Album Review: DJ Harrison- Shades of Yesterday

I’m vexed by the popularity of a Steely Dan tribute act in my town. As dozens of worthy jazz musicians struggle for a smidgeon of attention, covers of “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” play to full houses. I have misgivings about Shades of Yesterday for similar reasons. DJ Harrison’s lovingly rendered yacht-jazz readings of vintage songs by the likes of Cameo, Donald Fagen and War strike me as unnecessary. So why am I bothering to complain? Not only can I not stop playing Shades of Yesterday, I anticipate the album will be in heavy rotation on my patio this spring. After my friends and neighbors hear a version of the Ohio Players’ “Together” followed by a reading of the Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” they won’t wanna call nobody else.