Steely Dan hadn't been a real working band since Pretzel Logic, but with Aja, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's obsession with sonic detail and fascination with composition reached new heights. A coolly textured and immaculately produced collection of sophisticated jazz-rock, Aja has none of the overt cynicism or self-consciously challenging music that distinguished previous Steely Dan records. Instead, it's a measured and textured album, filled with subtle melodies and accomplished, jazzy solos that blend easily into the lush instrumental backdrops. But Aja isn't just about texture, since Becker and Fagen's songs are their most complex and musically rich set of songs -- even the simplest song, the sunny pop of "Peg," has layers of jazzy vocal harmonies. In fact, Steely Dan ignores rock on Aja, preferring to fuse cool jazz, blues, and pop together in a seamless, seductive fashion. It's complex music delivered with ease, and although the duo's preoccupation with clean sound and self-consciously sophisticated arrangements would eventually lead to a dead end, Aja is a shining example of jazz-rock at its finest. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
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
Aja (pronounced /ˈeɪʒə/ like "Asia") is the sixth album by the rock band Steely Dan. Originally released in 1977, it became the group's best-selling album. Topping at #3 on the U.S. charts and #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 magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
The album is ambitious and sophisticated, and features several leading session musicians. The eight-minute-long title track features complex jazz-based changes and a solo by renowned saxophonist Wayne Shorter, as well as dextrous drumming by Steve Gadd - most notably at the end of the track.
Aja is also the subject of one of the Classic Albums 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, and the opportunity to hear some of the rejected (and uncredited) guitar solos for "Peg," 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.[1]
New Jersey pop-punk band The Ergs! recorded a song called "Aja" on their EP Jersey's Best Prancers. The song contained the lyrics: "I met a girl named Aja, she said her dad loved Steely Dan. I laughed and asked her if her sister's name was Katy." The song ends repeating those lyrics, but "Katy" is replaced with "Pretzel Logic", references to the Steely Dan albums Katy Lied and Pretzel Logic.
Former porn star Aja took her stage name from the album.[citation needed]
Gary Dell'Abate, producer for the Howard Stern Show,was featured in the May 2007 issue of Sound and Vision magazine where his home theater was profiled. In the article, he revealed that his favorite album is Aja by Steely Dan, he was later ridiculed and mocked by the staff for his choice.
