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Aja
Studio album by Steely Dan
Released	September, 1977
Recorded	January-July 1977
Genre	Jazz rock
Length	39:58
Label	ABC Records
Producer	Gary Katz
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Robert Christgau (B+) link Rolling Stone link
Steely Dan chronology
The Royal Scam (1976) Aja (1977) Gaucho (1980)

Aja (pronounced the same as "Asia") is an album by the rock band Steely Dan. The album was named after the Korean wife of Fagen's friend's brother. 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. 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 considered to be quite ambitious and sophisticated. The eight minute-long title track features complex jazz-based changes and a solo by renowned saxophonist Wayne Shorter, as well as dextrous drum work by drummer Steve Gadd -- especially at the end of the tune.

Aja is also the subject of one of the Classic Albums series of documentaries about the making of famous albums. The documentary includes interviews with Becker & Fagen (among others) plus live in the studio versions of songs from the album and the opportunity to hear some of the rejected (but not credited to protect the egos of the guilty) guitar solos for "Peg" before Jay Graydon produced the satisfactory take.

Contents 1 Track listing 2 Personnel 3 Production 4 Charts 5 Awards 6 Miscellanea 7 External links 8 References

All songs written by Becker and Fagen.

1. "Black Cow" – 5:10
2. "Aja" – 7:57
3. "Deacon Blues" – 7:37
4. "Peg" – 3:57
5. "Home at Last" – 5:34
6. "I Got the News" – 5:06
7. "Josie" – 4:33

• Walter Becker - bass, guitar, electric guitar, vocals
• Chuck Rainey - bass
• Timothy B. Schmit - bass, vocals
• Donald Fagen - synthesizer, keyboards, vocals, background vocals, whistle
• 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 Hyde - trombone
• Slyde Hyde - brass
• 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
• Steve Gadd - drums (on Aja)
• Ed Greene - drums (on "I got the News")
• Paul Humphrey - drums
• Jim Keltner - percussion, drums
• Rick Marotta - drums
• Gary Coleman - percussion
• Victor Feldman - percussion, piano, keyboards, electric piano, vibraphone
• Venetta Field - vocals, background vocals
• Clydie King - vocals, background vocals
• Rebecca Louis - vocals, background vocals
• Shirley Matthews - vocals, background vocals
• Michael McDonald - vocals, background vocals

• 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

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1977	Pop Albums	3

Pop Singles

Year	Single	Label & number	Position
1978	"Peg" (B-side: "I Got the News")	ABC 12320	11
1978	"Deacon Blues" (B-side: "Home at Last")	ABC 12355	19
1978	"Josie" (B-side: "Black Cow")	ABC 12404	26

Grammy Awards

Year	Winner	Category
1977	Aja	Best Engineered Recording, Non Classical

The song "Deacon Blues" is often played as a fight song by the marching band at University of Alabama football games (disputed). The song contains the lines:

They've got a name for the winners in the world

I want a name when I lose

They call Alabama the Crimson Tide

Call me Deacon Blues^[1]

However, those lines were written more in contempt than in praise. In a 2006 interview Fagen said,

Walter and I had been working on that song at a house in Malibu. I played him that line, and he said, "You mean it's like, 'They call these cracker assholes this grandiose name like the Crimson Tide, and I'm this loser, so they call me this other grandiose name, Deacon Blues?' " And I said, "Yeah!" He said, "Cool! Let's finish it!"^[2]

Bass line hook from "Black Cow" was sampled in the NY hip-hop anthem "Deja Vu" by Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz. The hip-hop duo had requested Steely Dan to perform live with them on MTV's TRL but the band refused.

Contrary to popular belief the album's cover art was not designed by actor Phil Hartman, who worked part time as a graphic artist.

• Complete lyrics

v • d • e Steely Dan
Walter Becker • Donald Fagen Jeff "Skunk" Baxter • Denny Dias • Jim Hodder • Michael McDonald • David Palmer
Discography
Studio albums: Can't Buy a Thrill • Countdown to Ecstasy • Pretzel Logic • Katy Lied • The Royal Scam • Aja • Gaucho • Two Against Nature • Everything Must Go Live albums: Alive in America • Plush TV Jazz-Rock Party Compilations: Greatest Hits • Steely Dan • Gold • Gold (Expanded) • A Decade of Steely Dan • Reelin' In The Years • Do It Again • Citizen Steely Dan • Then and Now • Showbiz Kids • Definitive Collection Also featured on: Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz