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Post by the Scribe on Oct 22, 2022 12:12:48 GMT
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Post by the Scribe on Oct 22, 2022 12:17:10 GMT
Linda with Denny Tedesco centre filmmaker & Kootch at her home in San Francisco.The date quoted was her birthday in 2021 but I’m not sure if that was correct as her piano is in the background and I’m not sure of the date she sold it. (Sold on Aug 8, 2020)
(photo probably July 15, 2020)
Denny interviewed Linda for his upcoming documentary on Immediate Family who in essence were often Linda's studio, backup and touring band in the mid to late 1970's along with some other great musicians like Kenny Edwards, Andrew Gold, Mike Botts, Dan Dugmore, etc.
variety.com/2020/music/news/documentary-on-legendary-1970s-l-a-session-musicians-coming-from-wrecking-crew-director-1203465922/
companion thread: conservatism.freeforums.net/thread/10009/immediate-family
Linda Ronstadt's Yamaha Grand Piano, Originally Owned by Peter Asher....Sold on Aug 8, 2020
Musical Instruments:Keyboards & Pianos, Linda Ronstadt's Yamaha Grand Piano, Originally Owned by Peter Asher....
entertainment.ha.com/itm/musical-instruments/keyboards-and-pianos/linda-ronstadt-s-yamaha-grand-piano-originally-owned-by-peter-asher/a/7221-89283.s
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Post by the Scribe on Oct 22, 2022 12:19:48 GMT
 www.youtube.com/channel/UC98YobUR-wnyfrodLttMSlA"Immediate Family" tracks the rise and collaborations of a group of legendary studio musicians 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 commentary from superstars like, Carole King, James Taylor, Linda Rondstadt, Keith Richards, Don Henley, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, Lyle Lovett, Phil Collins, and more. "Immediate Family" is a backstage tour spanning multiple eras of musical history.
Guitar Case Full of Money-
The Immediate Family Film
330 views Oct 21, 2022
Out take from Immediate Family Documentary.
Linda Rondstadt talks about a good lick deserves money falling from the sky.
Go to immediatefamilyfilm.com to find out where its playing near you.
Following in the footsteps of 1960’s session icons, The Wrecking Crew, musicians Leland Sklar, Danny Kortchmar, Russ Kunkel, and Waddy Wachtel backed iconic singer-songwriters of the 70s, 80s, and beyond, creating some of the most recognizable tunes in rock music.
In this entertaining follow-up to his acclaimed documentary “The Wrecking Crew,” director Denny Tedesco 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 players themselves, as well as the memories of some of music’s most iconic voices.
Including legendary needle drops and commentary from superstars like Carole King, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Keith Richards, Don Henley, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, and Phil Collins, “Immediate Family” is a backstage tour of rock history. |
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Post by the Scribe on Oct 22, 2022 12:32:24 GMT
Getting To Know Your 2022 CIFF Guests: Denny Tedesco
www.coronadonewsca.com/news/coronado_island_news/getting-to-know-your-2022-ciff-guests-denny-tedesco/article_7ef9c85e-5c74-11ed-b4a6-cf2b3909cf41.html
by Brooke Clifford Nov 4, 2022 Updated 15 hrs ago 0
Among this year’s guests at the Coronado Island Film Festival is Denny Tedesco whose follow-up film to the successful documentary, “Wrecking Crew,” details the story of the studio band members who played with some of the biggest music names of the 70s. For more information, visit the Coronado Island Film Festival website at coronadofilmfest.com/.
Among this year’s guests at the Coronado Island Film Festival is Denny Tedesco whose follow-up film to the successful documentary, “Wrecking Crew,” details the story of the studio band members who played with some of the biggest music names of the 70s. I had the opportunity to chat with Tedesco about the new documentary, “Immediate Family,” and how it came to be.
“Immediate Family” explores the lives of Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, Waddy Wachtel, and Steve Postell as they influenced the sound of a new decade, in what would come to be known as the Singer Songwriter Era. “In 2019 I was approached and asked about doing a story about the band section for Jackson Browne and James Taylor,” Tedesco mentioned. “They have a band now called ‘The Immediate Family’.”
