impression.” In his liner notes, Fagen describes the infectious song’s storyline thusly: “A vast, ghostly cat-thing descends on New York City, bestowing on its citizens a kind of ecstasy.”

Read more

Tags

21
Building a Jazz Library

Donald Fagen: An Essential Top 10 Albums

Read "Donald Fagen: An Essential Top 10 Albums" reviewed by Peter Jones


Actually, the whole notion of a Donald Fagen Top Ten is tricky. Artists like Chet Baker made well over a hundred albums, whereas in half a century Fagen has only released 13 official studio albums, whether with Steely Dan or under his own name, along with a handful of live sets. The process of selecting the best ten is therefore more a matter of not including the few less impressive ones. However Fagen's small recorded output is merely testament to ...

5
Radio & Podcasts

Donald Fagen

Read "Donald Fagen" reviewed by Joseph Vella


Tom catches up with Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen. The two talk about early jazz influences, Walter Becker, Bard College, the origin of Steely Dan, The Nightfly, meeting and working on classic albums Aja and Gaucho and a whole lot more. ...

9
Radio & Podcasts

Donald Fagen On The Past, Present And Future

Read "Donald Fagen On The Past, Present And Future" reviewed by Leo Sidran


Donald Fagen on what's so punk about Steely Dan, what's so sweet about bebop, why making his first solo record, The Nightfly was so personally disruptive to him, when he decided to finally grow up, and who he never wants to see again. Plus, behind the scenes stories of making Gaucho, his relationship with Walter Becker, the influence of Red Garland on his playing, Billy Eckstine on his singing, and James Brown on his rhythm concept. Along the ...

8
Live Review

Donald Fagen and The Nighflyers at Hard Rock Live Cleveland

Read "Donald Fagen and The Nighflyers at Hard Rock Live Cleveland" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


Donald Fagen and The Nightflyers Hard Rock Live at the Rocksino Cleveland, Ohio August 25, 2017 Fans of Steely Dan and Donald Fagen residing in Northeast Ohio have been fortunate over the past decade or more to see their locale be a regular stop on the live tour schedule. In addition to The Dan's regular summer excursions stopping in the Cleveland area, Fagen led a brief stint in 2006 supporting his third solo album, Morph ...

1,264
Extended Analysis

The Nightfly Trilogy

Read "The Nightfly Trilogy" reviewed by John Kelman


There are those who bemoan the apparent lack of sophistication in contemporary pop music, although there are plenty of examples proving that it's not all about 'dumbing down' for the masses. Steely Dan--the rock group that emerged in the 1970s as a collective but ultimately whittled itself down to its two songwriting components, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen--has demonstrated it's possible to write contemporary songs that have commercial appeal but, at the same time, possess the kind of harmonic depth ...

516
Album Review

Donald Fagen: Morph the Cat

Read "Morph the Cat" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins


There's an engaging quality to Donald Fagen's songwriting and perfectionism that makes Steely Dan fans flock to his solo albums. While The Nightfly (1982) and Kamakiriad (1993) were expressly Fagen, Morph the Cat closely resembles Steely Dan without Walter Becker. The lineup partially reflects the ensemble that recorded the Dan's 2003 release, Everything Must Go, and toured with the group that year. The cast includes drummer Keith Carlock, guitarists Hugh McCracken and Jon Herington, and trombonist Lawrence Feldman. An assortment ...

324
Live Review

Donald Fagen Band in Cleveland

Read "Donald Fagen Band in Cleveland" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


Donald Fagen Band Palace Theater Cleveland, Ohio March 15, 2006

It's somewhat remarkable to ponder the fact that Donald Fagen and Steely Dan have continued to make substantive music without compromise in a musical world that has changed dramatically since the rock and roll era of the '70s. Even after one listen to Fagen's new solo disc, Morph the Cat, you can't help but be struck by the fact that the writing is as ...

Read more articles
2

Book / Magazine

Nightfly - Biography of Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen Available Now on Chicago Review Press

Nightfly - Biography of Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen Available Now on Chicago Review Press

Source: All About Jazz

September this year marks the 50th anniversary of the first record by Steely Dan, the band formed by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker in 1972 that went on to release nine albums over the 30 years that followed. Now Chicago Review Press is publishing Nightfly: the Life of Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen by music journalist and author Peter Jones. The book is a warts-and-all account that not only relates the often-untold stories behind one of rock’s most iconic bands, but ...

Music Industry

Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen Just Doesn’t Get It (Unless He Does?)

Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen Just Doesn’t Get It (Unless He Does?)

Source: HypeBot

Steely Dan's Donald Fagen was recently quoted griping about how he is no longer making enough money from his recorded music, and although it's hard to feel too badly for someone as financially successful as Fagen, his frustration does provide us with an interesting snapshot of music revenue overtime. Guest post by William Paterson University Professor David Philp from Musicbiz 101 When a multi-millionaire complains that he’s not making enough money anymore, it’s hard to feel sorry for him.  When that multi-millionaire complains out ...

