This is one of many posts to come, fulfilling a long-held desire to document just what it is and/or was about a specific selection of music and a time in my life that resonates deeply within me to this very day. I’ve always felt a strong connection to music over the decades, as I suspect most of us do, particularly how we each have select moments and memories that frequently align with select notes and chords. I’ll call this series “My Life, In Music".
AJAReflecting on my youth, when music was a complete obsession, Aja was an epiphany. It was an awakening. Dawn of a new range of music and a lesson in establishing and maintaining an open ear to new frontiers. My cousin, Jeri, metaphorically "slapped "me out of the narrow corridor of Beatles-influenced rock with Aja in one hand and Chuck Mangione in the other. I was walking down safely lit streets and familiar paths until that point. The jazz-influenced tones and rhythms of this Fagen/Becker release,.. in their catalog of progressively evolving recordings, struck a chord for me from the opening tracks of "Deacon Blues" to the closing notes of “Josie."I was no stranger to Steely Dan or a few tracks on the record. I bought the single "Peg" and played it repeatedly for weeks. But "Peg" was more commercial than the rest of the record. The album's inner sleeve notes capture the body of work as a broad, deep dive into an improvisational range of jazz fusion that sets a new tone for the band and the artistry of the performers,
My taste was driven heavily by rock radio. Weened by the Beatles, I found paths into pop and rock with E L O, Foreigner, Fleetwood Mac, and Boston... all still heavy guitar-driven rhythm bands. Aja brought jazz, true and improvisation jazz, to light, which I had no appreciation for before. The title track alone, melodic, fluid, layered and freeform in a manner that brings to mind a feather floating about in a steady gentle wind, was and remains a continuously new and vibrant experience. The instrument's consistently dynamic evolving unison is the epitome of jazz “ Aja” is a masterpiece. And through this gateway, I found paths to Miles, Coltrane, Metheny, and even performers like Bob James, Al Jarreau and George Benson became more accessible due to the range of possibilities Aja exposed me to.
Part of my admiration lies in the range of tracks on this release. This is one of many times my influences were broadened by a record whose content was more extensive than the one or two hit songs that brought me to listen. "Peg" and 'Josie'' were the lead-ins that put the album in my possession, but once placed at the start, the needle's momentum forced my hand (or my ears, in this case) to allow the rest to settle into my heart, quietly. I still recall how, like a few other masterpieces, the close of side one would come as a kind of surprise; the music would have become a part of a more profound experience for me. Transporting. Transfixing. Immersive, subconsciously, so that the conclusion of it felt like "coming to" a moment of present awareness that the music had supplanted for about 22.5 minutes.
Like many of us, I smoked my share of pot in my youth. And in that altered and enhanced state of awareness, every note, every instrument, every combination at sonic overlap felt vividly enhanced, and every nuance and detail seemed to be richly amplified. For me, a recording that can deliver that degree of artistry and experience right out of the box (sleeve) without the need for anything supplemental to bring its genius to the surface is rare and qualifies its place amongst the most lauded of influential recordings. Aja is that for me.
