[craigmultireedguy]

Hi all!

Of all the bands I've ever heard, Steely Dan has to be one of my all-time favorites. They're just so smooth and jazzy compared to the other bands of the time. What I like most about them though is the sax solos. They kick some serious ***!!!
Anyways, I've been looking all over the internet trying to figure out who plays which sax solo on what, and the only two I could find were Pete Christlieb on "Deacon Blues" and Wayne Shorter on "Aja." Does anybody know who plays the sax solos on the countless other Steely Dan songs?

Thanks!
-Craig

 

[Finnerski]

I don't want to do your dirtywork, oh yeah!

I'm a fool to do your dirtywork anymore!

Sorry, I couldn't resist Steely Dan, what a great band.

 

[cleger]

You can find the credits for each album at allmusic. Just click on each album, then click the credits tab and you should see who played sax on each album.

 

[Chilly Zee]

Allmusic is a great resource. It shows the sax players on Aja as:
Pete Christlieb, Jim Horn, Plas Johnson, Jackie Kelso, Bill Perkins, Tom Scott, Wayne Shorter.

This site has some good info with original liner notes and credits by song:
http://www.broberg.pp.se/sd_aja.htm
In addition to the solos the OP listed it shows Tom Scott as soloist on Black Cow. I assumed it was also Scott on Lyricon on Home At Last but this credits ***en on synth.

Charlie

 

[saxnbax]

One of my all time favorite sax solos: Brecker on "Maxine". (Donald ***an's "Nightfly" album).

 

[Bari Gordon]

One of my favorite tenor solos off Kamakiriad is attributed to Illinois Elohainu.

I once asked Cornelius Bumpus about it and he told me it was Donald ***en playing through a synth. No wonder those intervals were so effortless.

 

[saxphil]

My favs:
Gaucho- David Tofani?, Tom Scott?
Everything Must Go- Walt Weiskopf.

 

[Dr G]

Ernie Watts

http://212.178.99.195/SteelyDanDatabase/personinfo.jsp?id=53

 

[Jazz Is All]

One of my favorite tenor solos off Kamakiriad is attributed to Illinois Elohainu.

Just the kind of pseudonym you'd expect from a verbally clever Jewish kid who was getting heavily into jazz back at the beginning of the sixties right around the time of his Bar Mitzvah. For those who don't know, the most important prayer in Jewish worship is the Shema, which in Hebrew goes Shema Yisroel Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echod and in English means Hear Oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One where Adonai (pronounced Ah-doh-nois) means Lord and Eloheinu means Our God.

While preparing to be Bar Mitzvahed at age 13 you spend two years worth of Friday evenings and Saturday mornings attending religious services. That means you get to hear and recite that litany hundreds of times, and of course if you continue going to synagogue in the ensuing years, even more times. It's no stretch to see the bored adolescent (or adult) ***en coming up with this name by substituting Illinois for Adonai because they rhyme and sound so similar (the third syllable is pronounced exactly the same in both despite the spelling differences). What I wonder is whether it was just idle wordplay or shows a conscious reverence towards the great Illinois Jacquet, since Illinois Eloheinu does translate as Illinois is our God.

:bluewink:

 

[Jazz Is All]

double post deleted

 

[Woosax]

Here is a comprehensive list of sax players on Steely Dan tunes:

http://212.178.99.195/SteelyDanDatabase/instrumentinfo.jsp?id=1065#top

 

[fredbart]

Phil Woods played on Doctor Wu.

 

[Bari Gordon]

Just the kind of pseudonym you'd expect from a verbally clever Jewish kid who was getting heavily into jazz back at the beginning of the sixties right around the time of his Bar Mitzvah. For those who don't know, the most important prayer in Jewish worship is the Shema, which in Hebrew goes Shema Yisroel Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echod and in English means Hear Oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One where Adonai (pronounced Ah-doh-nois) means Lord and Eloheinu means Our God.

While preparing to be Bar Mitzvahed at age 13 you spend two years worth of Friday evenings and Saturday mornings attending religious services. That means you get to hear and recite that litany hundreds of times, and of course if you continue going to synagogue in the ensuing years, even more times. It's no stretch to see the bored adolescent (or adult) ***en coming up with this name by substituting Illinois for Adonai because they rhyme and sound so similar (the third syllable is pronounced exactly the same in both despite the spelling differences). What I wonder is whether it was just idle wordplay or shows a conscious reverence towards the great Illinois Jacquet, since Illinois Eloheinu does translate as Illinois is our God.

:bluewink:

Jazz, Thanks for the background information. I have been to a few friend's Bar Mitzvahs years ago and indeed recognized the play on words. By the way, the song is "Snowbound". I hit the "Reply" button too quickly in my first post.

 

[Frank D]

John Klemmer - Caves Of Altimira