People fell in love with the music of Steely Dan without necessarily realising what they were listening to. That particularly penny dropped for some — including myself — when we heard Horace Silver’s Song for My Father and recognised the unmistakable homage to it in Rikki Don’t Lose that Number. And then there was that ecstatic alto solo by Phil Woods on Doctor Wu…
It turned out we were listening to jazz. Steely Dan — which is to say Walter Becker and Donald Fagen abetted by a changing kaleidoscope pattern of the finest session players of their day —smuggled sophisticated cutting edge jazz into the mainstream disguised as pop or rock. And they taught us to love it. So it’s surprising that there haven’t been more excursions from the world of pure jazz to explore the Steely Dan catalogue.
That omission has been magnificently rectified by a knockout of a new album, aptly entitled Walter/Donald from the Chris Ingham Quintet (sometimes billed in a live setting as Chris Ingham’s Steely Jazz). Chris Ingham has previously paid homage to the work of Hoagy Carmichael, Dudley Moore and Stan Getz and here he brings Becker and Fagen’s work to life in a small jazz group context in a really remarkable way.
“I’ve always been a fan of the songbook format,” says Chris Ingham, “and I always thought of Becker/Fagen songs as an eccentric, post-Beatles extension of the Great American Songbook, full of the richness and hip craft of, say, Harry Warren and Hoagy Carmichael, but with extra irony, dark humour, heavier blues and deeper jazz.”
The fact that this is going to be a quality production, and one true to the spirit of the originals, is obvious even before listening to it — the cover art masterfully evokes that of vintage Steely Dan: cryptic, sophisticated and strangely beautiful. “I was looking for just that classy abstract imagery,” says Chris Ingham. “And I’ve always liked Jan Jefferies’s work. Several of her images were in contention, but that one stood out.”
The album consists of lovingly crafted arrangements which pull off the difficult trick of remaining true to the original while giving fresh and inventive reinterpretations. “I started transcribing a few tunes to see if the songs would sit up, shorn of the dazzling intricate Dan-ness of their records,” says Chris. “I created basic lead sheets, i.e. melody and chords. I then transposed them into my vocal key (about a fourth lower than Donald Fagen’s), played them really straightforwardly on piano or guitar, and things started to make a bit more sense. From there, I treated the material in the same way I would for any jazz-inflected interpretation of any song. Respectful but not slavish, always keeping the heart of the song at the centre of proceedings.”
I asked Chris for a little more detail about the arrangements, which really are remarkable: they absolutely capture the originals while reinventing them and they also manage to take songs which were created by a long parade of sessions players and unlimited studio edits and bring them to life with a small group — a quintet!
“I produced complete quintet arrangements having set myself parameters; only classic jazz quintet textures of tenor sax, trumpet, piano, bass, drums, plus lead vocal and harmony vocal. No electric piano, no electric guitar, no electric bass. The drum parts were co-devised by myself and George Double. He had the most daunting task really, getting the tracks to groove in a jazz context without relying on the Dan backbeat (which was also banned). He did brilliantly, his brush work particularly on I Got the News is fantastic. The other guys brought their great sound, superb musicianship, splendid attitude and inspired improvisations.”
Chris Ingham isn’t kidding. There are transcendent moments here, like the growl trumpet from Paul Higgs on Haitian Divorce, which is sublimely appropriate while giving us a new slant on a classic. It’s also a subtle and complex cross reference — calling to mind the early bands of Duke Ellington, and in turn Steely Dan’s cover version of East St. Louis Toodle-O.
Chris agrees about “Paul’s magnificent plunger work on Haitian Divorce.” He adds, “Other highlights might include, Geoff Gascoyne’s brilliantly inventive double bass lines on the same track and Harry Greene’s heroic sax solos on Your Gold Teeth II and Black Friday.”
He’s worked with all the musicians before: “Tried, tested and adored. George Double and Paul Higgs were part of my Hoagy Carmichael and Dudley Moore projects, Geoff Gascoyne joined us for many live shows of both, Harry Greene I’ve known for 15 years, since he was the pesky 11 year-old wanting to sit in. He was great then, he’s unbelievable now.”
And were they all steeped in the music of Steely Dan? “Paul, George and Geoff are all Dan-informed, Harry is more enthusiastically Dan-curious, but he’s been on the planet 30 years less than everyone else, so there’s plenty of time.”
In some ways, the greatest thing about this album is that it’s subtitled ‘A Becker & Fagen Songbook Volume 1.’ Can we expect a follow up soon? “We actually over-recorded, so Volume 2 is already half done.”
Lastly, any chance of a vinyl release? The music certainly deserves it — and that cover art would look lovely on the front of a full scale album. “I agree, it would. Let me consult my accounting team…”
Meanwhile, this terrific CD (and download) is available from Chris Ingham’s website, or from Bandcamp (links below).
TOUR DATES
17 Sep LONDON Pizza Express, Dean Street ‘Walter/Donald’ album launch (SOLD OUT)
Thurs 18 Sep DISS Corn Hall – BOOKINGS
Sat 20 Sep SOUTHWOLD Arts Centre – BOOKINGS
Wed 24 Sep EASTLEIGH Concorde Club – BOOKINGS
Thurs 25 Sep CAMBRIDGE Jazz Club – BOOKINGS
Sat 27 Sep BURY ST EDMUNDS Hunter Club – SOLD OUT
Sat 18 Oct HADLEIGH Town Hall – SOLD OUT
Sun 30 Nov WIVENHOE Music Mix – BOOKINGS
TRACK LISTING
Any Major Dude Will Tell You
I Got The News
What A Shame About Me
Your Gold Teeth II
Razor Boy
Haitian Divorce
The Last Mall
Only A Fool Would Say That
Green Flower Street
Paging Audrey
Black Friday
One Response
Love this. It reminds me that when Steely Dan first toured again in the ’90s, they found the published songbooks were useless — just simplified reductions of the real thing. They had to bring in arrangers to transcribe the records so the band could actually play them. What Chris has done here feels similar in spirit, but with his own twist: listening afresh, shifting keys, and re-imagining the songs for a jazz setting. Proof that this music can’t just be read off a page — it has to be re-created.