By John Kelman
Allaboutjazz.com
Like the audience at Return to Forever’s show at the 2008 Ottawa International Jazz Festival a week earlier, the crowd waiting for Steely Dan to hit the stage was undeniably dominated by gray-hairs and no-hairs. Most have been following the band since its inception in the early 1970s and, based on their response to the opening series of segued tunes, had The Dan repertoire down cold. Steely Dan are, of course, pianist/vocalist Donald Fagen and guitarist/occasional vocalist Walter Becker, but for the 2008 tour the group was fleshed out to a 12-piece that featured a number of heavy-hitters, including guitarist/musical director Jon Herington, saxophonist Walt Weiskopf, drummer Keith Carlock and trombonist Jim Pugh.
After an opening instrumental that gave the group a chance to stretch, The Dan moved into an instrumental take on “The Fez,” from The Royal Scam (MCA, 1976), the group segued into the pulsing groove of the title track from the same album, and when Becker and Fagen entered the entire audience rose to its feet for the first of many standing ovations in the group’s two hour set.
In the day, Steely Dan only toured once, and it was largely a disaster due to Fagen’s inexperience and shaky nerves in front of an audience; The Dan, after all, was largely conceived as a vehicle for the Becker/Fagen songwriting team and, by the time of its fourth disc, Katy Lied (MCA, 1975), the group had reduced to just the two, who would call upon a cast of thousands to create masterpieces like Aja (MCA, 1977), which featured high-end jazzers like Wayne Shorter, Steve Gadd and Larry Carlton.
But since his early ’90s New York Rock and Soul Review-which released Live at the Beacon (Giant, 1991)-Fagen’s been playing live with increasing frequency, and it’s been possible to follow his gradual move into a comfort zone. The Dan’s Alive in America (Giant, 1995) documented the group’s return to activity and touring in 1993-’94 but, as fine as it was to have them back after a break of thirteen years, both Fagen and Becker felt a little stiff. But by the time of the tour in support of The Dan’s Grammy Award-winning return to studio recording, Two Against Nature (Giant, 2000) and the accompanying 2002 live DVD from Image Entertainment, it was clear that both Fagen and Becker were beginning to loosen up.
Decked with sunglasses and swaying back and forth like Ray Charles — no surprise, given his love of the late singer/pianist made clear on “What I Do,” from his solo album Morph the Cat (Reprise, 2006) — Fagen was in fantastic form, his voice sounding better than ever. Relaxed enough to be able to ad-lib a bit when the opportunity presented itself, as it did during “Hey Nineteen,” where “That’s ‘retha Franklin” turned into a reference to the “Queen of Soul”‘s scheduled performance in the same room the next night, Fagen took enough liberty with his delivery, while never losing sight of the signatures that defined a twenty-song set list that covered every Dan release from its second, Countdown to Ecstasy (MCA, 1973) to its most recent, Everything Must Go (Reprise, 2003).
While The Dan didn’t perform all its iconic songs-they’d have needed at least another hour to do that- there was representation of almost all the key ones, including a hot take of Aja’s up-tempo “I Got the News,” the equally fiery title track from Two Against Nature, greasier funk of “FM,” discofied “Glamour Profession” and haunting “Third World Man,” the latter two from Gaucho (MCA, 1980), The Dan’s initial swan song. The Royal Scam’s “Everything You Did” was reinvented with a reggae groove-a nod, perhaps, to Becker’s recent interest in the form on his new solo disc, Circus Money (Mailboat, 2008)-while “Aja” was a show-stopping powerhouse that featured an impressive trade-off between Herington and Becker, followed by intense solos from Weiskopf and Carlock, who may not be Shorter and Gadd but were surely within spitting distance.
Along with familiar hits including “Josie,” “Peg” and “Gaucho,” Becker and Fagen pulled out a couple of surprises-a cooking and radically rearranged “Show Biz Kids” from Countdown to Ecstasy and a short, absolutely perfect take on “Parker’s Band” from Pretzel Logic (MCA, 1974), complete with images of Charlie Parker on the lit backdrop that was unveiled five songs into the show. Steely Dan to pop audiences for its ability to craft near-perfect songs that are filled with attractive hooks, unbeatable grooves and memorable playing, but to jazz audiences as well for its broader harmonic vernacular, a quality that began to surface in a big way on The Royal Scam. Thirty years later the language is even more sophisticated, with the songs creating not just fine opportunities for soloing, but true challenges, even for the most advanced players.
Since turning from studio-only duo to exciting live act, Becker and Fagen have attracted a wealth of innovative jazz players, including Shorter, Gadd, Chris Potter, Dennis Chambers, Peter Erskine, Bob Sheppard and Warren Bernhardt. Steely Dan 2008 was no less impressive, with Herington delivering some of the show’s instrumental highlights. A nearby fan said, when the group launched into “Third World Man,” that “they have to get the guitar right, it’s so important,” and she was right. Larry Carlton’s solo on the original has long been considered one of the most perfect solos in pop-brief, but constructed with precision while remaining evocative thirty years after the fact. Herington played the solo close to note-to-note, which was absolutely the right choice. On the other hand, rather than recreating another signature Carlton solo on “Kid Charlemagne,” the first of two encores, he played it his way, and proved himself equally adept at navigating Becker and Fagen’s easy on the ears but seriously challenging changes.
Becker’s guitar work, while achingly tasteful in tone and always resonant in a laidback kind of way, was less impressive, as was his vocal turn on “Gaucho,” originally sung by Fagen. Dan shows always feature Becker as lead vocalist on one song, and it’s a nod to his undeniable importance as one-half of the Becker/Fagen songwriting team; but while Fagen has evolved into a clear leader and charismatic front man, Becker is better placed in the background. Fagen soloed rarely, but when he did-and when he contributed Fender Rhodes intros to songs including “Josie” and another track from Aja, the mid-tempo “Home at Last” — it became clear where much of Steely Dan’s harmonic sophistication comes from although, based on Fagen’s solo career and The Dan’s take on his “New Frontier,” from The Nightfly (Reprise, 1982), Becker’s part in shaping The Dan sound cannot be undervalued.
For a group that never intended to hit the road, Steely Dan has become one of the hottest touring groups in adult-oriented pop music, and its two-night stay in Montreal for the 2008 festival, part of a 33-date North American tour, was conclusive proof that its possible to mix pop song mentality with the rich language of jazz to create music that’s appealing on many levels.
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