Tedesco’s connection to music and inspiration for his documentaries goes back to his father, Thomas “Tommy” Tedesco, who was among the top studio musicians in Los Angeles in the 60s. Tedesco had previously done work as a set designer, in lighting, and as an IMAX technician before he became interested in documentaries. “When my father was diagnosed with cancer, I quickly jumped to tell the story of him and his friends,” he explained of what inspired him to direct and produce “Wrecking Crew.”
Tommy Tedesco and his cohort of session musicians who later came to be known as the “Wrecking Crew” were the largely uncredited musicians that can be heard on the recordings of wildly popular songs from the 60s (“California Dreamin’,” “Good Vibrations,” “I Got You Babe,” “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” among many others).
“Wrecking Crew” was a long time in the making due to music licensing issues, but with its completion and success, Tedesco was then able to bring the idea for “Immediate Family” to Kortchmar, Sklar, Kunkel, Wachtel, and Postell.
“I had a meeting with them and told them my pitch for the documentary, and they had known my dad, but I hadn’t met them before and they are legends to me,” Tedesco recalled. “When they told me they loved the idea, I quickly started doing my research and in a month and half we had all these big names coming in for interviews.”
Guest interviewees for “Immediate Family” include many of the artists that members of The Immediate Family crew played and toured with, including Carole King, Jackson Browne, Stevie Nicks, Peter Asher, James Taylor, David Crosby, Keith Richards, and more. “The astonishing thing was the quickness with which the artists said yes; we had pretty much all of the artists recorded by the time COVID hit.”
“I was talking to Carole King,” Tedesco added, “and she told me that when you’re going into the studio, the people recording for you are everything; they’re going to bring the magic to your recording and your singing. There’s such respect for these musicians.”
Tedesco explained how the industry was changing in the 70s as compared to the 60s when his dad was recording with bands. “In the 60s my dad went to work and would do three hour sessions where he recorded for any artist, it didn’t matter, and he never went on the road. There was so much work in town that it would be crazy to leave because it was so profitable. Going on the road in the 60s for a session musician was only opening the door for people to take your seat,” he noted.
“Then the 70s came around and music was changing and artists were getting more control,” Tedesco continued. “One of guys in ‘Wrecking Crew’ explained it as in 60s you were doing recording days, but in the 70s you did recording projects. Artists were taking time to finish an album, so the music was not rushed and the artist and these musicians are given a chance to bond and become friends.”
“With The Immediate Family, they had a different perspective than my father had. They were at the beginning of their careers when they were playing on these huge albums,” Tedesco described. “The Immediate Family and the instrumentalists of that era are then going on the road to support the albums, and albums were then also including all of their names on it so they can start to become famous among record buyers and at concerts, too.”
Tedesco loved hearing all of the stories being told by The Immediate Family members and the artists they played with while filming “Immediate Family,” such as the time they played poker with Linda Ronstadt. “They’re not pulling punches,” he laughed, adding how these musicians are at the points in their careers where they don’t have to worry so much about sharing those sorts of behind the scenes experiences. “Their friendships is what it’s about.”
When Tedesco and his team finalized the film and first showed it to Kortchmar, Sklar, Kunkel, Wachtel, and Postell, Tedesco said that was a really nerve-wracking moment. “It was the first time we’d played it, and we were showing it to the people we’d made it for, but when [the film] finished, some of them were almost in tears,” Tedesco recalled.
“They’d been interviewed for documentaries and films being made about everybody else, but no one was telling their story. So it was really interesting to see it from that point of view,” he commented. “Jackson Browne was there and he goes, ‘Wow, I’ve known these guys over 50 years and I didn’t even know that about them.’ And you get responses like that and you go, ‘Okay, I think we’re going in the right direction.’”
“Immediate Family” recently debuted at film festivals around the country where it has received two audience awards already. “The film’s the film, and you know all the music in these films, but it’s more than that,” Tedesco said. “It’s about relationships, it’s about families – your biological family as well as your work family.”
When it comes to this band, as with any group, Tedesco said, “You have to work together, you have to communicate, and you may not know the same language but you have to communicate musically and understand personalities. It’s really important and that’s why after 50 years these guys have such a love for each other. We all relate to it ourselves.”
