Walter Becker Remembered

Walter Becker performing at Coachella in Indio, CA on Friday, April 17, 2015.
Photo: Kelly A. Swift

Posted by Robert Kinsler

Since the news broke yesterday (Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017), musicians and Steely Dan fans have been mourning the death of Walter Becker. The famed guitarist died after an undisclosed at the age 67.

Although I never saw Steely Dan back during their initial run spanning 1972-1981 when they were first breaking ground with their fusion of rock, jazz and R&B, I made up for it since the turn of the century catching the duo at Irvine Meadows in June 2000, at Gibson Amphitheatre in 2009, and at the Greek Theatre in July 2011.Fast forward to 2015 when I was especially fortunate to have caught Fagen and Becker at the Santa Barbara Bowl on April 15 and then at Coachella later that week on April 17.

You can read my review of the band's full-length performance of their album Aja in 2011 here. I consider that concert to be among the best I have ever seen.

You can read my review of the group's performance at Coachella in 2015 here.

Here are some tributes to Becker, starting with Donald Fagen:

Here is Donald Fagen's remembrance of his friend and musical partner originally posted on Rolling Stone's website:

"Walter Becker was my friend, my writing partner and my bandmate since we met as students at Bard College in 1967. We started writing nutty little tunes on an upright piano in a small sitting room in the lobby of Ward Manor, a mouldering old mansion on the Hudson River that the college used as a dorm. 

We liked a lot of the same things: jazz (from the twenties through the mid-sixties), W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, science fiction, Nabokov, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Berger, and Robert Altman films come to mind. Also soul music and Chicago blues. 

Walter had a very rough childhood - I’ll spare you the details. Luckily, he was smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter. He was cynical about human nature, including his own, and hysterically funny. Like a lot of kids from fractured families, he had the knack of creative mimicry, reading people’s hidden psychology and transforming what he saw into bubbly, incisive art. He used to write letters (never meant to be sent) in my wife Libby’s singular voice that made the three of us collapse with laughter.

His habits got the best of him by the end of the seventies, and we lost touch for a while. In the eighties, when I was putting together the NY Rock and Soul Review with Libby, we hooked up again, revived the Steely Dan concept and developed another terrific band.

I intend to keep the music we created together alive as long as I can with the Steely Dan band."

Recording Academy™ Statement 
September 3, 2017
"With Steely Dan partner Donald Fagen, Walter Becker created some of the smartest, most artful rock to ever hit the charts. Brimming with irony and filed in with brush strokes of jazz and R&B, three of the group's albums—1977's Aja, 1980's Gaucho, and 2000's Two Against Nature—were nominated for the Album Of The Year GRAMMY^®, with the latter winning the award. Walter and Steely Dan set the standard for sophisticated progressive pop, and he will be greatly missed. Our condolences go out to his family, friends and colleagues."
Neil Portnow
President/CEO
Recording Academy

Peter Frampton (via Twitter on Sept. 3, 2017)

"#RIPWalterBecker The incredible wealth of inspiring music you gave us will always push me to be a better musician/writer. Thank you Walter."

Steve Lukather of Toto (via Twitter on Sept. 3, 2017)

"Really sad to hear Walter Becker has passed... Steely Dan music touched me deep. My desert Island music. RIP Walter. Condolences Donald..."

Geoffrey Downes of ASIA and YES (via Twitter on Sept. 3, 2017)

"The Royal Scam & Aja were particularly inspirational albums for me. Thank you for the music, Steely Dan. #RIP #WalterBecker"

Mark Ronson (via Twitter on Sept. 3, 2017)

"Rest in peace WALTER BECKER, one half of the team i aspire to everytime I sit down at a piano. thank you for your unparalleled contribution."

Nile Rogers (via Twitter on Sept. 3, 2017)

"#RIPWalterBecker Very sad news. They're one of my favorite bands."


Beck Pays Tribute to Walter Becker at Detroit Concert
Billboard reported that while opening for U2 on that band's Joshua Tree Tour 2017 at Detroit's Ford Field on Sept. 3, 2017, Beck and his band paid tribute to Becker during a performance of "Where It's At." You can read that full report here.

TJR (Music Worth Buying host)
Finally, watch my Music Worth Buying co-host TJR's tribute to Becker via the link below: