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Steely Dan does the UK - an open question to Bruce Lindfield

Z

ZenderBender

Feb 11, 2008
134
2
37
Brooklyn NY
#1
Here's my open question to Mr. Lindfield: Let's just suppose that Steely Dan were to break with tradition for the next album and temporarily move to London, using all British musicians to cut their next album. Who would be your ideal all-British lineup for Steely Dan, that is, aside from Donald and Walter?


(Here's my two cents, or ummm.... pence... regarding the rhythm section. I think it would be great to have Simon Phillips on drums and Randy Hope-Taylor on bass. However, I am not familiar enough with the British scene to fill in the other blanks, though a David Gilmour solo would be great!)
 
#3
Funnily enough I saw Tim Garland's Northern Underground Orchestra recently and they were like a very modern Jazz big band - 13/14 piece.

Tim Garland explained how he had set up a commission for young composers to write a new composition arranged for this big group - "in the style of/or influenced by Steely Dan" !

So there were two pieces that the band played and they were both fantastic - I suggest this whole group should do it - no better musical director than Tim Garland anyway!! :)
 
#5
Here's a bit more about that :

In addition to all this activity, Tim has been running a competition for composers and arrangers under the age of 30.

“The brief was to write something in the style of Steely Dan (the American jazz-rock group). We thought everyone knows what Steely Dan sounds like and they are not unlike the band we’ve got.

“People came up with some really interesting arrangements. We perform two or three of them at every gig.”

Tim says he realises the word jazz is off-putting to some people (the same could be said of all musical genres) but reckons many young audience members have had any preconceptions blown away when they have heard The Northern Underground Orchestra play. Having spent years working with young people on campus, he speaks with authority on this.

http://www.journallive.co.uk/cultur...tim-he-s-that-composer-fellow-61634-19971515/
 
#6
ZenderBender said:
I think that would be a solid tribute to Steely Dan, but I was thinking of an actual Steely Dan record made in London....
Click to expand...

Yup - I would just get this lot in the studio ...

Nobody better thamn Gwilym Simcock on piano/keyboards and Mike Outram Guitar - maybe addd Laurence Cottle on bass...?
 
#14
If you don't think Mark King is good for it as a sideman, look up his playing with Midge Ure, Clapton and the drummer from Big Country on "If I was", which was live at (I think) The Princes Trust in '87.

He brings an incredible pulse and groove. Anyone who thinks Mark King is a one trick pony or whatever needs to dig a bit deeper!
 
#16
Honestly, John McLaughlin is way too chops-intensive to play guitars in Steely Dan. I don't know who would handle the bulk of the guitar work, but I think David Gilmour could play a great solo or two. Heck, he was spotted at the London Steely Dan show, as was Sir Paul.
 
#20
Actually, maybe he could. I remember hearing that he was a London studio guy before he rose to fame with Tony Williams and Miles. He even played on that "Winchester Cathedral" song. But of course, Jimmy Page was also a London studio guy, and I can't imagine him with the Dan at all. Now, perhaps John Paul Jones might work, and he was also a studio guy.
 

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