The Nightfly
Album by Donald Fagen
Released	October 1982
Recorded	1982
Genre	Jazz-Rock
Length	38:46
Label	Warner Brothers
Producer(s)	Gary Katz
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Donald Fagen chronology
The Nightfly (1982) Kamakiriad (1993) Morph the Cat (2006)

The Nightfly is the first solo album by Steely Dan member Donald Fagen, released in 1982 (see 1982 in music). It was one of the first fully digital recordings. Several of the songs are about events and settings from the 1950s. "I.G.Y." is about the optimism of the International Geophysical Year, "New Frontier" is about a party held in a backyard nuclear bomb shelter ("It's just a dugout that my dad built/ In case the Reds decide to push the button down"), and "The Goodbye Look" is about a revolution on a Caribbean island, possibly Cuba. Cover for the album The Nightfly by Donald Fagen This is an album cover. ... An album is a collection of related audio tracks, released together commercially in an audio format to the public. ... Fagen on the cover of his 1982 solo album The Nightfly Donald Jay Fagen (born January 10, 1948 in Passaic, New Jersey) is an American musician and songwriter who is best known as co-writer and co-founder of the jazz rock band Steely Dan. ... Look up October in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A music genre is a category (or genre) of pieces of music that share a certain style or basic musical language (van der Merwe 1989, p. ... Jazz is an original American musical art form originating around the early 1920s in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory, and is marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. ... Rock is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars, a bass guitar, and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, trumpet, and trombone are common in some styles, however, horns have been omitted from newer subgenres of rock music since... A record label is a brand created by companies that specialize in producing, manufacturing, distributing and promoting audio and sometimes video recordings (especially music videos), on various formats including compact discs, LPs, DVD-Audio, SACDs, and cassettes. ... Warner Brothers Records is a record label which was launched on March 19, 1958 by Warner Bros. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the performers, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... To any devotee, the name Gary Katz is inextricably bound to the entity that is Steely Dan. ... The All Music Guide (AMG) is a metadata database about music owned by All Media Guide. ... Image File history File links Description: Rating stars. ... Fagen on the cover of his 1982 solo album The Nightfly Donald Jay Fagen (born January 10, 1948 in Passaic, New Jersey) is an American musician and songwriter who is best known as co-writer and co-founder of the jazz rock band Steely Dan. ... Kamakiriad is the second solo album by former Steely Dan singer Donald Fagen, released in 1993 (see 1993 in music). ... Morph the Cat is Donald Fagens first solo album since 1993. ... An album is a collection of related audio tracks, released together commercially in an audio format to the public. ... Steely Dan is an American jazz rock band based around musicians and songwriters Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. ... Fagen on the cover of his 1982 solo album The Nightfly Donald Jay Fagen (born January 10, 1948 in Passaic, New Jersey) is an American musician and songwriter who is best known as co-writer and co-founder of the jazz rock band Steely Dan. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... See also: 1981 in music, other events of 1982, 1983 in music, 1980s in music and the list of years in music // Events January 15 - K.C. and the Sunshine Bands Harry Wayne Casey is seriously injured in an automobile accident in Miami, Florida. ... In digital recording, the analog signal of a motion-picture/sound is converted into a stream of discrete numbers, representing the changes in air pressure (chroma and luminace values in case of video) through time; thus making an abstract template for the original sound. ... The International Geophysical Year or IGY was an international scientific effort that lasted from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958. ...

The Nightfly is widely considered to be one of the best engineered albums ever made. Some audio engineers use it to evaluate the quality of playback equipment. Audio engineering is a part of audio science dealing with the recording and reproduction of sound through mechanical and electronic means. ...

Track listing

All songs by Donald Fagen, except where noted

1. "I.G.Y. (International Geophysical Year)" - 6:05
2. "Green Flower Street" - 3:40
3. "Ruby Baby" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) - 5:38
4. "Maxine" - 3:50
5. "New Frontier" - 6:23
6. "The Nightfly" - 5:45
7. "The Goodbye Look" - 4:47
8. "Walk Between Raindrops" - 2:38

The International Geophysical Year or IGY was an international scientific effort that lasted from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958. ... Jerry Leiber (born April 25, 1933) and Mike Stoller (born March 13, 1933) are among the most important songwriters and music producers in post-World War II popular music. ... Jerry Leiber (born April 25, 1933) and Mike Stoller (born March 13, 1933) are among the most important songwriters and music producers in post-World War II popular music. ...

