top of page

About Us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DEACON BLUES was born in the twelfth year of the 21st century.  Eleven 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.

 

The genesis of Deacon Blues began when Steven Kikoen, Jonathan Hey, and Cash Michaels formed an original jazz/rock collective known as Bebop Daddys.  The Daddys also featured the renowned rhythm section of Tom Mendel (bass) and Tom Hipskind (drums).  Considered a Daddys fan, Donald Fagen can be seen in many a YouTube video sporting his Bebop Daddys “tee.”

 

Steve, Jon, and Mike formed a bond within the Daddys which has followed them into Deacon Blues.  Under the leadership of Steve, musical partner Thomas Linsk and arranger Jon Hey, the group reads as a "who's who" of world class musicians. Chicago luminaries and Grammy® winners such as Howard Levy (Kenny Loggins, Paul Simon, Bela Fleck), Chuck Webb (Aretha Franklin, Ramsey Lewis, and Al Di Meola),  Sugar Blue (The Rolling Stones), Billy Branch (The Sons of Blues), Khari Parker (George Benson, Destiny’s Child), Richard Patterson (Miles Davis, Boz Skaggs), and Bob Lizik (The Beach Boys; Brian Wilson), have been featured as special guests with the band.  Most recently, original Dan session musician and legendary drummer Bernard “Pretty” Purdie appeared with Deacon Blues at their sold-out Arcada Theatre show over the past Thanksgiving weekend.

 

This stunning collective is essentially the personification of what The Dan did on record – gathering top studio musicians for their albums – The Deacons are doing this in a live format. Speaking of “The Deacons” – that is actually the moniker of Deacon Blues’ alter ego – their original band. With support from legendary Chicago FM radio station personalities such as Bob Stroud (The Drive) and Scott Mackay (The River), The Deacons will be debuting their first album of original music, in a similar musical landscape as ‘The Dan,’ in 2019, along with Kikoen's other original vehicle: THE LOTUS KINGS.

 

Deacon Blues has structured their live repertoire to encompass a wider range of the Dan's prolific material - including rarities as well as repertoire from the the Dan’s 1991 reunion prototype — The New York Rock and Soul Revue. Deacon Blues has consistently played to sold-out audiences, and has appeared on regional and national television. As the song goes . . . “Close your eyes, and you'll be there.”

 

In the words of legendary Chicago FM Radio personality Bob Stroud (WDRV-FM “The Drive”) - “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!”

 

In the words of ‘another’ defining band . . . "A splendid time is guaranteed for all!”

STEELY DAN REPERTOIRE
Aja
Babylon Sisters
Bad Sneakers
Black Cow
Black Friday
Bodhisattva
Chain Lightning
Cousin Dupree
Deacon Blues
Dirty Work
Do It Again
Don't Take Me Alive
Dr Wu
Everyone's Gone To The Movies
Everything Must Go
Everything You Did
FM
Gaucho
Glamour Profession
Godwhacker
Green Book
Green Earrings
Green Flower Street
Haitian Divorce
Here At The Western World
Hey Nineteen
Home At Last
I Got The News
I.G.Y.
Jack Of Speed
Josie
Kid Charlemagne
My Old School
My Rival
New Frontier
Night By Night
On The Dunes
Only A Fool Would Say That
Parker's Band
Peg
Pretzel Logic
Reelin' In The Years
Rikki Don't Lose That Number
Ruby Baby
Show Biz Kids
Sign in Stranger
Teahouse On The Tracks
The Caves of Altamira
The Fez
The Last Mall
Third World Man
Time Out Of Mind
Tomorrow's Girls
Walk Between The Raindrops
What A Shame About Me
 
 
New York Rock ’N Soul Revue Repertoire
Birdland
Brass In Pocket
Got To Get You Into My Life
Higher Ground 
I’ll Take You There
Knock On Wood
Shakey Ground
Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Would I Lie To You
 
Various 
Beat 70 (Metheny)
Chuck E's In Love (RLJ)
Daddy's All-Star Joint (RLJ)
Last Train Home (Metheny)
Wood & Dutch on the Slow Train to Peking
bottom of page