The Nightfly
Occupation
- Donald Fagen - vocals, keyboards
- Greg Phillinganes - Keyboards
- Dave Bargeron - trombone, euphonium, backing vocals
- Michael Brecker - Tenor Saxophone
- Randy Brecker - trumpet, flugelhorn
- Ronnie Cuber - baritone saxophone
- Gordon Grody - vocals
- Steve Khan - acoustic guitar
- Hugh McCracken - guitar, harmonica
- Rob Mounsey - synthesizer, keyboards
- Roger Nichols - percussion, effects
- Michael Omartian - piano
- Larry Carlton, Rick Derringer, Dean Parks - Guitar
- Abraham Laboriel, Will Lee, Marcus Miller, Chuck Rainey - Bass
- James Gadson, Ed Greene, Steve Jordan, Jeff Porcaro - drums
- Paul Shaffer - organ
- David Tofani - Alto Saxophone
- Starz Vanderlocket - percussion, background vocals
- Frank " Harmonica Frank" Floyd, Daniel Lazerus, Leslie Miller, Zachary Sanders, Valerie Simpson - background vocals
Studios
- Soundworks Digital Audio / Video Recording Studios (New York)
- Automated sound (New York)
- Village Recorder (Los Angeles )
The Nightfly is the first solo album by Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen. It has been completely digitally recorded in New York and Los Angeles. Produced by Gary Katz album was released in 1982 and reached # 11 in the U.S. charts.
The album
The concept album is a portrait of the artist as a young man. All songs on the album deal with actual or fictional events from the youth, who employ a young man in the late 50s and early 60s, and the zeitgeist of the time. The album cover shows a black and white photo of the artist as a Chesterfield King cigarettes smoking radio host next to a record player. The lying on the table cover of a Sonny Rollins - plate refers to the - supposed - at the time of recording in the late 50s and the musical preferences of the moderator. In this role as a night - DJ of a fictional radio station called WJAZ in Baton Rouge, the curious listener answers calls and mourning over a lost love, he also presents itself on the title song of the album. The plate also contains the much played in the 1980s song IGY on the International Geophysical Year in 1957/58, the Fagen selected as the symbol to represent the naive optimism in his eyes and the faith in technology this time in half nostalgic, half- parodic manner; the title reached number 26 of the U.S. single charts. Also popular was the more than six minutes long New Frontier wearing a slogan of John F. Kennedy as the title and irony in the Fagen based on an alcohol- fated party in a private fallout shelter behavior and views of teens in the early 1960s. In The Goodbye Look, he outlines a revolution on a Caribbean island, has the features of Cuba under Fidel Castro. With the cover version of the play Ruby baby Drifters containing a song on the album, which comes from the themed time (1956).
Members of the studio ensembles for this album were, among others, Greg Phillinganes ( electric piano ), Jeff Porcaro (drums ), and brothers Randy (trumpet ) and Michael Brecker (tenor saxophone). Fagen accesses musical motifs of the jazz of the 1950s on The Nightfly - in the text of the New Frontier, the protagonist expresses his admiration of the pianist Dave Brubeck - transformed this but in contemporary pop music of the 1980s. Fagens music sounds similar to the case of Steely Dan, he works solo but more with electronic means and uses the well-known also by Steely Dan complex horn arrangements extensively.
Reception
The album was mostly well received. Robert Christgau gave him top marks in his column Consumer Guide, at allmusic it was four and a half out of five stars and Jason Ankeny describes it as romanticized but never sentimental.
Paul White, editor of Sound On Sound magazine says The Nightfly ... shows what good results could be obtained with these early digital recording devices, in the right hands.
For the Vatican newspaper L' Osservatore Romano The Nightfly is one of the ten perfect images for a lone stranded on an island.
Title list
Words and Music by Donald Fagen, unless stated otherwise