Personnel

• Donald Fagen - organ, synthesizer, harmonica, horn, keyboards, electric piano, vocals, background vocals, synthesizer harp
• Dave Bargeron - trombone, euphonium, horn, background vocals
• Daniel Bazerus - background vocals
• Michael Brecker - tenor saxophone
• Randy Brecker - trumpet, flugelhorn
• Larry Carlton - guitar
• Ronnie Cuber - horn, baritone saxophone
• Rick Derringer - guitar
• Frank "Harmonica Frank" Floyd - background vocals
• James Gadson - drums
• Ed Greene - drums
• Gordon Grody - vocals, background vocals
• Anthony Jackson - bass
• Steve Jordan - drums
• Steve Khan - acoustic guitar
• Abraham Laboriel - bass
• Daniel Lazerus - background vocals
• Will Lee - bass
• Hugh McCracken - guitar, harmonica
• Leslie Miller - vocals, background vocals
• Marcus Miller - bass
• Rob Mounsey - synthesizer, horn, keyboards
• Roger Nichols - percussion, special effects
• Michael Omartian - piano, keyboards, electric piano
• Dean Parks - guitar
• Greg Phillinganes - synthesizer, piano, keyboards, electric piano, clavinet, synthesizer bass
• Jeff Porcaro - drums
• Chuck Rainey - bass
• Zachary Sanders - vocals, background vocals
• Valerie Simpson - vocals, background vocals
• David Tofani - horn, alto saxophone
• Starz Vander Lockett - percussion, background vocals

The Casavant pipe organ at Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Montreal The organ is a keyboard instrument with one or more manuals, and usually a pedalboard. ... The Yamaha PSR-295, an entry-level electronic keyboard synthesizer. ... Wikibooks has more about this subject: Harmonica A harmonica is a free reed musical wind instrument (also known, among other things, as a mouth organ, French harp, tin sandwich, blues harp, simply harp, or Mississippi saxophone), having multiple, variably-tuned brass or bronze reeds, each secured at one end over... Piano, a well-known instance of keyboard instruments A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. ... An electric piano (e-piano) is an electric musical instrument of the 1960s and 1970s, which was built to replace a (heavy) piano on stage. ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... Dave Bargeron is an American trombonist and tuba player from Athol, Massachusetts, most famous for playing with the jazz-rock group Blood, Sweat, and Tears. ... A lip-reed aerophone with a predominantly cylindrical bore, the trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. ... 4-valved euphonium The euphonium is a conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument. ... A Yanagisawa tenor sax. ... Trumpeter redirects to here. ... Flugelhorn- this is a standard 3-valved Bb model. ... For the past three decades, Larry Carlton has been one of the nations most sought-after jazz guitarists, dividing his recording time between solo recordings and session appearances with more popular bands. ... A guitar is a musical instrument characterized by its visually dominant body and neck. ... Baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone, one of the larger members of the saxophone family, was invented by Adolphe Sax. ... Rick Derringer (Rick Zehringer) is an American guitarist, vocalist, and entertainer born on August 5, 1947, in Fort Recovery, Ohio. ... For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ... Bass guitars typically have four strings instead of six as found on regular guitars. ... An acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the Classical guitar, but generally strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound. ... Roger Nichols was a nuclear engineer until he turned his hobby of audio recording into an extremely successful career as a recording engineer and producer. ... Percussion instruments are music instruments played by being struck, shaken, rubbed or scraped, hence the percussive name. ... A clavinet is a keyboard instrument, manufactured by the Hohner company. ... Jeffrey Jeff Thomas Porcaro (April 1, 1954 - August 5, 1992) was a highly regarded session drummer and a founding member of the Grammy Award winning band Toto. ... Nickolas Ashford (born May 4, 1942, in Fairfield, South Carolina) and Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946 in The Bronx, New York) are a successful songwriting/production team, as well as being recording artists in their own right. ... Alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a family of woodwind instruments invented by Adolphe Sax. ...

Production

• Producer: Gary Katz
• Engineers: Daniel Lazerus, Roger Nichols, Elliot Scheiner
• Assistant engineers: Robin Lane, Mike Morongell, Cheryl Smith, Wayne Yurgelun
• Mixing: Elliot Scheiner
• Mastering: Bob Ludwig
• Digital editing assistant: Mike Morongell, Wayne Yurgelun
• Project assistant: Ginger Dettman, Steve Pokorny, Steve Woolard
• Tracking: Elliot Scheiner
• Authoring: David Dieckmann, George Lydecker
• Sequencing: Roger Nichols
• Overdub engineer: Daniel Lazerus
• Horn arrangements: Donald Fagen, Rob Mounsey
• Arranger: Donald Fagen
• Design: Greg Allen
• Art direction: Greg Allen, George Delmerico
• Liner notes: Donald Fagen
• Editorial supervision: Cory Frye
• Photography: James Hamilton
• Screen design: Andrew Thomas

Charts

Album

Singles

See also

• Utopianism and Vactrain (for song I.G.Y.)