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September 14, 2007 1:31 PM

What other artists do a good job picking up the Steely Dan style?

I'm talking about that type of jazzy blues (white man's blues?) that's smooth, well-balanced, and smoky, and goes well with a good beer.

I haven't heard too much in this genre but what I've encountered is typically either too slow and sleepy (lounge music), too gritty (e.g. Stevie Ray Vaughn), gets too noisy or self-indulgent with guitar work (e.g. House of Blues stuff), the vocals are absent (pure jazz), or too bright (jazz and some lounge music). And if you know where I'm coming from, a little bit of electric piano, sax, and string section are all good.

Are there any artists out there that I should check out?

posted by hodyoaten to Media & Arts (14 answers total)

Er, ignore the missing headline -- I forgot to fill that in.
posted by hodyoaten at 1:32 PM on September 14, 2007

It may be a little too middle of the road for you, but I'd say John Mayer's fist major-label disc, Room for Squares is fairly deeply indebted to Steely Dan.

I'm assuming you've checked out Donald Fagen's solo stuff, right? The Nightfly is a great disc.
posted by wheat at 1:46 PM on September 14, 2007

I picked up a bit of a Steely Dan vibe off Wilco's last album, but for them that's more of a departure than their standard thing.
posted by LionIndex at 1:56 PM on September 14, 2007

I've always thought that Phish's style was more influenced by Steely Dan than the Dead - not their groove as a whole, but Trey's/Paige's soloing sound to me like they're copped straight from one of SD's albums. I'd gu

My old boss used to play both artists when we were sound-checking our audio systems. I had enough of both, thanks...
posted by god hates math at 2:05 PM on September 14, 2007

Well, it doesn't hit everything you're looking for, but check out the band Tigercity. Steely Dan is a definite point of reference. Seriously awesome stuff, too. It doesn't have the same laid-back sense of Steely Dan, but a lot of the sound is there nonetheless.
posted by wemayfreeze at 2:16 PM on September 14, 2007

Bo Kaspers Orkester's Amerika is smooth, all-growed-up jazz/rock. The vocals are in Swedish though. There are some clips of them on YouTube, but none of them really conveys the studio feel of Amerika, although this one is pretty close.
posted by ldenneau at 2:21 PM on September 14, 2007

woops. Here's the link.
posted by wemayfreeze at 2:31 PM on September 14, 2007

Azita's Life on the Fly is a crafty homage to Steely Dan. The music, plus the typefaces used on the album cover, will have you thinking of Countdown to Ecstasy.
posted by porn in the woods at 2:40 PM on September 14, 2007

KJ Denhert, whose liner notes mention that she's a huge fan of the Dan.
posted by ikkyu2 at 3:03 PM on September 14, 2007

You may like Jazz Pianist Horace Silver, especially "Songs for my Father" since Rikki Don't Lose That Number is a note-for-note lift of the title track.
posted by mattholomew at 3:24 PM on September 14, 2007

Try GrooveLily
posted by FlyByDay at 5:46 PM on September 14, 2007

It's a little different, but don't forget that defense analyst Jeff (Skunk) Baxter also played with the Doobie Brothers. His guitar is unmistakable with either band.
posted by TedW at 7:25 PM on September 14, 2007

What about Larry Carlton? He played guitar for them on a number of albums, which included classic Dan tracks like Kid Charlemagne. His track "Room 335" is based on the chords for "Josie".
posted by SpacemanRed at 5:08 AM on September 17, 2007

Clips here!
posted by SpacemanRed at 5:09 AM on September 17, 2007