''Morph the Cat'' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter

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 ...

. Released on March 7, 2006, to generally positive reviews from critics, ''Morph the Cat'' was described by Fagen as his "death album" in an interview with Fred Kaplan of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Musicians on the album include drummer Keith Carlock, saxophonist

Walt Weiskopf Walt Weiskopf (born July 30, 1959 in Augusta, Georgia) is an American jazz saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, author and educator. He has released sixteen albums as a leader, and performed on countless other albums as a sideman. He has ...

, bassist Freddie Washington, and guitarists

Frank Vignola Frank Vignola (born December 30, 1965) is an American jazz guitarist. He has played in the genres of swing, fusion, gypsy jazz, classical, and pop. Career Vignola grew up on Long Island, New York. His father played accordion and banjo and his ...

Jon Herington Jon Herington (born Jonathan Reuel Herington on April 14, 1954) is an American guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, and session musician. Career Herington was born in Paterson, New Jersey, and grew up in West Long Branch, New Jersey ...

Wayne Krantz Wayne Krantz is an American guitarist and composer. He has performed and recorded with Steely Dan, Michael Brecker, Donald Fagen, Billy Cobham, Chris Potter, David Binney, and Carla Bley. Since the early 1990s, Krantz has focused primarily on ...

, and

Hugh McCracken Hugh Carmine McCracken (March 31, 1942 – March 28, 2013) was an American rock guitarist and session musician based in New York City, primarily known for his performance on guitar and also as a harmonica player. McCracken was additionally a ...

. ''Morph the Cat'' was released on CD and on a CD/

DVD-Audio DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format. The st ...

2-disc package, with a

5.1 surround sound 5.1 surround sound ("five-point one") is the common name for surround sound audio systems. 5.1 is the most commonly used layout in home theatres. It uses five full bandwidth channels and one low-frequency effects channel (the "point one"). Dolb ...

mix engineered by

Elliot Scheiner Elliot Ray Scheiner (born 18 March 1947) is a music producer, mixer and engineer. Scheiner has received 27 Grammy Award nominations, eight of which he won, and he has been awarded four Emmy nominations, two Emmy Awards for his work with the Eagl ...

. The surround recording won the

Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album The Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album (until 2018: ''Best Surround Sound Album'') was first awarded in 2005, as the first category in a new "Surround Sound" field. This field currently holds the Best Immersive Audio Album award as its s ...

Track listing

All songs written by Donald Fagen.

Personnel

- Lead vocals, backing vocals, Fender Rhodes (2, 4, 9), piano (6-7), organ (6), melodica (8) * Jerry Barnes - Backing vocals (1, 5, 9) * Michael Harvey - Backing vocals (1, 6, 9) *

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 t ...

- Backing vocals (3) * Carolyn Leonhart - Backing vocals (3, 8) * Cindy Mizelle - Backing vocals (3) *

- Guitar (1), guitar tag solo (9) *

- Guitar (1-3, 9) *

- Guitar (1-3, 6-9), guitar solo (4-5) *

- Guitar (3-8), guitar solo (2, 9), guitar chorus solo (9) * Ken Emerson - Guitar (3) * Freddie Washington - Bass (1-3, 5-9) * Brian Montgomery - Remedial bass (9) * Harlan Post, Jr. - Acoustic bass (7) * Keith Carlock - Drums * Ted Baker - Piano (2), Wurlitzer Electric Piano (3, 6), Fender Rhodes (7, 8) *

- Tenor saxophone (1-2, 7, 9) * Lawrence Feldman - Tenor saxophone (4-5) * Roger Rosenberg - Baritone saxophone (2, 4, 5), bass clarinet (7) *

Marvin Stamm Marvin Louis Stamm (born May 23, 1939) is an American jazz trumpeter. Career Stamm was born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Stamm began on trumpet at age twelve. He attended North Texas State University, where he was a member of the One ...

- Trumpet (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9) * Mark Patterson - Trombone (4, 5, 7) * Lawrence Feldman - Flute (7) * Illinois Elohainu - Flute (8) *

Howard Levy Howard Levy (born July 31, 1951) is an American multi-instrumentalist. A keyboardist and virtuoso harmonica player, Levy "has been realistically presented as one of the most important and radical harmonica innovators of the twentieth century. ...

- Harmonica (3, 7) * Phonus Quaver - Marimba (4), vibraphone (1, 5, 8, 9) * Gordon Gottlieb - Percussion (2, 4, 6, 7) *

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 (4) * Joe Pasaro - Percussion (5) * Camille Meza, Candice Predham, Eddie Jackson, Jennifer Battista - Handclaps (6) : * Harlan Post Jr., Phonus Quaver and Illinois Elohainu are pseudonyms for Fagen himself when he plays an instrument sample patch on a synthesizer trying to replicate the actual instrument.

Production

* Producer: Donald Fagen * Tracking Engineer:

* Overdub/ProTools Engineers: Brian Montgomery, T. J. Doherty * Mix Engineer: Elliott Scheiner * Second Mix Engineer: Brian Montgomery * Assistant Engineers: Eddie Jackson, Jim Keller, Chad Lupo, Steve Mazur, Brian Montgomery, Matt Scheiner, Bryan Smith, Allan "A.T." Thomas * Piano Technicians: Sam Berd, Wayne Williams * Drum/Guitar Tech: Artie Smith * Music Copyist: Gary Blu * Mastering Engineer: Darcy Proper * Additional Mastering:

Joseph M. Palmaccio Joseph M. Palmaccio also credited as Joe Palmaccio was an American mastering engineer born in rural South Carolina. Palmaccio has been nominated for six Grammy Awards and has won 4 in the Best Historical Album category for mastering. Those projec ...

* Mastering Assistant: Maria Triana * Management:

Irving Azoff Irving Azoff (; born December 12, 1947) is an American entertainment executive and chairman of Full Stop Management, which represents recording artists. In the mid-1980s, he brought success to MCA Records. Since September 2013, he has been cha ...

* Production Coordinators: Jill Dell'Abate, Cindy Osborne * Production Assistant: Mary Lou Arnold * Art Direction: Jeri Heiden * Design: Ryan Corey * Photography: Danny Clinch

Charts

Album Singles

References

External links

Donald Fagen interview in Sound on Sound
- Article by Paul Tingen about the making of Morph The Cat {{Authority control Donald Fagen albums 2006 albums Albums produced by Donald Fagen Reprise Records albums Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album