Why did Steely Dan become a studio band?
We toured for a couple years, and our band was put together very quickly. We were staff writers at ABC Dunhill, having not been able to put together a band in New York. We had this whole other book of tunes we wanted to do that would necessitate having a band. We weren’t doing too good at staff writing, so we called in a bunch of guys we knew and put together a band quickly, and, although the players were quite good, when we went on the road, it wasn’t exactly working out in terms of musical tastes and personalities, so we folded the band within a couple years and said, ‘Hey we have a hit record. Why don’t we just stay in the studio and make records?’ This is your third or fourth tour in the last several years. Why do you tour so much now? We have a sensational band. There’s a whole new generation of musicians who are able to play both jazz and R&B with equal facility, so it’s a whole different thing. Do you have a favorite Steely Dan album? Not really. My favorite is always the last o
