Steely Dan, "Aja"

Ken works the saxophone

, and

Sep 01, 2021

Ken’s Pitch:

In baseball, there’s a very rare accomplishment for a pitcher called a “perfect game”. It means that not a single batter reached a base. No walks, no hits, no errors. But is that really perfect? How do we know the opposing players didn’t hit the crap out of the ball and the pitcher was bailed out by the fielding efforts of their teammates? We gave it that moniker because we established its definition. And on that day, if it meets or exceeds our set of expectations, it seems that the pitcher didn’t have a single weak moment. It must be perfect.

Over the years, I’ve had about 752 perfect meals, 147 perfect days for golfing, and watched the perfect season of Breaking Bad (hint: S3) twice. Of course, none of these things fit into the dictionary definition of perfection, but we love hyperbole more than anything else in the history of the world so let’s just go with it. Again, it’s all about the expectations.

But now we’re talking about music, so how do you set expectations on things so subjective? The answer is that they change from piece to piece and artist to artist. Julie Andrews’ version of “My Favorite Things” is perfect; it’s clean, it’s precise, it’s bright and it’s deliberate. It’s also wildly different from John Coltrane’s version, which happens to also be perfect. Expectations.

And that brings us to Steely Dan, the malleable, mostly-studio project of writing duo Walter Becker and Donald Fagen and their musical friends. Having already established themselves as the kings of jazz-rock fusion, and known for their impeccable studio work and production, they threw their musical perfect game with 1977’s Aja.

Every track is masterfully orchestrated. Just as the great conductors of the world arrange, rearrange and place and replace musicians in order to create the best auditory experience for the listener, so did Becker and Fagen. Rotating musicians in and out of the studio, they carefully and specifically picked the right people for the right track. Not only did the music need to be exact in the actual playing of the notes, but like the great symphonies of Beethoven and Mozart, it needed to feel right as well. They were so obsessed with creating the right feel, that Aja has 6 different drummers on a 7 track album. There are 3 tenor saxophone players for 3 different solos, and Becker even put himself on the bench on “Black Cow”, “Aja” and “Peg” because he thought Chuck Rainey’s bass sound was a better fit than his.

Every track features a team working together in perfect cohesion and technique, and they sway back and forth almost forcing us to listen to what they’ve decided to feature at that moment. With the help of Gary Katz’s production, the album leans on Fagen’s smooth, wispy vocals on “Home At Last”, the backup singers and the beautiful clavinet work on “Peg”, Wayne Shorter’s incredible sax solo on “Aja”, and Larry Carlton reminding us with his guitar work that this may be based on jazz progressions, it’s gonna rock a bit too. It’s a group effort that seems effortless.

So should Aja have a place on Newbury St.? It absolutely should. A band that pioneered a new sound, a fabulous and legendary writing team, and an unmatched studio craftsmanship and work ethic are enough to get it in...but there’s even more. Like Randy Johnson and Don Larsen and the other 21 pitchers who threw perfect games, Aja offers us an album with absolutely no weak spot. From the opening bass line on “Black Cow” to the fading out horns at the end of “Josie”, it’s perfect.

CJ’s Response:

There comes a time in every man’s life when he decides to start listening to Steely Dan. (Women may have a similar experience, but I’m only qualified to speak about the male journey here.) That time usually coincides with the revelation that it’s better to have 2 or 3 really good beers—or one excellent single malt scotch—than 14 shitty ones. Or that’s it’s probably wise to buy jeans with a little extra room in the crotch. Or that it might be nice to sit in a comfortable theatre seat during a concert and applaud politely at the end of each song instead of banging your head for 90 minutes straight and trading punches with the guy next to you.

I had my Steely Dan moment right after college when I realized that the woman with whom I would spend the rest of my life didn’t want her ears to bleed every time I turned on the stereo. No matter how much she loved me.

Steely Dan is, at the risk of oversimplifying, very pretty music. It has curves rather than edges. It caresses rather than clubs. It’s a nibble on the earlobe rather than a hickey on the jugular. It’s the kind of music that keeps the conversation flowing well into the small hours.

Aja is a wonderful example of Steely Dan’s prowess. Everyone who owns a radio knows “Deacon Blues”, “Peg” and “Josie”. But there is so much more to discover in tracks like “Black Cow” and “Home at Last”. I’ve played this album a dozen times in the past couple of days and haven’t grown tired of it yet.

Welcome to Newbury St., you favorite sons of Bard College. I’ll meet you in the lounge for the reception. I‘ve just got to pour myself a tumbler of Oban 14 first.

Pitch Successful (I think we should all get matching satin robes)

Mitch’s Response:

Seven Things I Think I Think About Steely Dan & Aja:

As weird as this sounds, Aja is definitely one of my favorite albums of all time, but I’m not sure that it’s even my favorite Steely Dan album. Royal Scam usually takes the top slot, but their catalog is flawless, including the reunion albums.
Whenever I hear “Black Cow” I also hear Lord Tariq & Peter Gunn’s legendary rap song “Deja Vu (Uptown)" and think about how Becker & Fagen took 100% of the royalties even after overtly lifting from Horace Silver and Keith Jarrett, while calling themselves the “robber-barons of rock and roll”. That’s cold.
Song preference order, as of this moment: 1) “Deacon Blues”, 2) “Black Cow”, 3) “Aja”, 4) “Peg”, 5) “I Got the News”; 6) “Josie”, 7) “Home at Last”. (Oddly close to the running order. Then again, they’re all great songs. Not a runt in the litter.)
I love clean, technically-proficient playing and smooth production styles in all my music, and Steely Dan is likely responsible for that preference.
Aja is the most sophisticated album that a teenager can love. It makes teens feel more mature, even if they can only grok about 14% of the lyrics. The secret is to always assume that they lyrics are about having sex, doing drugs, or having sex while doing drugs.
Jack Kerouac turned me onto Charlie Parker, but Aja turned me into your jazz boyfriend. I went from Larry Carlton to the Crusaders and then everywhere in between, mostly hovering around hard bop. Steely Dan is the gateway drug to jazz music and this time around you should just say yes!
Pitch Successful (Of course it deserves a spot in the Newbury St. Collection. It’s the platonic ideal of a “desert island disc”).

Ken’s pitch was successful and Steely Dan’s Aja has been added to the Newbury St. Collection!

Any major dude will tell you that the comments section is where you can tell us only a fool would say that, so sign in stranger and do it again.

Exile on Newbury St.

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