Some good quotes by Donald Fagen of Steely Dan from the excerpt of the new 33 1/3 book on Aja:
- We liked Stevie Wonder, of course
- Those two guys called Seals & Crofts. They had a very nice way of integrating jazz into their tunes.
- I liked Herbie Hancock’s stuff. I thought Head Hunters was kind of repetitive — those grooves would just go on — but he really knew how to get a nice sound.
- Most of the things that were called jazz rock that I was familiar with were pretty boring.
- And Bitches Brew was essentially just a big trash-out for Miles. I haven’t really changed my mind about that. I liked In a Silent Way, but Bitches Brew just sounded kind of funny. It would have made a good soundtrack for a Fat Albert cartoon — but not as good as the Herbie Hancock one they actually had! To me it was just silly, and out of tune, and bad. I couldn’t listen to it. It sounded like [Davis] was shooting for a funk record, and just picked the wrong guys. They didn’t understand how to play funk. They weren’t steady enough.
- You know what I kind of liked? The Don Ellis big band.
Fagen is wrong on Bitches Brew of course and I didn't realize there were still Seals & Crofts fans. But I've been listening to Don Ellis again.
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