Bees Deluxe - “This is what Steely Dan would sound like if they played the blues”
— John Kereiff, The Rock Doctors Hot Wax Album Reviews.

The following is an effort to tell you about some of the music we listen to and respect from the past to the present, and help try to explain what you might expect to hear when you come to a Bees Deluxe gig.

 

Billie Holiday, Wayne Krantz, Etta James, Joe Zawinul, Björk , Duffy Power, Jimmy Herring, Booker T, Donny Hathaway, Run DMC, Charlie Parker, Derek Trucks, Walter Becker, Joe Egan, Lettuce, Tal Farlow, Tab Benoit, Tinsley Ellis, Lulu, Jaco Pastorious, Little Milton, Andre Previn, Virgil Thomson, Shuggie Otis, Freddie King, Steve Reich, Willie Dixon, Tom Dowd, Phil Lynott, Robert Cray among many others!  

 

The alto saxophonist Paul Desmond (original composer of the jazz standard “Take Five”) had a breathless tone that is instantly recognizable and impossible to imitate. Here’s Desmond playing the ballad “Darn That Dream” Live in 1975.

 

For some reason guitar players more easily became household names in the late 20th century than other ensemble players. Besides the usual roster of guitar players we also really admire the “not-quite-so-well-known” players like Terje Rypdal, Tal Farlow, Matt Schofield, Wayne Krantz, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown each of whom have their own distinctive voice.