MUSIC: Silent Partner

Before the Kenny G's of the world hijacked jazz-pop fusion and turned it into something best suited to elevators, guitarist Walter Becker and keyboardist Donald Fagen used the genre to create sharp, ravishing songs that were as invigorating as Kenny's are insipid. As Steely Dan, the pair combined the ! subversiveness of rock with the cool swing of jazz, yielding seven hit albums and sleek, acerbic singles like Hey Nineteen, about a 30ish Lothario and his drug-loving teenage girlfriend. Becker, whose stringy hair and Fu Manchu lent him a certain wanted-poster chic, and Fagen, in ever present sunglasses, nurtured their legend...