The Red and Black

Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: Out & About

Media Credit: Courtesy Countdown to Ecstasy Countdown to Ecstasy is a Steely Dan cover band named for one of the band's most acclaimed albums from 1973. [Click to enlarge]

Legendary jazz-fusion rock band Steely Dan was an anomaly even in its prime. For most of the span of its multi-decade career, it functioned as a strictly studio-based band.

Named after one of Steely Dan's most acclaimed albums, Steely Dan tribute band Countdown to Ecstasy takes a somewhat unconventional approach to the band's music, transforming "studio-only" compositions into a full-fledged live show.

"Steely Dan's music was never really intended to be played live," said Bret Pimentel, Countdown to Ecstasy's saxophonist and flutist. "It's complicated music - the harmonies are difficult and jazz-inspired.

It's not simple three-chord music that so many rock bands stuck to in the '70s."

Vocalist and percussionist Kara Strauss added, "Even within one song, there are so many different patterns, and even a chorus will never be the same as it is the next time around. It's ultimately stimulating music because it's so complicated."

Due to this complexity, Steely Dan's instrumentation varies widely on every song - while sometimes featuring straightforward rock instrumentation, its songs often incorporate string sections, horn sections and synthesizer parts.

So how can these purely studio recordings, with so many intricacies and overdubbed layers, be duplicated live? The answer for Countdown to Ecstasy is a large ensemble approach.

"We chose to cover Steely Dan as a challenge for each of us musically," Pimentel said. "In order to cover their diverse instrumentation, it takes a lot of musicians to make that happen. So the band just continued to grow in size."

The 10-person line up consists of two dual lead vocalists and bassists, two female vocalists, two guitar players, a keyboard player, a drummer and two saxophonists.

"We have four singers altogether - two male and two female," said Strauss of the sizeable vocal dynamic. "We all switch off singing lead and harmony vocals, and we have all somehow found equal representation in Steely Dan's music."

Continued...

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