Steve Khan

Steve Khan (born April 28, 1947) is an American jazz guitarist. He is known for his work with artists such as Steely Dan, Billy Joel, Michael Franks, Hubert Laws, Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, James Brown, Maynard Ferguson, and Weather Report.

Career

A native of Los Angeles, California, and the son of lyricist Sammy Cahn, Steve Khan took up the guitar when he was 20, having previously played piano and drums. He graduated from UCLA and moved to New York City, where he worked as a studio musician in pop, rock, jazz, and rhythm and blues, with such acts as Steely Dan, Maynard Ferguson, and Lou Rawls. He recorded a duet album with guitarist Larry Coryell and was a member of the Brecker Brothers band.

In 1977, he toured with the CBS Jazz All Stars in Japan, and led a band called Eyewitness that featured musicians such as Steve Jordan, Anthony Jackson and Manolo Badrena. From the 1980s through to the present, he has become the foremost proponent of the guitar in Latin Jazz. With the releases of Parting Shot (2011), Subtext (2014), and Backlog (2016), he created what the role of the guitar could be in Latin jazz.

He is Jewish.

Awards and honors

• Grammy Award nomination, Local Color (1987)
• Grammy Award nomination, Borrowed Time (2007)
• Named to list of "22 All-Time Greatest Jazz Guitarists", Jazz Life magazine (1998)

Discography

As leader

• Two for the Road (Arista, 1976) with Larry Coryell
• Tightrope (Columbia, 1977)
• The Blue Man (Columbia, 1978)
• Arrows (Columbia, 1979),
• Evidence (Novus, 1980)
• Eyewitness (Antilles, 1981)
• Modern Times also released as Blades (Passport, 1982)
• Casa Loco (Antilles, 1984)
• Helping Hand (Polydor, 1987)
• Local Color (Denon, 1987) with Rob Mounsey
• Public Access (GRP, 1989)
• Let's Call This (Polydor/Mesa/Bluemoon, 1991) with Ron Carter, Al Foster
• Headline (Polydor/Mesa/Bluemoon, 1992)
• Crossings (Verve/Polygram, 1994)
• The Collection (Columbia, 1994)
• Got My Mental (Evidence, 1997) with John Patitucci, Jack DeJohnette
• You Are Here (Siam, 1998) with Rob Mounsey
• The Green Field, (Tone Center, 2006) with John Patitucci, Jack DeJohnette
• Borrowed Time, (Tone Center, 2007)
• The Suitcase:Live in Koln '94, (Tone Center, 2007) with Dennis Chambers, Anthony Jackson
• Parting Shot, (Tone Center, 2011)
• Subtext, (Tone Center, 2014)
• Tightrope-The Blue Man-Arrows, (BGO, 2015)
• Eyewitness-Modern Times-Casa Loco, (BGO, 2016)
• Backlog (Tone Center, 2017)
• Public Access-Headline-Crossings (BGO, 2018)

As sideman

With Ashford & Simpson

• 1977 Send It
• 1977 So So Satisfied
• 1979 Stay Free

With Patti Austin

• 1976 End of a Rainbow
• 1977 Havana Candy

With Joe Beck

• 1975 Beck & Sanborn
• 1975 Beck

With Walter Bishop Jr.

• Soul Village (Muse, 1977)

With Brecker Brothers

• 1976 Back to Back
• 1977 Don't Stop the Music

With Caribbean Jazz Project

• 2000 New Horizons
• 2001 Paraiso

With Billy Cobham

• 1977 Inner Conflicts
• 1978 Alivemutherforya
• 1978 Simplicity of Expression

With Larry Coryell

• 1975 Level One
• 1975 Planet End
• 1976 Aspects

With Aretha Franklin

• 1985 Who's Zoomin' Who?
• 1989 Through the Storm

With Michael Franks

• 1982 Objects of Desire
• 1985 Skin Dive
• 1987 The Camera Never Lies
• 1993 Dragonfly Summer
• 1999 Barefoot on the Beach

With Bob James

• 1977 Heads
• 1979 Lucky Seven
• 1981 Sign of the Times
• 1981 All Around the Town
• 1983 The Genie: Themes & Variations from the TV Series "Taxi"
• 1983 Foxie
• 1984 12
• 1987 Obsession
• 1995 The Swan

With Billy Joel

• 1977 The Stranger
• 1978 52nd Street

With Esther Phillips

• 1975 Esther Phillips and Joe Beck
• 1975 What a Diff'rence a Day Makes
• 1976 Capricorn Princess
• 1976 For All We Know

With Lou Rawls

• 1989 At Last
• 1990 It's Supposed to Be Fun

With Dave Samuels

• 1989 Ten Degrees North
• 1998 Tjader-ized: A Cal Tjader Tribute

With Diane Schuur

• 1985 Deedles
• 1988 Talkin' 'Bout You

With Ben Sidran

• 1978 Live at Montreaux
• 1984 Bop City
• 1994 Life's a Lesson

With Phoebe Snow

• 1977 Never Letting Go
• 1978 Against the Grain

With Steps Ahead

• 1989 N.Y.C.
• 1992 Yin-Yang

With Steely Dan

• 1977 Aja
• 1980 Gaucho

With others

• 1969 Blue Afternoon, Tim Buckley
• 1969 Right On, Phil Moore, Jr.
• 1969 Bullitt, Wilton Felder
• 1975 Taking Off, David Sanborn
• 1975 Night Life, Luther Allison
• 1976 A Secret Place, Grover Washington Jr.
• 1976 Benson & Farrell, George Benson/Joe Farrell
• 1976 Romeo & Juliet, Hubert Laws
• 1976 Sometime Other Than Now, Steve Marcus
• 1976 The Main Attraction, Grant Green
• 1976 Windjammer, Freddie Hubbard
• 1977 Celebrate Me Home, Kenny Loggins
• 1977 Rhapsody in Blue, Walter Murphy
• 1977 New Vintage, Maynard Ferguson
• 1978 Let It Be Now, Helen Schneider
• 1978 Lucumi Macumba Voodoo, Eddie Palmieri
• 1978 Pages, Pages
• 1979 Euphoria, Gato Barbieri
• 1980 Naughty, Chaka Khan
• 1980 Sebesky Fantasy, Don Sebesky
• 1981 Wanderlust, Mike Mainieri
• 1982 The Nightfly, Donald Fagen
• 1988 Time in Place, Mike Stern
• 1989 Amandla, Miles Davis
• 1989 Blackwood, Eddie Daniels
• 1989 Liberal Arts, Elements
• 1989 The Promise, Kirk Whalum
• 1992 Beyond Words, Mark Egan
• 1992 Jazzpaña, Mendoza/Mardin Project
• 1993 Tar Beach, John Sebastian
• 1997 Next Voyage, Philippe Saisse
• 1999 Sunshower, Dave Valentin
• 2000 So Nobody Else Can Hear, Jimmy Cobb
• 2005 Cosmopolitan, Jason Miles
• 2005 Weather Update, Joe Zawinul
• 2007 Courage, Paula Cole
• 2013 Nightsongs: A Late Night Interlude, Janis Siegel