AN EVENING WITH DEACON BLUES: STEELY DAN TRIBUTE

Deacon Blues was born in the twelfth year of the 21st century. Twelve stellar musicians, composers and educators based in Chicago, they share a unique passion for the Becker/Fagen repository, better known to the world as Steely Dan. Deacon Blues has structured their live repertoire to encompass a wider range of the Dan’s prolific material––all the “hits” are there, but also include rarities as well as repertoire from the Dan’s 1991 reunion prototype––The New York Rock & Soul Revue. In the words of legendary Chicago FM Radio personality Bob Stroud, “If you are a Dan fan, you owe it to yourself to see Deacon Blues — they’ve got all the right musicians with all the right chops — they are an incredible tribute to the music of Steely Dan!”

Under the musical leadership of Steven Kikoen & Thomas Linsk, the group reads as a “who’s who” of world-class musicians. Chicago luminaries and Grammy® winners are either permanent members of the group and/or award-winning featured guests – among them Howard Levy (Kenny Loggins, Paul Simon, Béla Fleck); Paul Wertico (Pat Metheny, Wertico, Cain, & Gray, Time Zone); Richard Patterson (Miles Davis, Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs, Time Zone); Corky Siegel (Chamber Blues); Ben Johnson & Charles Heath IV (Ramsey Lewis); Wally Hustin (Phoebe Snow, Dave Mason, Mark Stern, David Benoit); Chuck Webb (Aretha Franklin, Ramsey Lewis, & Al Di Meola); Sugar Blue (The Rolling Stones); Billy Branch (The Sons of Blues); Khari Parker (George Benson, Destiny’s Child); Ben Lewis (Gary Sinise’s Lt. dan Band, Ben Lewis Trio, Time Zone); Vijay Tellis-Nayak (Prognosis, Big Suit, Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy and Friends); Cash Michaels (Time Zone); Rich Lapka (Soul Daddy); Victor Garcia (award-winning trumpeter), Thaddeus Tukes (award-winning world-renowned vibraphonist); Char McAllister (Char Dreams); Suzanne Cross (Soul Daddy); Pamela Rose (Encore 33); Elisa Latrice (Simply The Best–Tina Turner); Sally Blandon (Tears dry On Their Own–Amy Winehouse); Jessica Vasilou (Petty Union); and Andrea Miologos (My Weekend Crush).

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–– AWARD-WINNING SPECIAL GUESTS AT THIS CONCERT ––

BILLY BRANCH

Billy Branch is an Emmy Award winner, a 3-Time Grammy® Award nominee, and a retired Grammy® governor. He’s won multiple Blues Music Awards (B.M.A.s), most recently winning both the 2026 Best Harmonica Instrumentalist Award and the 2026 Living Blues Critics’ Award. Billy is also a proud recipient of multiple B.M.A. Keeping the Blues Alive Awards for his 45-year-old Blues in the Schools program.

In addition to his numerous humanitarian awards, Branch is most proud of being a 2020 inductee into the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame Museum in Memphis. Branch is on the Board of Directors of both the Blues Foundation and the Little Walter Foundation, and is a recipient of an Addy Award — like an Oscar for TV ads — for his on-screen commercial work.

Billy’s recording with Dave Spector is included in the Grammy Museum’s Woody Guthrie installation entitled Songs of Conscience, Sounds of Freedom. Billy is an honored recipient of the 2026 Mellon Foundation’s Taproot Artists & Community Trust Alliance Fellowship, recognizing him as an American Culture-Bearer. He used part of that award to fund a daytime senior citizens’ Blues event on the Southside of Chicago, a Blues in the Schools concert for 500 Chicago students, and a community concert featuring his new album, The Blues Is My Biography.

BERNARD “PRETTY” PURDIE

Original Steely Dan session musician and legendary drummer Bernard “Pretty” Purdie has appeared with Deacon Blues at several of their Arcada and Des Plaines Theatre shows. Native New Jersey resident, legendary drummer and teacher, Bernard is an 84-year-old veteran of the music scene, who started his expansive career with Country Music and went on to Blues, Jazz, Classic Rock, Pop, R & B, and Funk. Bernard has worked with over 2,500 artists and played on over 4,000 records. Bernard’s music finds its roots in the rhythmic sounds of the B&O Railroad trains while growing up in Elkton, Maryland. These roots have taken him around the world, playing, recording, and capturing the sounds and rhythms of the world. Bernard has played every genre of music to thousands of well received audiences.

Bernard’s live work with his band “Bernard Purdie and Friends” in New Jersey featuring Dan Boone, George Naha, Miho Nobuzane-Elijah and frontman Rob Paparozzi has touched the hearts and souls of audiences all around the world. He also has a newly formed band in North Carolina called The Purdie Boys who are Bernard, Chuck Phillips, Bruce Clark & Jesus Vega; rounding out the band are Jim Barbee, Rich Dimetre and Josh Mineer.

Bernard’s work on Broadway & TV Music from the 60’s through the 80’s has left its mark on the Great White Way. His credits include Hair, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and 16 plays by Galt MacDermot. At 84 years of age, he shows no sign of stopping. Bernard Purdie revolutionized drumming with his invention of “The Purdie Shuffle” – inspiring legions and generations of drummers over lo these many years. Bernard has been on more Steely Dan records than any other drummer in history – enjoy the great Bernard Purdie!