In the music industry, Steely Dan has always been somewhat of a divisive act, adored by a very devoted fan base and largely disregarded by the majority of listeners. To the dismay of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, people primarily perceive Steely Dan in the context of the 1970s rock scene. Nevertheless, they also associate with the niche jazz-rock fusion subgenre. Particularly Fagen often voiced his distaste for rock music, but did the general public consider Steely Dan a jazz group?
Fortunately for Fagen and Becker, jazz is a musical genre with renownedly broad boundaries. Under the broad umbrella term of jazz, one can find a wide range of styles. These include everything from Miles Davis’s spaced-out spiritual jazz to Benny Goodman’s big band era. After all, the style heavily relies on inventiveness, spirit, and free improvisation. Therefore, on the surface, the improvisation that defined much of The Dan’s work appears to follow jazz conventions.
However, any decent record store would undoubtedly feature Steely Dan’s music as an anomaly in its jazz department. The Dan’s records are distinctly different from the mainstream jazz scene of the 1970s. However, it is evident that they appreciate and are committed to the genre. It does seem to complicate things that the band and fans have gotten around this fact by calling Steely Dan “jazz fusion” or “rock-jazz.”
At this point, it’s crucial to recognize that rock and jazz music are the same genres. The improvisational and rebellious aspects of jazz were a source of inspiration for musicians. This was especially true in the early days of the rock ‘n roll revolution. Naturally, rock moved away from both jazz and blues as it evolved, eventually becoming more closely associated with the latter. Steely Dan had very little in common with jazz by the time they arrived on the scene. This perhaps partially explains their perplexing jazz fusion label.
Jazz fusion is a tricky hybrid since it irritates fans of both genres and lacks much of what makes rock and jazz interesting. If fusion were a distinct genre in and of itself, Steely Dan would undoubtedly be the epitome of that scene. Fans often view them more as a jazz or jazz fusion band rather than a pure rock group.
Steely Dan constructs their records with much more jazz influence than rock. Jazz is known for its improvisational methods, changing session musicians, and organic sound. These were undoubtedly not typical in the rock world. However, the outcome of these recording sessions shared little in common with the likes of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk.
The Dan, for their part, appeared dissatisfied with the label of rock; Fagen once declared, “I don’t like rock music, to be honest.” I believe I once heard Nirvana, and I am familiar with David Byrne. Nevertheless, I find anything meant to stir up large crowds of people to be politically offensive. Anthemic rock music is intrinsically fascist.
