Steely Dan

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Saxophonist Cornelius Bumpus, a former member of the Doobie Brothers who has performed with Steely Dan since 1993, died Tuesday en route to a series of performances in California. He was 58. Mr. Bumpus had a heart attack on a commercial flight from New York, said his friend Rod Harris. "I was expecting to hear from him today, then his wife called," Harris said. "She told me that they landed in Kansas City. We spoke for maybe about three or four minutes about the shock of it all. " Mr. Bumpus's wife told Harris that her husband was dead when the plane made an...

"Chamber Music Society," the album that netted Esperanza Spalding so much acclaim, not to mention the 2011 Grammy for best new artist, braided strands of jazz, light classical, and gentle R&B in ways that hadn't precisely been done before. The record was fresh, intelligent, and graceful, if difficult to plug into any particular radio format, but it climbed the jazz charts nonetheless. Given such success, her follow-up, naturally, is entirely different. Spalding - the bassist, vocalist, and songwriter who grew up in Oregon and graduated from Berklee College of Music - calls "Radio Music...

How ironic - Steely Dan is on a four-city tour delivering front-to-back live performances of albums that to this day stand as the rock era’s quintessential studio spawn: impossibly clean, obsessively calculated, meticulously crafted. Oh yeah, they’re also brilliant. Say what you will about Steely Dan’s extreme insularity, “Aja’’ is a jazz-rock masterpiece. 32 years after its release, Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, and a pristine 11-piece band played it to perfection at the Wang last night.

Steely Dan's "Aja" is not the most obvious album for a young indie-rock band to reimagine from tip to tail. Its songs are dense with complex structures, blurring the line between jazz and rock, and they're emblematic of their era. And yet the Darcys have re-created the classic album in its entirety. Simply called "Aja," the Canadian band's interpretation will be released on Tuesday, but it's by no means a straight homage to the original. "To be honest, I don't think we could have done it note for note.

MANSFIELD -- Supreme cool is an ineffable quality. But you know it when you see it, or hear it, and Steely Dan -- a.k.a. singer-keyboardist Donald Fagen, guitarist Walter Becker, and, this time out, 10 sublime servants of a singular legacy -- had it in spades during a sharply focused two-hour performance Sunday night. With the exception of a lengthy drum solo -- rock music's equivalent of the leisure suit -- and the band handing over the opening verses of "Do It Again" to ex-Doobie Brother-cum-Motown revivalist Michael McDonald, who flattened them, this was a flawless evening.

STEELY DAN At: Citi Wang Theatre, Wednesday night, (repeats tonight and tomorrow) You've got to wonder if, back when they were making the now-classic albums whose music was on reverential display at the Citi Wang Theatre Wednesday night, Steely Dan would have snickered at all this. "All this" being, of course, the supremely sardonic, archly cool rock band's Shuffle Diplomacy tour, in which it is showcasing specific albums, eras, and selected hits (Wednesday evening, it was a "Dawn of the Dan" set highlighting its first three records)

Pity the usher, tiny flashlight in hand, trying to keep a throng of Boston couples from dancing in the aisles during a Steely Dan show. Bandleaders Donald Fagen and Walter Becker brought their legendary jazz-rock outfit to the Bank of America Pavilion on Monday night with a set focused on big hits and deep-cut favorites from their classic albums. Backed by an eight-piece band and two backup singers, the Dan's high-energy operation was light years beyond a nostalgia act, and by the first encore, "Don't Take Me Alive," the crowd was not about to sit down.

"Chamber Music Society," the album that netted Esperanza Spalding so much acclaim, not to mention the 2011 Grammy for best new artist, braided strands of jazz, light classical, and gentle R&B in ways that hadn't precisely been done before. The record was fresh, intelligent, and graceful, if difficult to plug into any particular radio format, but it climbed the jazz charts nonetheless. Given such success, her follow-up, naturally, is entirely different. Spalding - the bassist, vocalist, and songwriter who grew up in Oregon and graduated from Berklee College...

Steely Dan's "Aja" is not the most obvious album for a young indie-rock band to reimagine from tip to tail. Its songs are dense with complex structures, blurring the line between jazz and rock, and they're emblematic of their era. And yet the Darcys have re-created the classic album in its entirety. Simply called "Aja," the Canadian band's interpretation will be released on Tuesday, but it's by no means a straight homage to the original. "To be honest, I don't think we could have done it note for note.

