Bass player Andy Bergsten, from Bellevue Cadillac, has announced he will be playing with Steely Dan co-founder Denny Dias and vocalist Lisa Jason at the David Friend Hall at Berklee College Of Music on July 18th. Booked as “Denny Dias Of Steely Dan, Introducing Lisa Jason,” the show will no doubt offer many Steely Dan favorites.
I just finished breakfest with Steely Dan founder Denny Dias,” Bergsten exclaimed. “For Dan fans attending the Berklee show they’ll be some really cool Dan stories from the horses” mouth.”
Dias will play the Cape Code Jazz Fest tonight as well as the Berklee concert tomorrow night.
Dias was the founding member of Steely Dan, who, in 1971, placed an ad in the Village Voice for a keyboardist and bass player. The ad was answered by none other than Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, hence giving birth to Steely Dan. Dias was the primary guitar player from their beginning until the Aja album, which was when he left the band.
Bergsten and Boston vocalist Lisa Jason recorded a 1999 album which included some of Dias’s newer originals. Ms. Jason has recently been on a mission to get Dias’s Steely Dan history more recognition.
“We’ll be playing some old Dan stuff as well as some of the originals that haven’t been recorded yet,” Bergsten said.
A legendary guitarist, Dias recorded on Steely Dan albums, Can’t Buy a Thrill, Countdown to Ecstasy, Pretzel Logic, Katy Lied, The Royal Scam and Aja. He is well known for his guitar solos for “Do It Again”, “Bodhisattva”, and “Your Gold Teeth ll”.
A diverse musician, Dias, in 1991, joined the band Toto on their Summer Festival Tour. In 1992, he performed, in Los Angeles, in a tribute to Jeff Porcar, playing alongside such legendary musicians as Michael McDonald, Don Henley, Donald Fagen, Boz Scaggs, Eddie Van Halen, George Harrison and David Crosby. Dias has recently been playing with Spanky And Our Gang.
Introducing Lisa Jason who has been called “a breakout performer,” by Stephen Hanks, of Cabaret Scenes in New York City. She has also been written up in Boston publications: “Behind her petite 5’2 100 lb. (soaking wet) frame lays a powerhouse artist with an astounding vocal talent and a dynamite stage presence,” wrote John Amodeo of the Edge in Boston.
Ms. Jason is a nationally acclaimed singer/songwriter and her one woman shows have earned rave reviews from Provincetown to New York, Washington to the Caribbean. She has worked with the original cast of the Jersey Boys, Huey Lewis and the News, KC and the Sunshine Band, Otis Day, The Bonnie Raitt Band, John Cafferty, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Hooters, and many more.
She began collaborating with Dias on several recordings of his new music. She also collaborated with famed sound engineer Dinky Dawson on her second CD “Matter of Time”, featuring songs from artists, Dee Dee Stewart, David Pac, Ambrosia, Harriet Schock, and The Mamas and Papas.
A multi-faceted artist, she has been a featured singer with the Cape Cod Symphony, The No Rules Theater Company in Washington, DC, and she performed the National Anthem at Fenway Park. Her award winning song, Beautiful Child was adopted by The March Of Dimes, for their Northeast campaign efforts.
Ms. Jason and Mr. Dias are currently collaborating on a new CD, and are planning to tour in the near future. For information on their July 18th Berklee appearance, please visit:
http://www.berklee.edu/events/denny-dias-lisa-jason
[…] Originally posted @ BillCopelandMusicNews.com […]