WE ARE OPEN : An Evening with Deacon Blues – The All-Star Tribute To Steely Dan Featuring Corky Siegel and Fred Simon
DEACON BLUES was born in the twelfth year of the 21st century. Eleven stellar musicians,composers, and educators based in Chicago, they share a unique passion for the Becker/Fagen repository, better known to the world as Steely Dan.
The genesis of Deacon Blues began when Steven Kikoen, Jonathan Hey, and Cash Michaels formed an original jazz/rock collective known as Bebop Daddys. The Daddys also featured the renowned rhythm section of Tom Mendel(bass) and Tom Hipskind (drums). Considered a Daddys fan, Donald Fagen can be seen in many a YouTube video sporting his Bebop Daddys “tee.”
Steve, Jon, and Mike formed a bond within the Daddys which has followed them into Deacon Blues. Under the leadership of Steve, musical partner Brian Harris and arranger Jon Hey, the group reads as a “who’s who” of world class musicians. Chicago luminaries and Grammy® winners such as Howard Levy (Kenny Loggins, Paul Simon, Bela Fleck), Chuck Webb (Aretha Franklin, Ramsey Lewis, and Al Di Meola), Sugar Blue (The Rolling Stones), Billy Branch (The Sons of Blues), Khari Parker (George Benson, Destiny’s Child), Richard Patterson (Miles Davis, Boz Skaggs), and Bob Lizik (The Beach Boys; Brian Wilson), have been featured as special guests with the band. Most recently, original Dan session musician and legendary drummer Bernard “Pretty” Purdie appeared with Deacon Blues at their sold-out Arcada Theatre show over the past Thanksgiving weekend.
This stunning collective is essentially the personification of what The Dan did on record – gathering top studio musicians for their albums – The Deacons are doing this in a live format. Speaking of “The Deacons” – that is actually the moniker of Deacon Blues’ alter ego – their original band. With support from legendary Chicago FM radio station personalities such as Bob Stroud (The Drive) and Scott Mackay (The River), The Deacons will be debuting their first album of original music, in a similar musical landscape as ‘The Dan,’ in 2016.
Deacon Blues has structured their live repertoire to encompass a wider range of the Dan’s prolific material – including rarities as well as repertoire from the the Dan’s 1991 reunion prototype — The New York Rock and Soul Revue. Deacon Blues has consistently played to sold-out audiences, and has appeared on regional and national television. As the song goes . . . “Close your eyes, and you’ll be there.”
In the words of legendary Chicago FM Radio personality Bob Stroud (WDRV-FM “The Drive”) – “If you are a Dan fan, you owe it to yourself to see Deacon Blues — they’ve got all the right musicians with all the right chops — they are an incredible tribute to the music of Steely Dan!”
In the words of ‘another’ defining band . . . “A splendid time is guaranteed for all!”