Blues and jazz are built upon the give-and-take of improvisational interplay between musicians. The best way to capture that feeling is to bring players together, set up microphones, and record the piece just as they perform it. In commercial music, digital manipulation has largely replaced that traditional process–but Al-Saadi, the brilliant local singer, songwriter, and guitarist, took a big step back to the old way when he recorded his third album, Real, last year.
Al-Saadi and his friend and fan George Jones, a former CEO of Borders and past board chair of the Grammy Foundation, made a substantial investment to assemble a stellar cadre of studio musicians based in Los Angeles. Producer Jeffrey Weber put the pieces together for the one-day recording session in May 2013. There would be “no overdubs, Auto-Tune, editing, compression, or click tracks,” says Al-Saadi. “We had to get each cut right in the heat of the moment or redo the entire song.”
Talent is no longer an absolute requirement in the music business. Most popular music is recorded digitally, then sliced, diced, and edited to order. Pitch correction takes care of singing off key. Beat detection remedies bad timing. Digital samples take the place of real instruments. Performances are stitched together from the best bits of multiple takes. But the results, Al-Saadi says, “are often artificial–too perfect and lacking in human feel.”
Making Real, Al-Saadi says, “I wanted to capture spontaneity, energy, and emotion, and recording live to two tracks is the best way to do it. You can’t have a truly compelling musical conversation when you don’t record together in real time with other players. This is particularly true in jazz and blues, where improvisation is a crucial element.” The old records he loves, he says, are “magical because they embody the moment–totally unfiltered.”
The eight songs on Real, all but one Al-Saadi’s own compositions, were recorded live in front of a studio audience. Given his choice of session musicians, he assembled a band of legends at historic Ocean Way Studios in Hollywood, including Jim Keltner (drums), Lee Sklar (bass), Larry Goldings (organ), Jimmy Vivino (rhythm guitar, background vocals), Tom Scott (sax), Lee Thornburg (trumpet), Nick Lane (trombone), and Brandon Fields (baritone sax). Between them, they have recorded with everyone from John Lennon and Bob Dylan to Ray Charles and Norah Jones. Vivino leads Conan O’Brien’s band.
So how did the live recording session go with no digital safety net? “Wonderfully,” says Al-Saadi. “Spending the day with my artistic heroes playing my songs made for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I’m really happy with the results.” Released last fall, Real is available locally at Encore Records and Overture Audio, as well as at CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon, and other online retailers.
Al-Saadi has opened for B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and Greg Allman, and he’s a regular headliner at the Magic Bag in Ferndale, Blissfest in northern Michigan, and many blues festivals. Marty Walker’s painting of a Sonic Lunch concert on the cover of the June Observer featured him with his Laith Al-Saadi Trio.
A tireless local performer since he was a high school student, Al-Saadi averages five or six public and private gigs per week, including the Arena (Monday nights, with his trio) and Bar Louie (Wednesday nights, solo). You can also catch him most Tuesday nights at the Black Pearl, and he’ll headline his first solo show at the Ark on September 21.