Interview

Donald Fagen & the Nightflyers

Donald Fagen & the Nightflyers

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Donald Fagen loves jazz. Since 1972, his songs co-written with Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker have been laced with jazz references and chord voicings. The same goes for Donald's four solo albums. Jazz greats such as Wayne Shorter, Phil Woods and Pete Christlieb, to name just a few, have been featured on Steely Dan and Donald's recordings. And when he's at home with down time, Donald tells me he's often at the piano doing Red Garland imitations. “Have you heard ...

Music Industry

Donald Fagen: 'Sunken Condos'

Donald Fagen: 'Sunken Condos'

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

For many fans of Steely Dan, Donald Fagen's snake-skin voice is the sound of college, the start of intellectual life and newly won independence from parents' clutches. Today, he's Neptune of a sub-rosa region where jazz, R&B and rock intersect. In this funk-rock world, horns come and go, a harmonica wails, a rock guitar weeps, a Hammond organ mutters, the beat is vinyl, and lyrics are about sound textures, wordplay and imagery.   “There's a crateful of lead-line pipes/A photo of ...

34

Performance / Tour

Steely Dan's Donald Fagen to Sit in for Levon Helm at Midnight Rambles in February

Steely Dan's Donald Fagen to Sit in for Levon Helm at Midnight Rambles in February

Source: Something Else!

With Levon Helm sidelined by an undisclosed medical procedure, his web site has announced that Donald Fagen of Steely Dan will be a special guest at previously scheduled Midnight Rambles on February 11, 18 and 25. Helm, the Grammy-winning co-founding member of the Band, is expected to be out at least a month. He suffered through a bout with throat cancer in the late 1990s, though it remains unclear if this new procedure is because of a related issue. Helm ...

163

Interview

Interview: Donald Fagen

Interview: Donald Fagen

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, co-founders of Steely Dan,  wrote the soundtrack for anyone who attended college in the 1970s. Their music was adored by dorm-bound jazz heads who wanted modern music but didn't want to give up the sound of horns and an acoustic piano. For today's Wall Street Journal (go here), I interviewed Mr. Fagen a couple of weeks ago, just before the start of Steely Dan's world tour last Saturday. My outtakes from our conversation are below. ...

181

Radio

Steely Dan's Donald Fagen and Walter Becker to Guest Host on Sirius Satellite Radio

Steely Dan's Donald Fagen and Walter Becker to Guest Host on Sirius Satellite Radio

Source: All About Jazz

WHO: Donald Fagen and Walter Becker of Steely Dan WHAT: SIRIUS' Pure Jazz channel will welcome jazz-influenced rock pioneers Donald Fagen and Walter Becker from Steely Dan. Fagen and Becker will each co-host an hour playing classic jazz favorites. They will also share their thoughts about artists who continue to inspire them, including Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillespie. WHERE: Pure Jazz SIRIUS channel 72 WHEN: Saturday, August 2 at 10 pm ET and rebroadcast on Sunday, August 3 ...

206

Recording

Donald Fagen's Nightfly Trilogy Takes Off

Donald Fagen's Nightfly Trilogy Takes Off

Source: All About Jazz

Seven-Disc Boxed Set Features The Original Albums of The Nightfly, Kamakiriad and Morph The Cat , plus MVI (Music Video Interactive) Versions With Enhanced Mixes, Bonus Audio and Video, and Bonus Disc Available November 20 from Rhino Records LOS ANGELES - Donald Fagen and Walter Becker--AKA Steely Dan--carved out a unique space in popular music scoring hits with tightly arranged songs that combined literate, ironic lyrics, their own eccentric musical idiom and sophisticated production. As a solo artist, Fagen recorded ...

108

Radio

World Premiere of Donald Fagen's "Morph the Cat" on The Wave

World Premiere of Donald Fagen's "Morph the Cat" on The Wave

Source: All About Jazz


144

Recording

Donald Fagen to release first solo album since 1993's "Kamakiriad"

Donald Fagen to release first solo album since 1993's "Kamakiriad"

Source: All About Jazz

Morph The Cat, the eagerly-anticipated new solo album from Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen, has been set for a UK release of Monday 6th March via Reprise Records (North American release is Tuesday 7th March).

Featuring nine new songs written and arranged by Fagen, Morph The Cat is the multi-Grammy winning artist's first solo album since 1993's Kamakiriad and the final installment in a musical trilogy that originally began with the release of The Nightfly in 1982.

Written and arranged ...

Kam Falk
bass, electric
Phil Traynor
bass, electric
Dimitri Gollety
composer / conductor
Modern Times Ensemble
band / ensemble / orchestra

Photos

Music

Similar

Weather Report
band / ensemble / orchestra
Steely Dan
band / ensemble / orchestra
Spyro Gyra
band / ensemble / orchestra
Bruce Hornsby
piano and vocals
Hall & Oates
band / ensemble / orchestra

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.