Dweezil Zappa and Lisa Loeb are sweethearts and rock musicians on a tour sponsored by the Food Network, home to the pair's new alt-cooking program. Consequently, their appearance at the Paradise Rock Club on Sunday involved hypercasual he-she banter, some songs, and a lengthy debate about digestion. Loeb's father, a gastroenterologist, was contacted by cellphone to resolve the question of whether food does or doesn't expand in your stomach. It doesn't. Cooler than Nick and Jessica, smarter than Carmen and Dave, Dweezil and Lisa are an excellent addition to the entertainment...

STEELY DAN At: Citi Wang Theatre, Wednesday night, (repeats tonight and tomorrow) You've got to wonder if, back when they were making the now-classic albums whose music was on reverential display at the Citi Wang Theatre Wednesday night, Steely Dan would have snickered at all this. "All this" being, of course, the supremely sardonic, archly cool rock band's Shuffle Diplomacy tour, in which it is showcasing specific albums, eras, and selected hits (Wednesday evening, it was a "Dawn of the Dan" set highlighting its first three records)

How ironic - Steely Dan is on a four-city tour delivering front-to-back live performances of albums that to this day stand as the rock era’s quintessential studio spawn: impossibly clean, obsessively calculated, meticulously crafted. Oh yeah, they’re also brilliant. Say what you will about Steely Dan’s extreme insularity, “Aja’’ is a jazz-rock masterpiece. 32 years after its release, Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, and a pristine 11-piece band played it to perfection at the Wang last night.

Pity the usher, tiny flashlight in hand, trying to keep a throng of Boston couples from dancing in the aisles during a Steely Dan show. Bandleaders Donald Fagen and Walter Becker brought their legendary jazz-rock outfit to the Bank of America Pavilion on Monday night with a set focused on big hits and deep-cut favorites from their classic albums. Backed by an eight-piece band and two backup singers, the Dan's high-energy operation was light years beyond a nostalgia act, and by the first encore, "Don't Take Me Alive," the crowd was not about to sit down.

MANSFIELD -- Supreme cool is an ineffable quality. But you know it when you see it, or hear it, and Steely Dan -- a.k.a. singer-keyboardist Donald Fagen, guitarist Walter Becker, and, this time out, 10 sublime servants of a singular legacy -- had it in spades during a sharply focused two-hour performance Sunday night. With the exception of a lengthy drum solo -- rock music's equivalent of the leisure suit -- and the band handing over the opening verses of "Do It Again" to ex-Doobie Brother-cum-Motown revivalist Michael McDonald, who flattened them, this was...

Dweezil Zappa and Lisa Loeb are sweethearts and rock musicians on a tour sponsored by the Food Network, home to the pair's new alt-cooking program. Consequently, their appearance at the Paradise Rock Club on Sunday involved hypercasual he-she banter, some songs, and a lengthy debate about digestion. Loeb's father, a gastroenterologist, was contacted by cellphone to resolve the question of whether food does or doesn't expand in your stomach. It doesn't. Cooler than Nick and Jessica, smarter than Carmen and Dave, Dweezil and Lisa are an excellent addition to the...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Saxophonist Cornelius Bumpus, a former member of the Doobie Brothers who has performed with Steely Dan since 1993, died Tuesday en route to a series of performances in California. He was 58. Mr. Bumpus had a heart attack on a commercial flight from New York, said his friend Rod Harris. "I was expecting to hear from him today, then his wife called," Harris said. "She told me that they landed in Kansas City. We spoke for maybe about three or four minutes about the shock of it all. " Mr. Bumpus's wife told Harris that her husband was dead when the plane...

WATERTOWN - Nancy Lawton's epiphany, complete with blinding flash, came on the road to a friend's house around Labor Day, 2010. "Through the trees, a bolt of sunlight opened and blinded me," she says. "I braked and went into the car in front of me. " The other car was fine. Lawton's Honda was totaled. So was her ability to keep denying what she knew in her heart: After a lifetime of liberty behind the wheel, she had reached the point where she shouldn't drive any more. Lawton, 77, a sharp, funny woman who laughs easily, especially at herself, admits there were earlier...