reCAP :: Steely Dan :: 2016.04.18
The evening commenced with jazz. Backed by bass and drums, the horn players bopped as the rest of Steely Dan snapped their fingers and waited in the wings. Donald Fagan took his place behind the keyboards and Walter Becker snatched an electric guitar, and suddenly, it was 1977 as the band grooved into the opening song of Aja, “Black Cow.” Fagan’s iconic voice was a little thin, but the funky groove was hypnotic—somewhere in between Sly & the Family Stone and the Grateful Dead. The title track “Aja” followed, just as it does on vinyl or 8-track tape. It was obvious from Fagan’s performance that this is an anthem he treasures: Chinese music always sets me free. Angular banjoes sound good to me.
“Hey Nineteen” followed the grand opening. Casually dressed for an evening at a local saloon, Becker stepped to the mic for one of his clever improv raps prior to the feel-good Cuervo Gold/ fine Columbian chorus. Outside of a pair of newer compositions, the show resided within Steely Dan’s iconic albums that transcended the divisions between AM and FM radio in the ‘70s. With Becker and Jon Herrington trading leads, the band made old favorites come alive—“Black Friday,” “Show Biz Kids,” “Bodhisattva,” “Time Out of Mind.” Drummer, Keith Carlock, was a beast all night, locking down the groove and propelling the music forward. The three female backing vocalists, the Danettes, did a fabulous job handling lead vocals on “Dirty Work.”
Coming down the homestretch, Steely Dan completed the Aja sandwich with ripping versions of “Josie” and “Peg.” The enthusiastic, but seated crowd, consisted of fans who grew up listening to this music. Hey Nineteen, that’s Steely Dan. She don’t remember the Kings of studio. Fagan encouraged the crowd to dance, and most of The Cap was up and rocking for one of Steely Dan’s first big hits, “Reelin’ in the Years.” It brought back memories of the glory days for AM radio when songs like this, and “Stuck in the Middle with You,” ascended through the charts. Jon Herrington fired off a pair of smoking guitar solos in “Reelin.”
Fagan and Becker met each other at Bard College in the late 60’s and developed a partnership that became one of the most innovative and successful collaborations in American music. The final song of their masterful set in Port Chester fittingly was “My Old School.” It’s a riveting and magical song in a live setting, and this sweeping version struck all the right sentimental notes. Herrington impressed with his fret board work yet again. Steely Dan returned with a majestic encore, “Kid Charlemagne,” and then said so long. All these wonderful performances are at the same time, nostalgic and vibrant, because nobody has done what Steely Dan has done, and continues to do as they transform iconic studio music into robust live performances.
