Was Chevy Chase a member of Steely Dan?

[snopes]

Q: Please, settle a bet for my buddy and me. He swears up and down that Chevy Chase was once a member of Steely Dan. I keep telling him that its not and that its just an urban legend. Who's right?

http://www.411mania.com/music/column...-Knowledge.htm

Also discussed on old board:

http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/u...;f=75;t=000686

[Dondi]

The thing about Steely Dan is that it consisted of just two guys: Donald Fagan and Walter Becker...who surrounded themselves with a series of session players and guest musicians, primaily jazz and jazz fusion players, although early in their they were a steady band with singer David Palmer, guitarists Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Denny Dias, and drummer Jim Hidder. Though they toured in the early days and in recent reunion tours, they were primarily a studio band by the mid-seventies.

Whether or not Chevy Chase played with them as a session player (presumably on drums), I don't know. I've yet to see any credit. Wiki, that reliable source, doesn't list him.

[musicgeek]

Supposedly, Chase has said he "played drums with a bad jazz band" in his college days. The band included Becker and Fagan, who later went on to form Steely Dan. I can't remember the source at the moment, so take it with however large a grain of salt you like.

[Ali Infree]

Is Chevy Chase that old? Didn't either Becker or Fagan have some role with Jay and the Americans' of Come A Little Bit Closer fame?

Ali "watch out for bad man Jose" Infree

[musicgeek]

I believe they both did, but not at the prime of Jay & the Americans' career (the group continued touring in various incarnations for decades after their hits were popular - I once met a drummer who played with them during these later years).

FWIW, from Wikipedia:

Chase did not enter medical school; instead he played drums for a time with the college band The Leather Canary, headed by school friends Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. At the time, Chase called the group "a bad jazz band", but Becker and Fagen went on to success after they changed their band's name to Steely Dan.

This is also supported by the FAQ at steelydan.com.