As they demonstrated at Vitello’s Friday night, the thing that sets Pretzel Logic apart from other “tribute” bands is that leader and keyboardist Steve Chernove takes the music of Donald Fagen and Walter Brecker and use their tunes not as the be and end all, but as starting and reference points, reflecting parts of the Steely Dan songbook that may not have been appreciated during the bands own reign.
The three-voiced team of Lisa Roberts, Felice Hernandez and Mark Wilson created rich harmonies together, with Wilson’s lead delivering the wonderfully cynical lyrics with the marrow of Fagin, but with his own personal nuance. With a sizzling rhythm section of Chernove with bassist Jake Feldman, the snappy drums of Dave Anderson and a rich sax section, Wilson and company delivered hip reads of pieces like “Do It Again” with extra seques along with cooking guitar solos by Dave Hill and Ioannis Monkolakis. Feldman provided a funky line to “Green Flower” and the Weather Reportish “Black Cow” that had the band tighter than Kim Kardashian’s leggings, while the guitars wah wah’d a relentless reggae read of “Haitian Divorce.”
Hernandez took the front on a sweetly nuanced “Dirty Work” which included a searing alto sax solo by Alex Budman. Hill’s soulful guitar intro got the team into an AWB disco mood as Anderson hammered the high hat on “Godwhacker” and Chernove produced some CTI-mooded jazz as the delivered a slinky read of a gorgeous and bluesy “Pretzel Logic.” By the time the team closed with the two stepping shuffle of “Reelin’ in the Years “ with a two guitar shootout of the famous riff, the band showed whether they play the Steely Dan songbook wrong or right, they know how to play it night by night.
Upcoming shows at Vitello’s include Joe Piscopo 08/07, Teka & Newbossa Trio 08/08, Mary Stallings 08/10 and Mark Winkler & Cheryl Bentyne 08/18