Film & Concert: The Immediate Family with Patti Zlaket & Leland Sklar

Join us for a special film and performance event. Enjoy the screening of The Immediate Family followed by a special performance with pianist/songwriter Patti Zlaket and renowned studio bassist Leland Sklar. The evening culminates with a Q&A with film director, Denny Tedesco and Immediate Family musician, Leland Sklar.

About the Film

The Immediate Family tracks the rise and collaborations of a group of legendary session musicians Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, and Waddy Wachtel through the 1970s and onward, chronicling their illustrious partnerships and their formidable record of hit-making. Directed by Denny Tedesco, whose documentary, The Wrecking Crew, followed the first wave of studio musicians in the 60s, the film reveals the machinery behind the booming era of the singer-songwriter, when the talents of these four musicians were in furious demand. The foundations of their enduring friendship, formed on the road and in studios, is recalled with dynamite clarity—reminisced with fondness through intimate interviews with the guys themselves, as well as the memories of some of rock’s most iconic voices including Carole King, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Keith Richards, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, Lyle Lovett, Phil Collins, and more. Immediate Family is a backstage tour spanning multiple eras of musical history.

About the Artists

Patti Zlaket is having a remarkable and resurgent moment—a three-part deluxe-edition reissue series of her remastered catalog this year by Meridian (ECR Music Group) has won her a newfound audience, along with newfound recognition on tour, and in the press. She released the first single, “Clock Keeps Tickin’” on September 30th, from her forthcoming new record Dance Again, out next year.

It was Sklar who lit the fire under Zlaket to make this new record, in fact. “One evening last year, I’d watched Immediate Family, the brilliant documentary about The Section—Lee Sklar, Danny Kortchmar, Waddy Wachtel, and Russ Kunkel,” explains Zlaket. “It was like watching a story about the soundtrack of my life. A light was turned on in me, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the film and those players. And, my life in music. Though I was performing regularly, I’d taken a long break from recording. That night, I knew the break was over.”

Zlaket did something that changed the course of her musical life—she reached out to Sklar and commended him on the film, thanking him for the decades of music. Unexpectedly, he reached back. “When the door of opportunity opens, you walk through,” says Zlaket. “So, I decided to go for broke and asked him to listen to a new song I’d yet to record. I told him if he liked it, I’d love to record it with him.” He liked it. Thus began the year-long process of recording Dance Again with Zlaket working alongside Sklar, Akoni, and stellar session players from Zlaket’s past and present.

Leland Sklar rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coalesced into a group in its own right, The Section, which supported so many of Asylum Records' artists that they became known as Asylum's de facto house band, as those artists became iconic singer-songwriters of the 1970s.

Sklar has recorded and toured with artists including James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Carole King, Linda Ronstadt, Phil Collins, Toto, The Doors and Lyle Lovett. As a group member, session player, or touring musician, Sklar has appeared on over 2,000 albums, and contributed to many motion picture and television show soundtracks. Since 2018, he has been the bassist for The Immediate Family, a group reuniting lifelong friends and most of his former bandmates from The Section.