On September 23, 1977, “ABC” label released “Aja”, the sixth Steely Dan studio album . It was recorded January – July 1977, at the “Village Recorder” in West Los Angeles, “Producer’s Workshop” and “Sound Labs” in Hollywood, “Warner Bros” studios in Burbank, “ABC” studios in New York City, “A&R” studios in Manhattan, and was produced by Gary Katz. In July 1978, the album won the “Grammy Award for Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording”. In 2003 “Aja” was ranked number 145 on “Rolling Stone” magazine “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list. The album was certified Platinum in US by the “RIAA”.
Personnel:
- Donald Fagen- lead and backing vocals, synthesizer, police whistle
- Walter Becker- bass, guitar, guitar solos
- Larry Carlton- guitar, guitar solo
- Denny Dias- guitar
- Dean Parks- guitar
- Steve Khan- guitar
- Jay Graydon- solo guitar
- Victor Feldman- electric piano, vibraphone, piano, percussion
- Joe Sample- electric piano, clavinet
- Paul Griffin- electric piano, backing vocals
- Michael Omartian- piano
- Don Grolnick- clavinet
- Chuck Rainey- bass
- Paul Humphrey- drums
- Steve Gadd- drums
- Bernard Purdie- drums
- Rick Marotta- drums
- Ed Greene – drums
- Jim Keltner- drums, percussion
- Gary Coleman – percussion
- Tom Scott- tenor saxophone, lyricon, horn arrangements
- Wayne Shorter– tenor saxophone
- Pete Christlieb- tenor saxophone
- Jim Horn, Bill Perkins, Plas Johnson, Jackie Kelso – saxophones, flutes
- Chuck Findley, Lou McCreary, Slyde Hyde – brass
- Michael McDonald, Timothy B. Schmit, Clydie King, Sherlie Matthews, Venetta Fields, Rebecca Louis – backing vocals
Track listing:
All tracks by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen.
- Black Cow
- Aja
- Deacon Blues
- Peg
- Home At Last
- I Got The News
- Josie
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