So whaddya you think of last night’s version of “Kid Charlemagne” at the Wang? Pretty damn good, right? More on that later.
Before jumping into a guitar-centric analysis a few non-six-string notes:
Steely Dan’s horn section is absurdly good. Transport the four-piece back in time 40 years and they could be sitting in with Miles. Make it 75 years and the guys could swing with Basie. My favorite bit was Michael Leonhart’s fiery Latin trumpet solo on “Your Gold Teeth.”
Donald Fagen’s voice is better than ever. OK, not better, it’s thinner and flatter, but he was almost too good, too alive for his deep, dense, dark lyrics in the ’70s. Like Tom Waits or Randy Newman, the older he gets the more he relaxes into his Statler-and-Waldorf sardonic persona.
Keith Carlock is a monster drummer – like Neil Peart with a wicked Gene Krupa fetish. Jim Beard’s piano opening to “My Old School” was freaky ragtime with a pinch free jazz (nearly as face-melting as any of last night’s guitar solos).
Now the guitar:
Walter Becker is a great player. He always got out of the way for those ’70s session men but he can wail. On “Black Friday” his chunky rock tone recalled Skunks best stuff. Then Jon Herington took over and I forgot Becker was even there (sorry dude).
Herington is insane, just insane. On “Hey Nineteen” he was note-to-note perfect and dead right with the tone. Then on “Show Biz Kids,” he went off the map. As the song swelled to a knot of fern-bar funk, Herington’s tricky licks zigged and zagged across the melody. This guy can clearly do anything.
For the solo in “Boston Rag,” he managed to squash together Jim Hall’s post-bop and Al Di Meola’s heavy ’70s fusion. Then, on “Bodhisattva,” just cause he can, he spiked the Hall-meets-Di Meola vibe with some Dick Dale surf and Django Reinhardt swing. Insane I tell you!
Then with “Kid Charlemagne” he– Oh, just forget it. Enough of what I think.
Guitar solos? Fagen’s voice? Horns? Drums? Whaddya think?
Source http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/entertainment/guestlisted/?p=973&srvc=home&position=recent
Before jumping into a guitar-centric analysis a few non-six-string notes:
Steely Dan’s horn section is absurdly good. Transport the four-piece back in time 40 years and they could be sitting in with Miles. Make it 75 years and the guys could swing with Basie. My favorite bit was Michael Leonhart’s fiery Latin trumpet solo on “Your Gold Teeth.”
Donald Fagen’s voice is better than ever. OK, not better, it’s thinner and flatter, but he was almost too good, too alive for his deep, dense, dark lyrics in the ’70s. Like Tom Waits or Randy Newman, the older he gets the more he relaxes into his Statler-and-Waldorf sardonic persona.
Keith Carlock is a monster drummer – like Neil Peart with a wicked Gene Krupa fetish. Jim Beard’s piano opening to “My Old School” was freaky ragtime with a pinch free jazz (nearly as face-melting as any of last night’s guitar solos).
Now the guitar:
Walter Becker is a great player. He always got out of the way for those ’70s session men but he can wail. On “Black Friday” his chunky rock tone recalled Skunks best stuff. Then Jon Herington took over and I forgot Becker was even there (sorry dude).
Herington is insane, just insane. On “Hey Nineteen” he was note-to-note perfect and dead right with the tone. Then on “Show Biz Kids,” he went off the map. As the song swelled to a knot of fern-bar funk, Herington’s tricky licks zigged and zagged across the melody. This guy can clearly do anything.
For the solo in “Boston Rag,” he managed to squash together Jim Hall’s post-bop and Al Di Meola’s heavy ’70s fusion. Then, on “Bodhisattva,” just cause he can, he spiked the Hall-meets-Di Meola vibe with some Dick Dale surf and Django Reinhardt swing. Insane I tell you!
Then with “Kid Charlemagne” he– Oh, just forget it. Enough of what I think.
Guitar solos? Fagen’s voice? Horns? Drums? Whaddya think?
Source http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/entertainment/guestlisted/?p=973&srvc=home&position=recent
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