Al Hal

The Art of Recording a Big Band was filmed at the famed Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California, USA, over two days during a recording session by Al Schmitt featuring Chris Walden's GRAMMY Award-nominated eighteen-piece jazz big band. The film focuses on the legendary Al Schmitt, the most celebrated music engineer, producer, and mixer of all time, and winner of twenty-one GRAMMY Awards. His most recent GRAMMY came in 2012 for Paul McCartney's "Kisses on the Bottom."

Vocalist/cornet player Al Basile's longtime friend Duke Robillard gets front cover billing, as well he should, as co-producer and guitarist on this impressive outing. The album, Basile's fifth, was even recorded at the guitarist's Pawtucket, RI studio called the Mood Room, hence the album's title. Musically, it's a combination of old-school R&B ("Baby Sister," "Be a Woman"), swamp-tinged rock & roll ("I'm in a Mood"), mid-tempo, Chuck Berry styled groovers ("Coffee and Cadillacs"), grinding blues ("Picked to Click") and even a jump blues throwback to the duo's Roomful of Blues days ("She's on the Mainline"). Robillard keeps the sound full yet stripped down – most of the tracks feature a standard three-piece – bass/drums/guitar setup – which leaves space for Basile's sly vocals and snappy lyrics. Basile, a teacher and fiction author who also has a Master's degree in creative writing, not surprisingly crafts lyrics that are far more imaginative and original than most blues artists'. But they never detract from these melodies that glide along sparked by Robillard's tasty licks.