Donald Fagen - The Night Belongs To Mona

The white boy jazz-infused funk of the 1970's would never have blossomed into a crossover art form without the contributions of Donald Fagen, one of the hippest cats ever to come from Passaic, New Jersey, founding member of Steely Dan and, along with friend and cohort Walter Becker, a frequent innovator of a sound so unique as to defy the logic of radio. Steely Dan was always lumped into AOR (album-oriented rock) in the 1970's which, by strange accident, opened up a whole other audience to the music they were creating. The music, though perhaps rock-influenced, was unflitered R&B and Fusion Jazz, attracting legions of fans around the globe with albums like Aja (1977), now deserving of it's place in the annals of music as a pure classic. Fagen's solo efforts have been greeted with equal fervor. The Nightfly (1981) is itself considered a classic, managing its way through pop and rock radio in the 1980's with songs like "New Frontier" -- and also announced Fagen's arrival to the MTV generation with a video for the song that never left rotation on the channel from 1982-1984. His second solo album, Kamakiriad was released 11 years later and received wide critical acclaim.

Some 24 years later, Morph The Cat hits stores, bearing the inimitable signature timing and rhythms Fagen has made popular through the years. Lush keyboard and horn arrangements set to clean bass lines and tiny drum sounds provide the vehicle for Fagen's indelible, soulful harmonies and uber-hip stories of life in the big city. Songs like "H Gang", "The Great Pagoda of Funn", and this song, "The Night Belongs to Mona" continue to solidify Fagen's place among our greatest living composers and musicians. In these uncertain times, it is wonderful to know that some things get better with age. Morph The Cat is a triumphant return to form for one of music's master aces. Don't be afraid to love it just because your parents do -- Donald Fagen's music is what music is all about.

(Click Here to purchase the single "H Gang" from iTunes)

(Click here to purchase Morph The Cat from Amazon)