WOW , so sad , just saw the email from Classic Rock so sad totally agree with what you said about there discography , I was really hoping to catch them again .
R.I.P.

Wow so sad to read this. I was the onsite plumber for our annual town party back at the end of May which Steely Dan headlined. I was about 10-20 feet from Walter when he came in and the first thing that came to me was how poorly he looked. He arrived in a van and was helped by two assistants into a golf cart to be brought to his trailer, stage and back not without some help. He looked very unsteady and was literally brought onstage and propped up. But when the lights came on and the music started an energy returned that seemed impossible and he powered through the show, even taking a part of the show to tell some of his "stories". It was the day Gregg died and they closed the show with Pretzel Logic as a tribute. Steely Dan was always one of my top five favorite bands.

Another real tough loss....I had been able to see Steely Dan in every decade they performed....What an experience it always managed to be, from the musicianship to the on stage banter....These guys were always in my top three "Live Bands" category and amazed with their constant playing of old "B-sides" at every single show...

R.I.P Walter, you are already missed

We really are in an unprecedented period of passing for many of the founding fathers (so to speak) of classic rock music.

"Just by chance you crossed the diamond with the pearl"

rip walter becker!!

book of liars is a great becker tune

Such bummer news. RIP

Warren released a statement on his site about how much he loved him.

Warren Haynes
57 mins ·
RIP Walter Becker- tough year. The music world has suffered a lot of loss and today yet another. Walter was a great guitarist, songwriter, and producer. Steely Dan was a one-of-a-kind group and I dare to say there will never be another. The music he and Donald Fagen wrote together was masterful. The bar they set for songwriting, both musically and lyrically, was astounding. It’s hard to imagine that there was a time when their music was in heavy rotation on the radio alongside the commercial rock and pop acts of the day, none of which they resembled in any way.
Although in the beginning they were a little more of a “rock” band, from the start they relied heavily on the jazz influences that separated their melodies and chord changes from any music before or since. That combined with the brilliantly witty lyrics, often actual stories, created timeless songs that defied categorization. Although I definitely have my favorites, I acknowledged to myself recently that there’s not one Steely Dan song that’s not masterfully constructed. When you add to that the amazing musicianship they brought and surrounded themselves with, what follows is a catalogue of music that raised the bar for anyone who was paying attention. I’ve mentioned in interviews that The Royal Scam is one of my all-time favorite albums but in actuality they all are. I still have a near-visual recollection of hearing Aja for the first time. A friend who had just bought the album had an amazing high fidelity stereo system and provided some “herbal ambience” and the perfect environment and opportunity to listen to, uninterrupted, what I consider to be one of the greatest recorded albums of all time.
I never got to play with Walter but we had several meaningful conversations, mostly at Studio Instrument Rentals in NYC where we would often run in to each other during rehearsals. One story in particular he told me that stands out is about him seeing the original Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East for the first time and how much it blew his mind. I never realized until that moment that the ABB’s music had made an impact on him- as it had me- as had Steely Dan’s.
I’m doing a lot of thinking these days, about a lot of things- but one thing that weighs heavy on my mind is how much a part of my life music has been. I really can’t imagine life without it. The music created by the bands and artists that moved me so much, many who are now gone, really set the bar at an awesomely high level that many of us feel is getting lower and lower. I know that times change and technology sets the path for the future. Nostalgia is normal and change is sometimes falsely perceived as the deterioration of culture. I know that some things are inevitable. I can only hope that losing the “magic” of music is not one of them.
Let us all hope that a new wave of artists/bands will come along that reminds newer generations how important the “magic” of music is and that the bar hasn’t been lowered to the point that what is perceived as “magic” gets less and less inspired to the point that music itself isn’t important.
The world is forever grateful for the music that Steely Dan bestowed upon us. Thank you, Walter.
- WH

He sure does! Well said on many points.

RIP Walter Becker.

Warren "Gets It"

R.I.P. Walter Becker 🙁 🙁

It was strange but I listened to Can't Buy aThrill today before I heard of Walter Becker's death. The ABB with Duane was my favorite band but Do it Again and Reeling in the Years are my favorite songs. I bet I listened to Thrill, LFE, Eat a Peach, Layla and Return to Forever's Where Have I Known You Before hundreds and hundreds of time. It got no better than those albums. I had maybe 200 albums at that time but those got the work out on a regular bassis. Sorry to hear of his passing but it seems like a lot of the best are leaving us their musical history to enjoy.

It was strange but I listened to Can't Buy aThrill today before I heard of Walter Becker's death. The ABB with Duane was my favorite band but Do it Again and Reeling in the Years are my favorite songs.

I saw Steely Dan's first U.S. tour in 1972 and in retrospect what a strange bill: Black Oak Arkansas, SD, Focus ("Hocus Pocus"), Hollywood Palladium, about a 2,000 capacity venue at the very most. They used to book some great shows at that place, I saw The Faces there, also West, Bruce and Laing.

My buddy and I were 17 and way into Black Oak and their hillbilly rock 'n' roll. But that first one, Can't Buy A Thrill, was already out and all over the radio, so we were semi-familiar with Steely Dan. They had Jeff "Skunk" Baxter on guitar, David Palmer singing (he was on only the first record). We watched and listened, then, with full curiosity. You just had this feeling that something special was in the air. They already sounded polished.

If I'm not mistaken, it was a full 20 years after that tour before Steely Dan ever hit the road again. I'm glad now that I did catch them one more time..............I'm guessing it was 2005 or so at the local shed. Man, what a polished and tremendous show. Of course they did a lot of their hits. Becker/Fagen would have to go down as one of the best songwriting teams in the history of rock.

[Edited on 9/5/2017 by robslob]