Aja

Aja
Studio album by Steely Dan
Released	September 23, 1977[1]
Recorded	January–July 1977 at Village Recorders, West LA; Producer's Workshop, Hollywood; Warner Bros. North Hollywood Recording Studios; ABC Recording Studios; Sound Labs, Hollywood; A & R Studios, New York
Genre	Jazz rock
Length	39:58
Label	ABC
Producer	Gary Katz
Steely Dan chronology
The Royal Scam (1976) Aja (1977) Gaucho (1980)

Aja ( /ˈeɪʒə/, pronounced like Asia) is the sixth album by the jazz rock band Steely Dan. Originally released in 1977 on ABC Records, it became the group's best-selling album. Peaking at No. 3 on the U.S. charts and No. 5 in the United Kingdom, it was the band's first platinum album, eventually selling over 5 million copies^{[citation needed]}. In July 1978, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording. In 2003, the album was ranked number 145 on Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.

Donald Fagen has said the title of the album comes from the name of a Korean woman who married the brother of a high-school friend of his.^[2] The cover photo by Hideki Fujii features Japanese model/actress Sayoko Yamaguchi.^[3][4]

The album features several leading session musicians. The eight-minute-long title track features jazz-based changes and a solo by saxophonist Wayne Shorter.

Aja is the subject of one of the Classic Albums, a series of documentaries about the making of famous albums. The documentary includes a song-by-song study of the album (the only omission being "I Got the News," which is played during the closing credits), interviews with Steely Dan co-founders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen (among others) plus new, live-in-studio versions of songs from the album. Becker and Fagen also play back several of the rejected guitar solos for "Peg," which were recorded before Jay Graydon produced the satisfactory take.

When DTS attempted to make a 5.1 version, it was discovered that the multitrack masters for both "Black Cow" and the title track were missing. For this same reason, a multichannel SACD version was cancelled by Universal Music. Donald Fagen has offered a $600 reward for the missing masters or any information that leads to their recovery.^[5]

On April 6, 2011, the album was deemed by the Library of Congress to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" and added to the United States National Recording Registry for the year 2010.^[6]

Outtakes

The sessions for Aja garnered several outtakes, including "You Got the Bear". The song was never officially released, but would later be played live on their 2011 Shuffle Diplomacy tour.^[7]

Track listing

All songs written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen.

Side one

1. "Black Cow"  – 5:10
2. "Aja"  – 7:57
3. "Deacon Blues"  – 7:37

Side two

4. "Peg"  – 3:57
5. "Home at Last"  – 5:34
6. "I Got the News"  – 5:06
7. "Josie"  – 4:33

Personnel

• Donald Fagen – synthesizer, keyboards, vocals, background vocals, whistle
• Walter Becker – bass, guitar
• Chuck Rainey – bass
• Timothy B. Schmit – background vocals
• Paul Griffin – keyboards, electric piano, vocals, background vocals
• Don Grolnick – keyboards, clavinet
• Michael Omartian – piano, keyboards
• Joe Sample – keyboards, electric piano, clavinet
• Victor Feldman – percussion, piano, keyboards, electric piano, vibraphone
• Larry Carlton – guitar
• Denny Dias – guitar
• Jay Graydon – guitar
• Steve Khan – guitar
• Dean Parks – guitar
• Lee Ritenour – guitar
• Pete Christlieb – flute, tenor saxophone
• Chuck Findley – horn, brass
• Jim Horn – flute, saxophone
• Richard "Slyde" Hyde – trombone
• Plas Johnson – flute, saxophone
• Jackie Kelso – flute, horn, saxophone
• Lou McCreary – brass
• Bill Perkins – flute, horn, saxophone
• Tom Scott – conductor, flute, tenor saxophone, lyricon
• Wayne Shorter – flute, tenor saxophone
• Bernard Purdie – drums ("Home at Last", "Deacon Blues")
• Steve Gadd – drums ("Aja")
• Ed Greene – drums ("I Got the News")
• Paul Humphrey – drums ("Black Cow")
• Jim Keltner – percussion, drums ("Josie")
• Rick Marotta – drums ("Peg")
• Gary Coleman – percussion
• Venetta Fields – background vocals
• Clydie King –background vocals
• Rebecca Louis – background vocals
• Sherlie Matthews –background vocals
• Michael McDonald – background vocals

Production

• Executive Producer: Stephen Diener [ABC Records]
• Producer: Gary Katz
• Engineers: Roger Nichols, Elliot Scheiner, Al Schmitt, Bill Schnee
• Assistant engineers: Joe Bellamy, Lenise Bent, Ken Klinger, Ron Pangaliman, Ed Rack, Linda Tyler
• Mastering: Bernie Grundman
• Production coordination: Barbara Miller
• Sound consultant: Dinky Dawson
• Consultant: Daniel Levitin
• Horn arrangements: Tom Scott
• Art direction: Vartan Reissue
• Design: Geoff Westen
• Photography: Hideki Fujii (cover photo), Walter Becker
• Liner notes: Walter Becker, Donald Fagen
• Reissue coordination: Beth Stempel

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[8]
Robert Christgau	(B+)[9]
Rolling Stone	(favorable)[10]

Charts

Album

Pop Singles

Awards

Grammy Awards

External links

• Complete Lyrics
• Promotional Video, courtesy of The Museum of Classic Chicago Television

References