Donald Fagan gets ASCAP jazz hall of fame induction!

[The Mouse]

About time if you ask me.. I think he's well worthy of it! Donald Fagan can do no wrong..

What do the "jazz purists" out there think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-JDwLJhQf4

[electracoyote]

Originally Posted by The Mouse

About time if you ask me.. I think he's well worthy of it! Donald Fagan can do no wrong..

What do the "jazz purists" out there think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-JDwLJhQf4

I wouldn't know a damn thing about jazz if mainstream pop artists like Steely Dan hadn't introduced me to it.

Musicians shouldn't be the subject of derision for amalgamating styles.

[The Mouse]

Originally Posted by electracoyote

I wouldn't know a damn thing about jazz if mainstream pop artists like Steely Dan hadn't introduced me to it.

Musicians shouldn't be the subject of derision for amalgamating styles.

My thoughts exactly..

[bass12]

I think it's an absolute abomination. Steely Dan is NOT jazz!!! Okay, I'm kidding. I actually think that a lot of Donald Fagen's compositions have more in common with much of the jazz from the 20s and 30s than does a lot of the bebop from the 40s and 50s. I will say that I'd love to hear Wynton Marsalis' thoughts on the subject.

[The Mouse]

No doubt Wynton will have his say..

[colcifer]

Bump. There's gotta be more DanFans than this on here.

[fearceol]

First of all, I dont like the "Hall of Fame" ( for any genre) concept in the first place. Reason being, there is always someone who should be in it, but is not.

Having said that, if you are going to call it the "Jazz"(why cant it be simply called the "MUSIC") hall of fame, then at least have a jazz artist in there.

I like Fagan and Steely Dan as much as the next guy. "The Dan's" music is no doubt influenced by jazz but it's doubtful and debateable if it is. I really could not care less wheather it is or not, I just know I like it (i.e. Fagan and "Dan's music). I say this, hoping not to start a whole "what is jazz" topic.

If people insist on putting labels on things musical (which I dont basically agree with anyway), then they should try to stick to the rules they themselves have set.

[totallyfrozen]

Ahhh...well, that's too bad.
I can't stand Steely Dan or Donald Fagen.

I don't consider him Jazz anymore than I'd consider Al Stewart to be Jazz. 70's jazz-influenced pop, maybe.

[cnltb]

Originally Posted by The Mouse

About time if you ask me.. I think he's well worthy of it! Donald Fagan can do no wrong..

What do the "jazz purists" out there think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-JDwLJhQf4

I don't think Donald Fagen's music has much to do with jazz at all.
On occasion jazz influences shine through( to name one...the cover of "the nightfly") but that's the extend of it I think.

[mrpackerguy]

The induction will probably raise some eyebrows. His music is hard to categorize. There are certainly jazz and blues elements, even funk, as the underpinnings, but his success has been largely in pop music. It's almost a genre onto itself. The music and changes are complex and interesting and jazz-like you could say. The music is hard to cover, especially anything after 1980. Certainly Becker and Jon Harrington solo over his changes as a jazz guitarist would, same with the horn solos, but they aren't really so far afield from a sax solo on say, a Billy Joel album for example. The music is oriented for pop radio, yet I like it a lot. But does it take the next step into jazz fusion like a Chuck Mangione? No. Not even "smooth jazz". I guess if the jazz community saw fit, what the hey. I'm sure Fagan could hold his own in a jazz trio. I mean the guy is certainly talented as shown by Nightfly and Morph. And I know lots of his songs end up in the repertoire's of high school jazz bands, like Kid Charlemagne. So I'm not 100% agin it.

[The Mouse]

Bumpiddy Bump bum p