Classic Albums: Steely Dan - Aja (Rockumentary)

Aja (pronounced like "Asia") is the sixth album by the jazz-rock band Steely Dan. Originally released in 1977, it became the group's best-selling album. Peaking 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. 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.

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.



Total length: 59 minutes
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The Aja 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 guitar solos for "Peg," before Jay Graydon produced the satisfactory take.

Personnel
Donald Fagen - synthesizer, keyboards, vocals, background vocals, whistle
Walter Becker - bass, guitar, electric guitar, vocals
Chuck Rainey - bass
Timothy B. Schmit - vocals
Paul Griffin - keyboards, electric piano, vocals, background vocals
Don Grolnick - keyboards, clavinet
Michael Omartian - piano, keyboards
Joe Sample - keyboards, electric piano, clavinet
Larry Carlton - guitar, electric guitar
Denny Dias - guitar
Jay Graydon - guitar, electric 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")
Lee Price - Fire Shards
Paul Humphrey - drums ("Black Cow")
Jim Keltner - percussion, drums ("Josie")
Rick Marotta - drums ("Peg")
Gary Coleman - percussion
Victor Feldman - percussion, piano, keyboards, electric piano, vibraphone
Venetta Fields - vocals, background vocals
Clydie King - vocals, background vocals
Rebecca Louis - vocals, background vocals
Sherlie Matthews - vocals, background vocals
Michael McDonald - vocals, 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: Walter Becker
Liner notes: Walter Becker, Donald Fagen
Reissue coordination: Beth Stempel

Links
http://www.steelydan.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steely_Dan
http://www.last.fm/music/Steely+Dan