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Denny Dias
Dennis Dias (born December 12, 1946) is an American guitarist, best known for being a founding member of Steely Dan. Career Dias was working with his own band out of his basement in Hicksville, New York, when he placed an ad in ''The Village Voice'' in the summer of 1970 that read: "Looking for keyboardist and bassist. Must have jazz chops! Assholes need not apply". Donald Fagen and Walter Becker responded to the advertisement. They joined his band and immediately began playing their own material. Dias fired the rest of the band, and the three of them moved to California, adding drummer Jim Hodder, guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, and vocalist David Palmer before recording for ABC/Dunhill Records as Steely Dan. Dias recorded as a permanent member of the band on 1972's ''Can't Buy a Thrill'' (with an electric sitar solo on the song " Do It Again"), on 1973's ''Countdown to Ecstasy'', and on 1974's ''Pretzel Logic''. Following a tour promoting ''Pretzel Logic'', Becker and Fagen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since 1854, the city has been coextensive with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the Delaware Valley, the nation's seventh-largest and one of world's largest metropolitan regions, with 6.245 million residents . The city's population at the 2020 census was 1,603,797, and over 56 million people live within of Philadelphia. Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Quaker. The city served as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony during the British colonial era and went on to play a historic and vital role as the central meeting place for the nation's founding fathers whose plans and actions in Philadelphia ultimately inspired the American Revolution and the nation's inde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff Baxter
Jeffrey Allen "Skunk" Baxter (born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, known for his stints in the rock bands Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers during the 1970s and Spirit in the 1980s. More recently, he has worked as a defense consultant and advised U.S. members of Congress on missile defense. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Doobie Brothers in 2020. Early life and education Jeffrey Baxter was born in Washington, D.C., and spent some of his formative years in Mexico. He graduated from the Taft School in 1967 in Watertown, Connecticut, and was a self-described preppie. At Taft, he played drums in an upperclassmen band, King Thunder and the Lightning Bolts. He enrolled at the School of Public Communication (now College of Communication) at Boston University in September 1967, where he studied journalism while continuing to perform with local bands. His freshman roommate was blues musician James Montgomery. Music career Ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iridium Jazz Club
The Iridium is a music club located on Broadway in New York City. The club featured weekly performances by Les Paul for nearly fifteen years. History The club opened in January 1994 at its original location, at 63rd Street and Broadway in the basement of The Empire Hotel, with a minimal cover charge. That first location, known as the "Iridium Room Jazz Club", was a basement room below the Merlot restaurant across from Lincoln Center and initially booked "traditional, swinging jazz musicians of the second or third level." Ronald Sturm, the club's manager and booker, told ''The New York Times'' his goal was to "hire people like the trumpeter Marcus Printup, or Cyrus Chestnut or Carl Allen"—the goal was to give a chance to "younger, mainstream musicians while still booking the legends." In the opening months of its existence, local, unknown jazz groups and solo artists were given the opportunity to perform in front of an audience [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
No Depression (magazine)
''No Depression'' is a quarterly roots music journal with a concurrent online publication. In print, ''No Depression'' is an ad-free publication focused on long-form music reporting and deep analysis that ties contemporary artists with the long chain of American roots music. In April 2020, ''No Depression'' introduced digital versions of their print journal. While the print journal remains ad-free, the digital versions include roots-music-related advertisements. Its journal contributors include roots music artists as well as professional critics and reporters, photographers, illustrators, and artists. Its online edition was largely crowd-sourced by contributions from a combination of writers and fans, regular columnists and staff reviewers. In 2019, the online version of the publication moved to align more with its print version variant by no longer accepting community posts. History ''No Depression'' was launched in September 1995 (as a quarterly) by co-editors/co-founders Grant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toto (band)
Toto (stylized as TOTO) is an American rock band formed in 1977 in Los Angeles. The band's current lineup consists of Steve Lukather (guitars and vocals), David Paich (keyboards and vocals), and Joseph Williams (vocals), as well as touring musicians John Pierce (bass), Robert "Sput" Searight (drums), Dominique "Xavier" Taplin (keyboards and vocals), Steve Maggiora (keyboards and vocals), and Warren Ham (horns, percussions, and vocals). Toto is known for a musical style that combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, progressive rock, hard rock, R&B, blues, and jazz. Having released 14 studio albums and sold over 40 million records worldwide, the group has received several Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009. David Paich and Jeff Porcaro had played together as session musicians on several albums and decided to form a band; David Hungate, Steve Lukather, Steve Porcaro, and Bobby Kimball were recruited before the release of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aja (album)
''Aja'' (, pronounced like ''Asia'') is the sixth studio album by the American jazz rock band Steely Dan. It was released on September 23, 1977, by ABC Records. Recording alongside nearly 40 musicians, band leaders Donald Fagen and Walter Becker pushed Steely Dan further into experimenting with different combinations of session players while pursuing longer, more sophisticated compositions for the album. The album peaked at number three on the US charts and number five in the UK, ultimately becoming Steely Dan's most commercially successful LP. It spawned a number of hit singles, including " Peg", "Deacon Blues", and " Josie". In July 1978, ''Aja'' won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Recording – Non-Classical and received Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. It has since appeared frequently on professional rankings of the greatest albums, with critics and audiophiles applauding the album's high production s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Royal Scam
''The Royal Scam'' is the fifth studio album by American rock band Steely Dan. It was produced by Gary Katz and was originally released by ABC Records in 1976. ''The Royal Scam'' features more prominent guitar work than the prior Steely Dan album, ''Katy Lied'', which had been the first without founding guitarist Jeff Baxter. Guitarists on the recording include Walter Becker, Denny Dias, Larry Carlton, Elliott Randall and Dean Parks. "The Fez" has the distinction of being the only Steely Dan song with an additional writer credited beyond Becker and Fagen, namely keyboard player Paul Griffin. As Becker said, "There is an instrumental melody that Paul started playing in the session, and when we decided to build that melody up to a greater position, since we had some suspicion that perhaps this melody wasn't entirely Paul's invention, we decided to give him composer credit in case later some sort of scandal developed and he would take the brunt of the impact." However, Griffin claim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katy Lied
''Katy Lied'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band Steely Dan, released in 1975 by ABC Records. It was certified gold and peaked at No. 13 on the US charts. The single "Black Friday" charted at No. 37. The album was the first after the disbandment of the original Steely Dan quintet; most of the original members had departed during a rift over touring and recording schedules. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, who had been increasingly using session musicians in the studio on prior albums, continued on with numerous prominent Los Angeles–area studio musicians. This album marks the first appearance of singer Michael McDonald on a Steely Dan album. Jeff Porcaro, then only 20 years old, played drums on all the songs except "Any World (That I'm Welcome To)", which features session drummer Hal Blaine. It also marked the first appearance of Larry Carlton, who played guitar on "Daddy Don't Live in That New York City No More". Band leaders Becker and Fagen were dissatisfied wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Session Musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a tour. Session musicians are usually not permanent or official members of a musical ensemble or band. They work behind the scenes and rarely achieve individual fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders. However, top session musicians are well known within the music industry, and some have become publicly recognized, such as the Wrecking Crew, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and The Funk Brothers who worked with Motown Records. Many session musicians specialize in playing common rhythm section instruments such as guitar, piano, bass, or drums. Others are specialists, and play brass, woodwinds, and strings. Many session musicians play multiple instruments, which lets them play in a wider range of musical situations, genres an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pretzel Logic
''Pretzel Logic'' is the third studio album by American rock band Steely Dan, released on February 20, 1974, by ABC Records. It was written by principal band members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, and recorded at The Village Recorder in West Los Angeles with producer Gary Katz. It was the final album to feature the full quintet lineup of Becker, Fagen, Denny Dias, Jim Hodder, and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (who left to join The Doobie Brothers) and also featured significant contributions from many prominent Los Angeles-based studio musicians. It was the last album to be made and released while Steely Dan was still an active touring band. The album was a commercial and critical success. Its hit single "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" helped restore Steely Dan's radio presence after the disappointing performance of their 1973 album ''Countdown to Ecstasy''. ''Pretzel Logic'' was reissued on CD in 1987 and remastered in 1999 to retrospective critical acclaim. Recording and production ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Countdown To Ecstasy
''Countdown to Ecstasy'' is the second studio album by the American rock band Steely Dan, released in July 1973 by ABC Records. It was recorded at Caribou Ranch in Nederland, Colorado, and at The Village Recorder in West Los Angeles, California. After the departure of vocalist David Palmer, the group recorded the album with Donald Fagen singing lead on every song. Although it was a critical success, the album failed to generate a hit single, and consequently charted at only number 35 on the ''Billboard'' 200. It was eventually certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1978, having shipped 500,000 copies in the United States. Well-received upon its release, ''Countdown to Ecstasy'' received perfect scores from music critics in retrospective reviews. Musical style Like Steely Dan's 1972 debut album ''Can't Buy a Thrill'', ''Countdown to Ecstasy'' has a rock sound that exhibits a strong influence from jazz. It comprises uptempo, four-to-five-minu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Do It Again (Steely Dan Song)
"Do It Again" is a 1972 song composed and performed by American rock group Steely Dan, who released it as a single from their debut album ''Can't Buy a Thrill''. The single version differed from the album version, shortening the intro and outro and omitting the organ solo. Released in 1972, the song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on November 18, 1972, and reached number 6 on the US charts in 1973, making it Steely Dan's second highest-charting single. Song "Do It Again" features an electric sitar solo by Denny Dias. The "plastic organ" solo by Donald Fagen was performed on a Yamaha YC-30 with a sliding pitch-bending control. The song is written in the key of G minor and has a tempo of 125 beats per minute. It follows a chord progression of Cm-Dm-E♭-Dm7-Gm-Cm-Dm-E♭-Dm. David Palmer fronted the band during their live show, and sang "Do It Again" when the group played '' The Midnight Special'' in February 1973. Donald Fagen sang the vocal on the album versi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
