''Kamakiriad'' is the second solo album by

Steely Dan Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 in New York by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Initially the band had a stable lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired from live ...

artist

Donald Fagen Donald Jay Fagen (born January 10, 1948) is an American musician best known as the co-founder, lead singer, co-songwriter, and keyboardist of the band Steely Dan, formed in the early 1970s with musical partner Walter Becker. In addition to his w ...

, released in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. It was his first collaboration with Steely Dan partner

Walter Becker Walter Carl Becker (February 20, 1950 – September 3, 2017) was an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was the co-founder, guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter of the jazz rock band Steely Dan.Russonello, Giovanni,Listen t ...

since 1986, on

Rosie Vela Roseanne Vela (born December 18, 1952) is an American model, singer and songwriter. Early life, education and modeling career Roseanne Vela was born on December 18, 1952 in Galveston, Texas. Her family later moved to Arkansas, where she attended ...

's album '' Zazu''. Becker played guitar and bass and produced the album. The album is a futuristic, optimistic eight-song cycle about the journey of the narrator in his high-tech car, the ''Kamakiri'' (Japanese for

praying mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...

). It was nominated for a

Grammy Award for Album of the Year The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regar ...

1994.

Music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

s were produced for "Tomorrow's Girls" (starring

Rick Moranis Frederick Allan Moranis (; born April 18, 1953) is a Canadian actor, comedian, musician, songwriter, writer and producer. He appeared in the sketch comedy series ''Second City Television'' (''SCTV'') in the 1980s and several Hollywood (film indu ...

) and " Snowbound" (using

stop motion animation Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

). Fagen and Becker embarked on their first tour as Steely Dan since 1974 to support the album.

Track listing

All songs written by Donald Fagen, except where noted. #"Trans-Island Skyway" – 6:30 #"Countermoon" – 5:05 #"Springtime" – 5:06 #" Snowbound" (

, Fagen) – 7:08 #"Tomorrow's Girls" – 6:17 #"Florida Room" (Fagen, Libby Titus) – 6:02 #"On the Dunes" – 8:07 #"Teahouse on the Tracks" – 6:09

Bonus tracks, from ''The Nightfly Trilogy'' MVI boxed set

"Big Noise, New York" – 5:21 #"Confide in Me" – 4:15 #"Blue Lou" – 7:01 #"Shanghai Confidential" – 4:54

Personnel

–

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

– bass,

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

Randy Brecker Randal Edward Brecker (born November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock, and R&B. Early life Brecker was born on Nov ...

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

Cornelius Bumpus Cornelius Bumpus (May 7, 1945 – February 3, 2004) was an American woodwind, brass and keyboard player and vocalist from Santa Cruz, California. Biography Bumpus began his musical career playing alto saxophone at ten for his school band, and by ...

–

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

*Angela Clemmons-Patrick – background vocals *Leroy Clouden –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Ronnie Cuber Ronald Edward Cuber (December 25, 1941 – October 7, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. He also played in Latin, pop, rock, and blues sessions. In addition to his primary instrument, baritone sax, he played tenor sax, soprano sax, clarinet ...

–

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

*Illinois Elohainu – tenor saxophone (a fictive musician, actually Fagen himself plays a saxophone sample on the keyboard) *Lawrence Feldman – flute, tenor saxophone *Frank Floyd – background vocals *Diane Garisto – background vocals * Paul Griffin –

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

Amy Helm Amy Helm (born December 3, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is the daughter of drummer Levon Helm and singer Libby Titus. She is a past member of the Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble Band and Ollabelle, as well as her own tou ...

– background vocals *

Bashiri Johnson Bashiri Johnson (born May 12, 1955) is a New York City-based percussionist, whose work has appeared on many records, as well as in commercials, films, television, videogames, and concert performances. He is known to be one of the most recorded ...

– percussion *

Birch Johnson Birch "Crimson Slide" Johnson (born 1953 in Dublin, Georgia) is an American trombonist. He is a first call studio trombonist, Emmy-nominated composer, producer and songwriter based in New York City. He graduated from the University of Alabama, rec ...

–

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

*Mindy Jostyn – background vocals *Brenda King – background vocals *Curtis King – background vocals *

Lou Marini Louis William Marini Jr. (born May 13, 1945), known as "Blue Lou" Marini, is an American saxophonist, arranger, and composer. He is best known for his work in jazz, rock, blues, and soul music, as well as his association with The Blues Brothers ...

–

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

, flute,

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

*Dennis McDermott –

*Jenni Muldaur – background vocals *

Christopher Parker Christopher Parker (born 24 August 1983) is an English actor and television presenter, best known for portraying Spencer Moon on BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders'' between 2002 and 2005. Early career Christopher Parker's career began at an e ...

– drums *

Jim Pugh Jim Pugh (born February 5, 1964) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He grew up in Palos Verdes, California and at age 10 began taking tennis lessons from John Hillebrand. He played tennis at UCLA. He became a doubl ...

– trombone *

Tim Ries Timothy M. Ries (born 15 August 1959) is an American saxophonist, composer, arranger, band leader, and music educator at the collegiate/conservatory level. Ries is in his year as a professor of jazz studies at the University of Toronto. His un ...

– tenor saxophone *Roger Rosenberg – baritone saxophone *

Alan Rubin Alan Rubin (February 11, 1943 – June 8, 2011), also known as Mr. Fabulous, was an American musician. He played trumpet, flugelhorn, and piccolo trumpet. Early life and education Rubin was born in Brooklyn. He began attending Juilliard Sc ...

– trumpet, flugelhorn * Catherine Russell – background vocals *Dian Sorel – background vocals *

Fonzi Thornton Alfonso "Fonzi" Thornton is a U.S. songwriter/producer and vocal contractor. In a career spanning 40 years, Thornton has sung backing vocals for top artists across many genres of music. His vocal credits can be found on the recordings of Aret ...

– background vocals *

David Tofani Dave Tofani is an American saxophonist and woodwind player, and composer. As a session musician he has performed on over 500 jazz, pop, and rock recordings such as the clarinet solo on " Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" by Soft Cell.AllMusic Dave Tofani ...

– flute, tenor saxophone *

Georg Wadenius Georg "Jojje" Wadenius (born 4 May 1945) is a Swedish multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who was particularly active during the 1970s and 1980s as a studio and session guitarist and bassist, as well as for a series of albums of childre ...

– guitar

Production

*Producer: Walter Becker *Engineers: Phil Burnett, David Michael Dill, Tom Fritze, Andy Grassi, Troy Halderson, Bob Mitchel, John Neff, Roger Nichols, Dave Russell, Jay A. Ryan, Tony Volante, Wayne Yurgelun *Mastering: Scott Hull, Glenn Meadows *Sample editing: Craig Siegal *Digital technician: Phil Burnett *Digital delay: Craig Siegal *Horn arrangements: Donald Fagen *Rhythm arrangements: Donald Fagen *Design: Carol Bobolts *Photography: James Hamilton *Liner notes: Donald Fagen, Tim White

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control Donald Fagen albums 1993 albums Concept albums Reprise Records albums Albums produced by Walter Becker