Walter and Becker might have been impeccable in their craft, but they weren’t above a very basic rule: make it sound good. It was a who’s-who of the best players at the time, collected onto one vinyl record. Chuck Rainey, who incorporated funk and R&B grooves into the band’s arrangements, held down the bass on every track except ‘Deacon Blues’. Schmidt contributed to tracks like ‘Home at Last’ and ‘Josie’. Doobie Brothers vocalist Michael McDonald lent his signature voice to the stacked harmonies of ‘Peg’ while future Eagles bassist Timothy B. Legendary drummers like Bernard Purdie and Steve Gadd rubbed elbows with jazz greats like Wayne Shorter and Plas Johnson. Becker and Fagen were looking for the best.
Weeks of sessions were held, but on more than one occasion, no music was recorded at all. They auditioned the best session musicians available at the time to piece together the magnum opus that would be titled Aja. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker pushed Steely Dan further into experimenting with different combinations of session players while pursuing longer, more sophisticated compositions for the album.īecker and Fagen masterminds had 5 albums behind them but they felt like something was amiss in their collection. It was released on September 23, 1977, by ABC Records. Its regarded as a masterpiece and way ahead of their time complete with cryptic lyrics and very progressive jazz flavored rock. Aja is the sixth studio album by the American jazz rock band Steely Dan.
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