A series of rare, in-studio candid photographs of Steely Dan and the musicians they worked with have come to light. The images in the collection were all taken by Steely Dan's long-time recording engineer Roger Nichols (1944-2011) during the first three seminal Steely Dan albums. See the collection here.
Coined the Roger Nichols Steely Dan "Through The Glass" Collection, some were actually taken through the glass window separating the studio control room and live room. The photos capture candid moments during the process of recording several seminal albums by the group and their elite cast of supporting musicians.
Pictured in the various images are Steely Dan founders Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, and guitarists Denny Dias and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, drummer Jeff Porcaro (Toto), singer/bassist Timothy B. Schmit (Eagles), album producer Gary Katz, and the late Nichols himself.
The photos have been curated directly by the family of Roger Nichols, who have made this historical cache of images available for the first time with this collection. The first public debut of the photos came on June 3, 2026 at an event at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles during a panel entitled "Reelin’ in the Early Years of Steely Dan."
The panel, co-moderated by Nichols' eldest daughter Cimcie Nichols and Jake Malooley (who publishes Steely Dan newsletter Expanding Dan), featured several of Becker and Fagen’s close collaborators: founding Steely Dan band members Dias and Baxter, fellow revered musicians Dean Parks and Royce Jones who appeared on numerous Steely Dan tracks, ABC/Dunhill Records executive Steve Barri, and Cherokee Studios founder Bruce Robb.
Grammy Museum 6/3/26 event panelists (from left): Cimcie Nichols, Dean Parks, Bruce Robb, Royce Jones, Steve Barri, Denny Dias, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Jake Malooley
Now, limited edition sets of these photos are available for purchase exclusively here at MusicGoldmine.com. Each limited to 100 hand-numbered copies, some feature a framed collage with four 8" x 12" color or black and white photos and framed single images are also available. All are matted and framed with acid-free materials and include (at purchasers option) engraved metal title plates identifying the album that the recording sessions pertained to along with a printed Roger Nichols signature.
Among the classic Steely Dan albums represented are 1972 breakthrough Can't Buy A Thrill, which contained the group's first major hit, "Reelin' In The Years", along with "Do It Again", 1973's Countdown To Ecstasy, which featured fan favorites "Show Biz Kids" and "My Old School", and 1974's Pretzel Logic, which produced top 5 hit "Rikki Don't Lose That Number".
Roger Nichols in the early 1970s
Recording engineer (and photographer) Roger Nichols (1944-2011) was a seven-time Grammy winner who engineered all of Steely Dan's albums from 1972's Can't Buy A Thrill to 2000's Two Against Nature, which won the Grammy for Album Of The Year. He also worked with the Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder, Frank Zappa, Crosby Stills & Nash, John Denver, Al Di Meola, Rosanne Cash, Roy Orbison, Cass Elliot, Plácido Domingo, Gloria Estefan, Diana Ross, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Rickie Lee Jones, Kenny Loggins, Mark Knopfler, Eddie Murphy, Michael McDonald, James Taylor, and Toots Thielemans, among others. In 2012, Nichols was also posthumously awarded a Technical Grammy Award by the Recording Academy. Nichols interest in photography extended beyond the casual and he also dabbled in photographing races in the motorsports world. He also was a longtime Recording Academy volunteer, serving as a Governor on the Florida Chapter Board and as a member of the Producers & Engineers Wing of the organization, volunteering for panels and P&E Wing events.
From left: Nichols with MusicGoldmine CEO/then Recording Academy executive Neil Crilly and Tom Dowd during their time on the Academy's Florida Chapter board, circa 1999
See the exclusive collection of 1970s Steely Dan photos taken in the studios they recorded in by their engineer Roger Nichols here. Note that the Nichols family is using proceeds from the sales of these items to keep the Nichols archive alive and MusicGoldmine in support of this project is only making a nominal 10% fee.
Interested in genuine RIAA Gold and Platinum and other record awards including (at time of article posting) a RIAA Platinum Album award for Steely Dan's Gaucho and Aja albums? Check out our selection here. We typically have several hundred in stock.
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Photo credits 1970s Steely Dan and Roger Nichols photos: Roger Nichols estate; Grammy Museum group and bottom group photos: Neil Crilly
