Comments on: Music to

Question: Music to

hodyoaten — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:31:30 -0800

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?

By: hodyoaten

hodyoaten — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:32:05 -0800

Er, ignore the missing headline -- I forgot to fill that in.

By: wheat

wheat — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:46:15 -0800

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.

By: LionIndex

LionIndex — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:56:01 -0800

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.

By: god hates math

god hates math — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:05:43 -0800

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...

By: wemayfreeze

wemayfreeze — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:16:18 -0800

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.

By: ldenneau

ldenneau — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:21:36 -0800

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.

By: wemayfreeze

wemayfreeze — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:31:07 -0800

woops. Here's the link.

By: porn in the woods

porn in the woods — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:40:28 -0800

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.

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:03:25 -0800

KJ Denhert, whose liner notes mention that she's a huge fan of the Dan.

By: mattholomew

mattholomew — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:24:51 -0800

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.

By: FlyByDay

FlyByDay — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:46:08 -0800

Try GrooveLily

By: TedW

TedW — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 19:25:53 -0800

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.

By: SpacemanRed

SpacemanRed — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:08:10 -0800

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".

By: SpacemanRed

SpacemanRed — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:09:54 -0800

Clips here!