Aja (song)

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Aye
Steely Dan
publication 23rd September 1977
length 7:56
Genre (s) fusion
Author (s) Donald Fagen , Walter Becker
Label ABC Records
album Aye

Aja is the title track on Steely Dan's 1977 album Aja. At almost eight minutes, it is the band's longest song and a more complex work.

background

"We were very lucky this year," said Becker in the 1999 documentation for Classic Albums , "and wanted to try something longer." He describes "Aja" as a suite that combined several other songs that they were working on, including an early demo song called "Stand by the Seawall".

admission

The song was recorded during the early Aja sessions in 1977.

Aja was the group's first album that the musicians named for each recording. Becker was guitarist with Larry Carlton and Denny Dias . Carlton had already played on the previous album The Royal Scam . Portions of the recordings from all three were mixed together into the final mix. In the 1999 Classic Albums segment on Aja , Dias recalled that the song was a particular challenge for the guitarists; he cited "clusters in which the notes are so close together that you can't stretch your fingers enough to play all of the notes at once." The final recording used much of his work, including the long solo during the instrumental portion of the song.

Fagen sang "Aja" with Timothy B. Schmit , who had just left Poco to join the Eagles . Fagen also played the synthesizer parts required for the song. He left most of the keyboards to others. Joe Sample played electric piano , Michael Omartian acoustic piano, Chuck Rainey bass.

Drum solo

Fagen said: "There were songs I would expect problems with because what I wanted rhythmically was so specific." Still, the recording was done quickly, in contrast to easier songs on Aja . They originally planned to rehearse the day before they started recording, but after a performance they changed their minds; Steve Gadd didn't have to be rehearsed, nor did the rest of the band. Gadd recorded in two takes, even though there were parts to improvise. It was the first drum solo on a Steely Dan record. "We discussed the melody a little and because of his musicality he just knew what to do," said Becker.

Saxophone solo

For the tenor saxophone solo, Becker and Fagen wanted Wayne Shorter , who had been bandleader with Joe Zawinul at Weather Report since 1970 . Producer Gary Katz asked Shorter, but he declined. Then they asked producer Dick LaPalm , who knew Shorter, and got an acceptance.

Shorter asked to hear the sections before and after the part he was going to solo over so he would have a point of reference. "He was a little worried about how he would play with Miles Davis ," said Fagen. Shorter stated that the lesson he had taught Davis was to focus on your performance and "not give too much away". Shorter prepared himself by playing scales on the piano with the notes for half an hour and then doing three or four takes .

Wayne Shorter biographer Michelle Mercer said, "Wayne Solo was majestic and stately, it spanned a huge arc with cleverly shifted references to the vocal melody."

Musician

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Google Books: Steely Dan: Reelin 'In The Years
  2. ^ Marc Myers: How Steely Dan Got Wayne Shorter . July 15, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  3. ^ Preston Frazier: Steely Dan Sunday: The Five Best Steely Dan Guitar Solos . Something Else Reviews. September 28, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  4. ↑ a b Don Breithaupt: Steely Dan's Aja . A&C Black, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8264-2783-0 ( google.de [accessed December 26, 2019]).
  5. ↑ BBC Chat | 3/4/00. March 2, 2018, accessed December 25, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Michelle Mercer: Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter . Penguin, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4406-2911-2 ( google.de [accessed December 27, 2019]).