FAGENOMETRY 101: Given that it took Donald...

FAGENOMETRY 101: Given that it took Donald Fagen more than a decade to follow up his first solo album with last year’s “Kamakiriad,” fans may be surprised to hear that the Steely Danner already has another new release out.

But be forewarned: Unless you have a working knowledge of diminished 11th chords and flatted thirds, you might want to approach this one with caution. Fagen’s latest is a video titled “Playing, Writing and Arranging: Concepts for Jazz-Rock Piano,” just released by Woodstock, N.Y.-based Homespun Tapes, which specializes in music instructional tapes.

Teamed with pianist Warren Bernhardt, Fagen uses such Dan tunes as “Josie” and “Chain Lightning” to demonstrate his methods of changing standard blues riffs into his idiosyncratic, jazzy pop songs.

How did the Homespun folks get the usually hermit-like Fagen to do the tape?

“He’s been a fan of what we do for quite a while,” says Homespun founder and owner Happy Traum, a folk guitarist who has also made a number of his own lesson tapes.

But Traum adds, “It made it easier that he’s a neighbor of ours up in Woodstock.”