Tag Archives: Denny Tedesco

Band of Brothers

Immediate Family

by George Wolf

In the last couple decades, documentaries such as Standing in the Shadows of Motown and the Oscar-winning 20 Feet from Stardom have given just due to the unknown musicians and singers who have long backed up our idols.

Director Denny Tedesco may have been first with the idea, though his debut doc The Wrecking Crew! endured years of delays until its 2008 release. Tedesco is back with Immediate Family, and while he’s still looking behind the musical scenes, his second feature boasts some important distinctions.

To start, it’s much more contemporary. This one features a trove of interviews that are not only recent, but feature musicians that are still highly relevant, such as Stevie Nicks, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Keith Richards, Lyle Lovett and more.

And secondly, for serious music fans (and even casual fans of a certain age), the names Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, Waddy Wachtel and Danny “Kooch” Kortchmar may already be plenty familiar. As the film points out, that’s largely thanks to producers Peter Asher and Lou Adler, who in the 1970s decided to start featuring the names and faces of these longtime sidemen in the liner notes of the many albums they played on.

But even if you recognize these players, it’s still a kick to hear the superstars go into detail about how valuable they are, and to watch their specific grooves morph into fully produced classics.

It all follows a formula very similar to the one that made The Wrecking Crew! so irresistible, but with greatly improved production values that increase the immediacy along with the timeline.

Immediate Family ends up feeling like the next logical step in Tedesco’s musical journey. We get more great tunes, witness more important stages in the evolution of popular music, and spend some quality time with four more unique talents that are well worth getting to know better.

Band on the Run

The Wrecking Crew

by George Wolf

Giving credit where it’s due is a fine idea – no matter how long it takes. After years of legal delays, The Wrecking Crew arrives as the latest documentary to give unsung musicians a well deserved spotlight.

The film premiered on the festival circuit in 2008, but a wider release became hostage to publishing disputes over the music, which amounts to a non-stop hit parade from the 60s and 70s. During that time, a group of select L.A. session musicians played on countless songs -often uncredited. The record may have said Sonny and Cher, the Mamas and the Papas, the Righteous Brothers, or even the Beach Boys, but the session band behind them all was unknown except to music biz insiders, which dubbed the group the “Wrecking Crew.”

The Crew’s lead guitarist was Tommy Tedesco, and the film is directed by his son Denny as a bonafide labor of love. What 2002’s Standing in the Shadows of Motown did for the Funk Brothers – namely, pull the curtain back on their immense contributions- Denny Tedesco wants to do for his father’s band.

We not only come to appreciate the group’s technical abilities, but glimpse the stylish additions they contributed during the record sessions -such as the bass line to “I Got You Babe” or the opening notes of “Wichita Lineman” – that often turned average into unforgettable.

Despite some uneven production values, Tedesco shows fine instincts for showcasing both musicianship and biography. We get to know his father, and several other members of the Crew, including bassist Carol Kaye. A trailblazer with immense talent and a winning personality, Kaye herself would be a fine choice for Tedesco’s next documentary.

There are also some great anecdotes from an array of famous faces…with a twist. The interviews are mostly years old, and seeing a vibrant Dick Clark, or Cher from three faces ago sometimes gives the film a musty air. But then, when a much younger Glen Campbell (himself a Wrecking Crew member before going solo) laughingly admits he can’t remember certain details of a story, there’s some unexpected poignancy to the foreshadowing of his current battle with Alzheimer’s.

Beyond all the feels, The Wrecking Crew comes off as a fun day at school, While not as polished or as universally entertaining as Standing in the Shadows of Motown or Twenty Feet from Stardom, it is just as much of a must see for fans of music history.

 

Verdict-3-5-Stars