How does Donald Fagen do it?

@reubent

I took my entire family to see that Steely Dan / Steve Winwood concert: The Dan Who Knew Too Much. We saw the concert at the Shoreline Theatre, Mt View CA. That show was spectacular. Perfect sound and mixing. Winwood got a standing ovation several times. The wall of sound coming from Steely Dan’s largest number of musicians on a concert series..something like 27 musicians... was stunning. Oh,the brass and backup singers! Wow.

Our entire family plays instruments (older son - 15 years at the time of concert - plays piano, synth, percussion/tympani, and marimba; younger son 10 years old at the time - plays piano and tenor sax, wife violin, myself piano). Many adults asked me if my kids knew who the bands were....said "yes"...we all play..they laughed and said the kids have good taste. Kids already knew playing pop music is really boring when your a musician.

@mikedee

Regarding Steely Dan precision, I also read they went through musicians like water if they were NOT on time. Kind of like the movie "Whiplash"...do you know if your fast or slow? That movie raised my blood pressure and I think about that movie from time to time when I practice for my weekly piano lessons and doing scales and Hanon....I know I am fast or slow but the fingers are unwilling participants. Fagen and Becker just kicks out the musicians rather than ask.

@stuogawa  - That's awesome. My teenage son also has great taste in music. He listens mostly to the same music as me, but throws in a bit more electronic music and more modern pop'y rock bands. But he's also turned me on to some great music like Neutral Milk Hotel's - "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" and Titus Andronicus' - "The Monitor".

@reubent  That is great when your son started turning the tables and begun making recommendations to you.   Awesome!
Sprinkles of light reflecting their maturity, courage and conviction.

stuogawa, if your kids want to study at a conservatory, CCM has a small but excellent jazz program. It’s like the Juilliard but without the insane tuition costs. Their art music programs are strong also.

https://ccm.uc.edu

From Wikipedia:

"Band leaders Becker and Fagen were dissatisfied with the album's sound quality because of an equipment malfunction with the then-new dbx noise reduction system. The group has claimed that the damage was mostly repaired after consulting with the engineers at dbx, but Fagen and Becker still refused to listen to the completed album."

You can hear the problem manifest itself in the way Jeff Porcaro's cymbals sound. They kind of sound out of phase or some other strange effect. 

Nevertheless, it's one of my favorite Dan albums. Dr. Wu and Rose Darling are two particular favorites.