(Post-Bop, Big Band) Mark Masters Ensemble - Everything You Did: The Music Of Walter Becker & Donald Fagen (Steely Dan) - 2013, MP3, 320 kbps

Bandleader/arranger Mark Masters has recorded a set of Steely Dan tunes with a big band, which can be set on the shelf next to his celebrated albums dedicated to the music of George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and Dewey Redman. A Dan jazz album makes sense. It's clear from the rock band's '70s albums that Donald Fagen and Walter Becker warmly loved jazz: the intro to their hit "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" is lifted directly from pianist Horace Silver's "Song for My Father"; their "Parker's Band" is a sincere love letter to Charlie Parker. Several top-flight jazz players appeared on their records, among them saxophonists Wayne Shorter and Phil Woods.
At the same time, most of the self-consciously jazzy elements of Steely Dan's music could be best described as examples of the justly- disparaged "smooth jazz." It's a mark of the band's characteristically sloppy multi-layered ironies that they seemed to parody smooth jazz even as they genuinely dug playing the smooth jazz. So a jazz treatment of their music could be more tricky than it first appears, especially for a serious guy like Masters. How does he handle it?
On the aural evidence of this thoroughly enjoyable record, Masters has no idea that Steely Dan loved jazz. Of course he must, but the record treats the material like a bunch of solid rock 'n' roll songs that have to be taken apart and carefully put back together before the likes of this ensemble can play them. And that's fine.
As such, Masters makes almost no concessions to the original sound of the songs. "Charlie Freak," for example, a tighty-wound, vaguely classical number in the Dan original, is remade into a slow-breathing film noir, enlivened by tenor saxophonist Billy Harper's sensitive solo. "Aja," meanwhile, is sped up and opens with an aggressive ensemble line.
And what a band! The athletic Tim Hagans on trumpet shines throughout, playing a bit outside the fairly straight-ahead vibe that predominates on the record. Other players have fewer moments in the limelight, but do not squander them—like bass clarinetist Brian Williams on the funky "Black Cow." The real star is the sumptuous Persian carpet of Masters' ensemble writing for the brass and reeds, subtly accented by Brad Dutz' vibes. Vocalist Anna Mjoll's contributions are generally wordless, further removing these readings from the hyper- literate Bob Dylan/William S. Burroughs-style lyrics of the originals.
"Chain Lightning"—a marvelous blues in the Dan version—is played straight, like an early-'50s Miles Davis blues, providing the occasion for a blowing session. Special guest alto saxophonist Oliver Lake's solo stands out particularly on this closing cut.
Masters' approach is squarely in the big-band tradition, marked by polished craftsmanship and consistently strong solos—but not at all by the arch hipness of Steely Dan. And that too is fine. His thorough- going re-imagining of this material lays bare how un-jazzy, in a way, the Steely Dan songs were. Maybe there is, subtly, just a little of Steely Dan's wry smirk in there.

Tim Hagans, Louis Fasman, Les Lovitt - trumpet
Stephanie O'Keefe - French horn
Sonny Simmons - English horn (#3)
Dave Woodley (#9), Les Benedict, Dave Ryan, Ryan Dragon - trombone
Oliver Lake (#10), Gary Foster (#7) - alto saxophone
Don Shelton - alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, alto flute
Billy Harper, Gene Cipriano - tenor saxophone
John Mitchell - tenor saxophone, bassoon
Brian Williams - bass clarinet
Brad Dutz - vibes, percussion
Hamilton Price - bass
Peter Erskine - drums
Anna Mjoll - voice
Mark Masters - arrangements