Growing up in the heart of the New York City on a steady diet of pizza slices, pot smoke, graffitied subways and AOR radio WPLJ, I was a big fan of the rock jazz sounds of Steely Dan. The 1977 album Aja contained the song “Peg” which is one of the most iconic songs by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Peg also happened to have one of the top guitar solos of the decade performed by Jay Graydon. The song is like a warm blanket, taking me back to those dirty city streets I used to walk, dressed in my blazer, tie and itchy dress slacks heading to Catholic School. I always knew it was the end of the summer when my mom dragged me to Lord & Taylor or Altman’s department stores to be fitted for my new suits for school in the coming fall. You don’t know what living is until you have to wear grey flannel pants on a hot September day with a shirt, blazer, tie and patent leather shoes, all of which I rebelled against.
What the hell does this have to do with Steely Dan – well these were the days when Steely Dan was releasing all those great singles to AOR radio. So, years later, I decided to remake “Peg” with my good friend Chuck Loeb from Fourplay who passed away a few years back. Also on the song is the late great bass extraordinaire Randy Coven, Tommy Mandel on Rhodes and Reggie Pryor on drums. Yes, I’m an old guy, but Steely Dan was a very influential band to my generation, especially all of the guitar players they used. In fact, I took my son to see them right before Walter Becker died and to my surprise, he loved them!
Peg stands out because I believe it broke the barrier between rock listeners and jazz listeners. The 70’s was a very turbulent decade, but music got us all through it. Musically there was a huge cross over of genres like funk, rock, jazz, Latin, new age which was incorporated into cultural fabric of the times. One of the huge movements of course was fusion, which stringed together all of those elements and produced the band Steely Dan.
You can learn more about Chuck Loeb here
About the Curator: Brian Tarquin
Multi Emmy Award winning Brian Tarquin is an established top rate composer/guitarist. He has won 3 Emmy's for “Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series” and has been nominated for an Emmy 6 times. In 2019 Tarquin received a Global Music Gold Award for his release Orlando In Heaven for “Best Album.” Three years in a row (2016-2019) Tarquin received “Best Album of the Year” nominations from the Independent Music Awards for his releases: Guitars for Wounded Warriors, Orlando in Heaven, and Guitars for Veterans. On which, Tarquin shows his guitar prowess alongside such world-class shredders as: Steve Morse, Larry Coryell, Billy Sheehan, Bumblefoot (Guns N’ Roses), Reb Beach (Whitesnake), Chuck Loeb (FourPlay) to name a few. In 2006 SESAC honored him with the Network Television Performance Award. Tarquin has graced the Top Billboard Charts with such commercial releases as: This is Acid Jazz, Vol. 2, Sweet Emotions, and Bossa Brava: Caliente on Instinct Records, followed by several solo jazz albums, which charted Top 10 at Smooth Jazz Radio R&R and Gavin charts. Brian has appeared on 38 releases, selling over 140,000 records in his career.
