Walter Becker and Donald Fagan were two-halves of the inimitable jazzy soul rock band, Steely Dan .  It was announced the morning of Sunday, September 3rd, that Becker had passed away .   While vague details regarding a "procedure" had been addressed by Fagan as explanation to why Steely Dan had performed without Becker for a couple of dates earlier this year , cause of death is as yet, (or as the time of this writing), unknown.  Becker was 67 years of age. I have no conscious memory of the first time I'd heard Steely Dan , but their music seemed omnipresent growing up in the early- to mid-80s.  They were always on: whether being funneled into our living from my father's stereo, aired over the PA at our local ACME supermarket, or just on the radio.  And I didn't think much of them.  Steely Dan was unfortunately of a musical category that often deserved vehement derision: clean, precise, smooth rock grooves that were too pleasant to offer a generation's p...