Last night, I saw the senior recital of Kelyn Crapp (guitar) and Jeff Randall (drums). After their recital, they played two funk sets at the Greenhouse. The whole night was fantastic. I think I saw Kelyn burst into flames at one point. His original tunes were excellent and had everyone in the room nodding their heads. Jeff is very good at restraint and economy when it comes to a groove. Lots of drummers will throw too much extra junk into a groove, which diminishes its power. Jeff doesn’t do that.

Both these guys are in the 3 O’Clock Lab Band with me this semester. Bassist Scott Mulvahill is also a part of that rhythm section and their combined pocket is one of the tightest I’ve experienced or heard.

Brian Stark, Sean P Jones and I went to see Steely Dan at the Nokia Theater last night. The experience was excellent. There was an opening set of jazz tunes by some of Steely Dan sidemen, with the addition of (as Philly pointed out) organist Sam Yahel, who didn’t play with Steely Dan. I’m just assuming that he’s along for the tour as the opening act in most cities.

Steely Dan played for about two hours. A lot of the songs were noticably slower than their originally recorded tempos. On some tunes, like “Pretzel Logic,” the effect was awesome, just increasing the greasy goodness of the minor bluesy feel. On other tunes, such as “Aja,” the reduced tempo seemed to make the song a bit sluggish. A few of the tunes were played in lower-than-original keys, but with aging rock stars, this is pretty commonplace.

Musical standouts were trombonist Jim Pugh, saxophonist Walt Weiskopf, drummer Keith Carlock and especially guitarist Jon Herington, who managed to be elegant and precise without losing energy or my interest. I recall Jim Pugh, who visited UNT last fall for the inaugural performance of the UNT U-Tubes Jazz Trombone Ensemble. Their first publicly played piece was my original composition, “Blue Lobster.”

Donald Fagen was sort of a white Ray Charles type character and was very lively throughout the performance. Walter Becker sang on “Gaucho,” and also had a humorous monoglogue during the breakdown section of “Hey Nineteen.”

The tickets cost $55 each, but including driving, parking, and semi-ridiculous Ticketmaster fees, the real cost of the concert was about $80. I still think it was worth it, and may even consider paying as much to see them again, should the opportunity arise.

So the Freddie Hubbard show I was supposed to see at the Scat Jazz Lounge tonight has been “postponed due to illness.” This is disappointing, but probably not as disappointing as seeing sick Freddie Hubbard play.

Oso Closo, a band filled mostly with friends of mine, is scheduled to be the rock band for several productions of the Who’s Tommy this September.

Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of the first Pat Metheny Group album. In response to this, I just purchased the album Fictionary, by Lyle Mays, Marc Johnson and Jack DeJohnette.

Also, I’m still listening to tons of Steely Dan, in anticipation of their Grand Prairie show next month.

Steely Dan is coming to the Nokia Theater in Grand Prairie on August 21, and (assuming the ticket price isn’t outrageous), I will be going. I took a look at who the band is for this tour, and it’s (of course) filled with heavy, heavy players.

A name I immediately recognized was Keith Carlock’s, whose band Rudder I’ve seen a few times. He’s incredibly energetic and is pretty influential among the young drumming crowd, even though he is still young himself.

I also recognized the names of trombonist Jim Pugh and saxophonist Walt Weiskopf. Jim visited UNT last fall for some master classes and the inaugural performance of the U-Tubes. Steve Wiest and I listened to some of Walt’s nonet music during composition lessons this past spring.

Steely Dan is one of those groups that I start appreciating way too late. Only in the past couple years have I really gotten into them, and I still haven’t seriously listened to either of the Donald Fagen albums, the Walter Becker album, or Steely Dan past Gaucho. Almost everything on the Citizen Steely Dan Boxset I’m at least slightly familiar with (if not deeply love). I need to step up my listening and get those albums on rotation.