Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin & Paco De Lucia Saturday Night In San Francisco Hybrid Stereo SACD

Audiophile Hybrid SACD!
Long-Awaited Follow Up to Friday Night In San Francisco!
From Original 16-Track Analog Live Session Tapes by Al Di Meola, Katsu Naito & Roy Hendrickson!
Mastered from Analog Tapes by Bernie Grundman!
Pressed at Sonopress in Germany!
Includes Exclusive SACD-Only Bonus Track!
Jazz writer Walter Kolovsky has said that Friday Night In San Francisco "may be the most influential of all acoustic guitar albums." LPs of it have been a demonstration staple on turntables around the world for over 40 years. To celebrate the lasting impact of this singular album and the legendary concert that it represents, Impex Records is proud to announce the long-awaited follow up: Saturday Night In San Francisco.
Working with hours of original 16-track live session tapes, Al Di Meola and his team have brilliantly curated this musical tour-de-force, bringing to life for the first time on LP, SACD-Hybrid and CD the explosively virtuosic final performance of Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco De Lucia at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco, December 6, 1980. In the exclusive essay by music historian Charles L. Granata, Di Meola says of that final night: "It's exciting because the audience was right there with us, savoring every single note of music. And, we were ripping. It was crazy good!"
Impex worked carefully with Di Meola, mixing engineer Roy Hendrickson (SPIN Studio), and mastering engineer Bernie Grundman to recreate the magic of Friday Night In San Francisco so these never-before-released solos and trios burst out of your system with striking clarity, dynamics and technical brilliance. "Crazy good," indeed.
There is probably no one who is enthusiastic about guitar music who does not know the legendary and often re-released album "Friday Night in San Francisco". Three guitar virtuosos play live and with stunning acoustic qualities. What hardly anyone knows: There were two concerts in the same line-up on the following Saturday, which were also recorded, but at which an almost completely different set was played. As late as 1980, a master was created from the two concerts with countless cuts, but it was never released.
It was the management of Al Di Meola who later remembered that this tape still existed. But after initial research, disappointment spread. The master had not been stored well and was actually unsuitable. But Abey Fonn, the producer of Impex Records from the USA, was not discouraged. What could be heard on the tapes was just too good, despite all the obstacles. One thing was immediately clear: "Saturday Night" was even better than the legendary Friday.
Instead of using the poorly stored master, Fonn resorted to the analogue 16-track recordings of the actual concerts for the release. These were also not in great condition, but could be processed at Skywalker Sound in Marine County, California, to be converted to a 32 bit DXD file suitable for recutting. Then the task was to create a mix from the two concerts. Katsu Naito & Roy Hendrickson were hired for this. The former had already done the editing for "Friday Night in San Francisco" and knew exactly what he had paid attention to more than 40 years ago. Artistically, Al di Meola's assessment was decisive. The perfectionist just doesn't like mistakes, while John McLaughlin sees them more as part of the live atmosphere.
The final mastering was done by Bernie Grundmann in Hollywood. The Impex variant sounds much better than other releases and certainly better than the high-resolution download found on the Internet, which, however, comes from the attacked master.
The album cover had to be purple at the request of Al di Meola. The handbook with liner notes by Charles L. Granate contains previously unpublished photos.

Features:

• Super Audio CD
• SACD Stereo SACD Layer
• Designed to Play on Standard CD Players, SACD Players & Other SACD-Capable Players
• Playback of DSD Tracks Requires Components That Support the DSD Format
• Never Before Released
• Assembled from the Original 16-track Analog Live Session Tapes by Al Di Meola with Engineers Katsu Naito & Roy Hendrickson
• Mastered from Analog Tapes by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering
• Pressed at Sonopress in Germany
• Deluxe New Packaging with Never-Before-Seen Photos
• Exclusive Essay by Charles L. Granata feat. New Interviews with Al Di Meola & Original Recording Engineer Tim Pinch
• SACD-Only Bonus Track

Musicians:

• Al Di Meola, guitar
• John McLaughlin, guitar
• Paco De Lucia, guitar

Selections:

1. Bill Graham Introduction
2. Splendido Sundance
3. One Word
4. Trilogy Suite
5. Monasterio de Sal
6. El Pañuelo
7. Meeting Of The Spirits
8. Soniquete (bonus track)