If you don’t have a teen involved with NFTY (North American Federation of Temple Youth), and you don’t attend a Reform synagogue, and you don’t listen to a lot of Jewish music, you might be forgiven for not knowing the name Scott Leader. Even if those things are true, you may not know his name, but you certainly know his sound. As a producer, Leader has helped craft the sound of a growing number of contemporary Jewish songwriters. As a musician and composer, he’s a member of the trio Sababa, whose tagline, “Cool Jewish Music,” captures the tight harmonies, singable melodies and fresh take on liturgical texts that have become the band’s signature sound.
Leader’s most meaningful connections to Judaism, even when he was a child, have always come through music. He grew up in a conservative shul in Freehold, N.J., “going through the motions,” as he puts it. “Hebrew school was a waste of time,” he admits. “I did it because my parents wanted me to, but it didn’t mean anything to me.” When Leader was in his early teens, his parents helped found a Reform temple, Rodeph Torah, in Freehold, and both Leader and his older sister joined NFTY. Leader explains, “ [There] I began to have a connection to Jewish music, Jewish life and to Judaism at all. NFTY connected me because kids ran it. We organized our own services. That made services creative and gave them meaning; we weren’t just reading “Gates of Prayer.”
Another crucial element for Leader, who loved to sing but was stymied by the geeky identity with which choir kids were tagged at school, was NFTY’s emphasis on group singing. “Choir wasn’t cool in school, but singing in NFTY was cool,” he recalls. A self-taught pianist, Leader became known in NFTY circles as “the piano guy.” One day his NFTY advisor suggested Leader become a NFTY song leader. “I had a typical teen boy’s lack of self-confidence,” Leader recalls. “I liked to sing, but hated to sing in front of other people. I had stage fright.” But Leader agreed to give song leading a try, viewing it as a way to at least meet girls. “I got to hang out with all the chicks,” he says and grins. Leader got his hands on a guitar and a friend taught him some basic chord progressions. “Next thing I knew, I was up there leading services, and the rest is history.”
During and after college, Leader continued deepening his Jewish music connections. “Being at the University of Arizona was a turning point for me, musically speaking,” says Leader. With his college roommate, Billy Tite, Leader taught music at Temple Emanu-El in Tucson. “Billy and I started to write our own music together and we revitalized Friday services at Emanu-El because we attracted college kids to a synagogue with dwindling participation,” Leader says. Leader and Tite were later hired as song leaders at Greene Family Camp, a URJ (Union of Reform Judaism) summer camp located in Bruceville, Texas. That summer of 1997, Leader met Robbi Sherwin, who is now part of Sababa. “We wrote songs together that summer, and it was the beginning of a lifelong friendship,” Leader says. After Leader finished college, Sherwin invited him to play guitar on a solo album of original music she was recording. “I became fascinated by the recording process,” Leader remembers. “I also decided to make my own CD.” Leader’s first solo album, “Lift My Eyes,” was released in 2003.
Leader soon fell under the enchantment of recording technology and the magic of crafting sound. He moved to Los Angeles and met Sam Glaser, an ASCAP-winning Jewish music composer and musician. “Sam gave me a job in his studio and taught me about studio work and producing music; that was another turning point for me,” Leader says. “Being in L.A. exposed me to folks like Craig Taubman. There are a lot of folks there who are at the top of the Jewish music pyramid, and that inspired me.” After a few years in L.A., Leader moved back to Arizona and settled in Scottsdale in 2003. Four years later, with partner Mark DeCozio, Leader opened his own recording studio, Brick Road, in 2007. According to its Web site, Brick Road offers “L.A. sound at AZ rates.”
Leader sees a rising wave of interest in contemporary Jewish music. “Debbie Freedman pioneered the idea of writing Jewish music that’s usable; any 13-year-old could pick up a guitar and learn one of her songs,” he says. “And there’s still a real need for that kind of user-friendly folk-style Jewish music, especially in synagogues and summer camps. But today, people expect broadcast quality sound in the recorded music they listen to. Guys like Rick Recht and Dan Nichols helped raise the bar in contemporary Jewish music because they’re really good and their music is well produced. That makes Jewish music more listenable, as opposed to just usable. Today there’s a real desire for more radio-friendly music, music to listen to outside of religious services.” He adds, “There’s also a trend toward using more English, and writing texts that expand on the liturgy, rather than simply setting another version of ‘L’cha Dodi.’ In other words, Jewish music is reflecting the popular sound of secular culture around it.”
Leader credits NFTY for its continuing influence on Jewish popular music. “The NFTY youth movement is still at the heart of Jewish contemporary music,” he says. “I think NFTY, because it’s a teen organization, shapes the sound of what’s going to be cool in the next 10 to 15 years. Today I hear lots of rapping and sampling and other styles in Jewish music that are also current in secular music.” As a producer, Leader encourages musicians to stretch themselves. “I like to bring out the best a musician has in them, even the stuff they might not know is there. I also push (gently) to get musicians out of their comfort zone, or musical default mode. Some people know exactly what they want to do in the studio, and others have no idea what to do with their songs. Being a producer is about taking on the big picture, but I don’t take a top-down approach. I might be driving the car, but the musician is doing all the navigating.”
Sababa, which takes its name from an Arabic slang word that loosely translates as “groovy,” recently released its third album, “Shalosh.” “Since I’ve been producing a lot of Jewish music, you can make the argument that there’s a ‘Scott Leader sound,’ because I use the same side musicians on a lot of different albums,” Leader explains. “I wanted to make sure ‘Shalosh’ didn’t sound like a typical Scott Leader album; I thought it was important for it to sound like someone else produced it. I needed to be pulled out of my own composing comfort zone.” “Shalosh” is a departure from Sababa’s two previous releases in that the three musicians, Steve Brodsky, Sherwin and Leader collaborated on composing the songs, not just performing each other’s compositions. “A third album is a real milestone to achieve; it says something about a group’s longevity,” Leader says.
Sababa, accompanied by a 10-piece band, will be leading a free Shabbat rock service on Friday, Feb. 1, at Temple Gan Elohim in Phoenix. The following night, Feb. 2, Sababa will host a CD release party at Temple Emanuel in Tempe.
For more information, email info@sababamusic.com.
steve Brodsky, Robbi sherwin and scott Leader of sababa
