Originally published in The
Aquarian Weekly
DONALD
FAGEN/State Theatre/
March
1
by Ken Shane
for Donald Fagen to begin the
tour in support of
his just released solo album, Morph The Cat, at
the State Theatre. After all, as he pointed out during
the show, he is a graduate of nearby South
It is
never simple for an artist who is closely
identified with a well known band to go out
on his
own. It is a little easier for Fagen
since the everchanging
lineup of Steely Dan meant that in reality
the band was basically the duo of Fagen
and Walter
Becker.
The stories of their tight control over the
music, including writing out the solos, are legendary,
as is the audiophile quality of their recordings.
Based on
all of that, you knew that Donald Fagen
would surround himself with great musicians on
this tour, and that he’d make sure that the sound
was excellent. The ease with which he has
accomplished these goals is deceptive, as
anyone
who has ever put together a tour knows. It takes
a lot of hard work to make it look easy.
I want
to say a word here about the State Theatre.
This
venue is a treasure for NJ concert-goers. I’ve
seen a number of shows at this mid-sized theater
in the last couple of years, and the quality of each
production has been excellent. The sound and
lights are better than they would be in most clubs,
while the theater remains ever so much more
intimate than the huge sheds that the big boys
often play. I hope the day never comes when we
don’t have venues like
to draw respectful audiences who care about the
music, unlike some other concert halls.
It’s
only natural that the audience wanted to hear
Steely
Dan songs, but since this is a tour in support
of his new solo album, Fagen
chose instead to
play an almost equal number of songs from each
of his solo albums and the same number from the
Steely Dan canon. Since the music was seamlessly
brilliant from start to finish, no one was
disappointed.
In fact,
among the highlights of the evening was
“I.G.Y.”
from his first solo album The Nightfly,
and “Teahouse On The Tracks” from his second,
Kamakiriad. Of
course the Steely Dan songs were
welcome and wonderful.They included
the rarely
heard “Third World Man,” from Gaucho, the chilling
“Black
Friday” from The Royal Scam and a simply
breathtaking version of “Home At Last” from Aja.
A word
must be said about Fagen’s band. As I
said earlier, I had high expectations for this group
of musicians and they were more than fulfilled.
Many of
the nine musicians have worked together
with Fagen and Becker previously.The guitarists,
Jon
Herington and Wayne Krantz, spent the evening
trading brilliant solos and, sometimes, playing
them at the same time. The rhythm section,
consisting of the brilliant drummer Keith Carlock
and bassist Freddie Washington, laid down a
groove that was undeniable.Veteran
keyboard
player Jeff Young worked together with Fagen
to
flesh out the incomparable arrangements.
I
suppose if I can have one minor quibble, it
would be with the length of the set. I’ve grown used
to, or maybe spoiled by, a headliner without an
opening act playing for two hours plus. Fagen’s
set clocked in at about one hour and 45 minutes,
which seemed a little short.The
good news is that
he filled his time with great music and left his
audience hungry for more.
donald fagen
PHOTO BY
KEN SHANE