Steely Dan's Unique Mix Thrills Fans at Ravinia

Is it rock? Is it jazz? Is it rhythm and blues? Is it pop? 

“Fred Lurie of Deerfield said after the world renowned band’s sold-out debut Friday night. The Highland Park High School graduate who once played in a band with actor added, “It defies a strict categorization.”

Photo Gallery: Steely Dan at Ravinia

The use of trumpet, trombone and saxophone evoked jazz while the guitars added a distinct rock and pop flavor. The drum solos fit all three styles. 

Band stalwarts Donald Fagen on keyboard and Walter Becker on guitar surrounded themselves with a mix of instruments and sounds that left the audience to decide what it was listening to. 

Jon Harrington added a guitar with Michael Leonhart on trumpet, Jim Pugh on trombone, Roger Rosenberg and Walt Weiskopf on saxophone, Jim Bead on piano and keyboard, Freddie Washington on bass and Keith Carlock on drums. Three vocalists—Carolyn Escoffery, Cindy Mizelle and Catherine Russell—added to the mix. 

“It was some of the best jazz I’ve ever heard,” Bev Beck of Highland Park said. “The drum solos were magnificent.” 

Solos by Leonhart on trumpet and Pugh on trombone made the show feel a jazz concert, but the volume of the music and exuberance of the crowd gave the night a distinctly rocking feel. 

Lurie, the experienced musician, broke it down with his well-tuned ear. “The jazz is rhythmic,” he said. “There’s a rhythm and blues complexity.” 

“It’s fusion,” Sara Hoffman of Highland Park said. “There was much more energy in the second half."

Fagen and Becker met in the late '60s at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, discovered their common interests in music and created Steely Dan. 

After touring from 1972 to 1974, the band retired to the studio to produce four more hit albums before disbanding in 1981. In 1993, Fagen and Becker brought the ensemble back to life to begin giving concerts again. In 1977 they recorded their most popular album, Aja. 

The eight songs from Aja started the performance as Steely Dan played through the album without a break or a word of conversation. The significance was not lost on Steve Wilneff of Highland Park who was there to enjoy his favorite band. 

“I liked the way they played the entire Aja album,” Wilneff said. “The jazz I heard was fantastic. They met all my expectations."