Monday, November 15, 2010

Steely Dan

A gentle nudge on Facebook from my friend and personal blues guitar hero Lew Jetton brought a huge smile to my face tonight.  He shared a link to a Steely Dan concert.  Lew and I forged a friendship more than 15 years ago driving to and from a Steely Dan concert in Nashville.  The show was riveting and so was the conversation during the drive.

Steely Dan is the greatest band the never really was a band ever.  Donald Fagen and Walter Becker ran through some of the best studio musicians to create some of the best popular music imaginable in the 1970's.  In fact their music is one of the few good things to actually originate out of the 70's musically. 

I've been lucky enough to see them perform three times over the last 15 years and I never get tired of the overwhelming rock and jazz riffs that liter their best work.  If you've never listened grab "The Royal Scam" and if "Caves of Altamira" doesn't blow you away then you don't have ears.

My personal favorite song is "My Old School."  I would sit and listen to this song with my old buddy from Lawrence, David Barnhill, and we shake our heads in wonder at Larry Carlton's almost effortless guitar solo.  I've attached a live version which should help convince you that Steely Dan is among the best to have graced a stage.

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