[jcommin]

I'm an old guy that grew up with the Beatles and the Stones. Some of the best Rock n Roll I have ever heard started around 1966 and ended around 1971. I hated Disco, New Wave and by about 1980, Rock n Roll didn't do it for me anymore. It is monotonous, not creative and with the advent of MTV, mediocre music made it, if your video was good.

I switched to Jazz and Blues. Just better music and the musicianship is great.

The Aja album had some of the best studio and non studio musicians:

Donald Fagen – synthesizer, keyboards, vocals, background vocals, whistle
Walter Becker – bass, guitar
Chuck Rainey – bass
Timothy B. Schmit – background vocals
Paul Griffin – keyboards, electric piano, vocals, background vocals
Don Grolnick – keyboards, clavinet
Michael Omartian – piano, keyboards
Joe Sample – keyboards, electric piano, clavinet
Victor Feldman – percussion, piano, keyboards, electric piano, vibraphone
Larry Carlton – guitar
Denny Dias – guitar
Jay Graydon – guitar
Steve Khan – guitar
Dean Parks – guitar
Lee Ritenour – guitar
Pete Christlieb – flute, tenor saxophone
Chuck Findley – horn, brass
Jim Horn – flute, saxophone
Richard "Slyde" Hyde – trombone
Plas Johnson – flute, saxophone
Jackie Kelso – flute, horn, saxophone
Lou McCreary – brass
Bill Perkins – flute, horn, saxophone
Tom Scott – conductor, flute, tenor saxophone, lyricon
Wayne Shorter – flute, tenor saxophone
Bernard Purdie – drums ("Home at Last", "Deacon Blues")
Steve Gadd – drums ("Aja")
Ed Greene – drums ("I Got the News")
Paul Humphrey – drums ("Black Cow")
Jim Keltner – percussion, drums ("Josie")
Rick Marotta – drums ("Peg")
Gary Coleman – percussion
Venetta Fields – background vocals
Clydie King – background vocals
Rebecca Louis – background vocals
Sherlie Matthews – background vocals

Some of these musicians are accomplished jazz musicians - they played with the Jazz greats.

I have several albums by Lee Rintenour, Joe Sample, Wayne Shorter and Tom Scott. BTW, Sample and Shorter played with Miles.

Take a listen to Shorter's latest album " Without a Net" This guy can still play.


Aja is a great album not only for the band members but it's production. I have this album on a direct to disk vinyl album: it is pure listening pleasure.