The Coronado Island Film Festival will be showing “Immediate Family” on November 11 at the Coronado Performing Arts Theater. Tedesco is looking forward to watching the film with the audience and will be participating in a Q&A panel after the film. He also encourages anyone who sees it and enjoys the film to share it with other people as well.
“Wrecking Crew was only made possible because of the people,” he said, adding that audiences and fans play a huge part in helping stories like “Immediate Family” get told. “We want to share it and be able to get it to a streaming channel, to PBS, etc. and audiences are a crucial part of that journey.”
For more information, visit the Coronado Island Film Festival website at coronadofilmfest.com/.
VOL. 112, NO. 44 - Nov. 2, 2022some music
The Immediate Family - New York Minute (Official Video)
The Immediate Family - Divorced |
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Post by the Scribe on Oct 22, 2022 12:35:25 GMT
WFF2022 | Immediate Family | Denny Tedesco
Woodstock FilmFest
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Post by the Scribe on Nov 7, 2022 11:42:23 GMT
THE SCENE: KEY PLAYERS
Waddy Wachtel on Playing With Keith, Linda, Seger and More
bestclassicbands.com/waddy-wachtel-keith-richards-interview-ronstadt-11-4-22/
by Greg Brodsky
The Immediate Family (Kunkel, Wachtel, Sklar, Kortchmar, Postell) in New York, Nov. 2021 (Photo: © Greg Brodsky)
Guitarist Waddy Wachtel has been a first-call Los Angeles-based session and touring musician for many of the biggest artists of the era, including such stars as Linda Ronstadt and Stevie Nicks. His name often gets mentioned along with fellow session aces Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar, Leland Sklar and Russ Kunkel, and for good reason: they’ve worked together for over five decades. Now the four, along with “newcomer” Steve Postell, are preparing the release of their second full-length album and upcoming tour as a unit, calling themselves The Immediate Family. (A first single arrived Oct. 28, 2022; listen to it below.)
www.immediatefamilyband.com/
They’re also the subject of a new film, Immediate Family, which had its world premiere on Sept. 30, at the Woodstock Film Festival, and won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature.
immediatefamilyfilm.com/
Earlier in 2022, Best Classic Bands published the first part of our extensive interview with Wachtel, in which he talked about his musical brothers as well as working with Nicks, for whom he has served as musical director and lead guitarist for decades. In this second part, we asked him to share some insights of some of the recording sessions he’s done for other stars with whom he has collaborated over the years.
bestclassicbands.com/waddy-wachtel-immediate-family-interview-10-4-22/
First up was Bob Seger, and specifically the recording process for “Roll Me Away.” “That’s Russ [Kunkel], [Little Feat keyboardist] Billy Payne and myself. A lot of times you get in the studio… the artist may not even be there to sing a vocal. Someone else will sing a guide vocal. When I went into the studio with Bob Seger… it was like 10 in the morning… he had probably ingested half a pack of Marlboros already. And he got in that booth, and he sang so intense. I mean, it’s just like what you hear on his records. Blasting at 10 in the morning, it was fantastic! It was so inspiring. Bob was unbelievable in the studio.”
Wachtel, who turned 75 just before our interview, was a member of Ronstadt’s studio and touring band for years. “It seems like she had an ability to shift to a higher gear than any other singer,” I observe. “Tell me about her recording of ‘Just One Look.'” “On that song, when she gets to that ending, she just goes to a whole other level,” he says. “Those are live vocals on the session. That’s not her singing a casual guide vocal because she’s going to do ‘the real one’ later. [Producer] Peter Asher’s approach was, ‘No, no. These are performances.’ So when we’re doing the song, she’s going for the vocal. For ‘Blue Bayou,’ that vocal you hear… she sang that when we cut the track. That’s the real vocal. That’s why when we go on the road it sounds the same. Because it’s the band playing and it’s her driving the band with her incredible voice. It was the same with ‘Just One Look.’ That was the way we recorded it. That’s a live vocal. When she hits that ending… ‘Ohhh, baby…’ It’s like holy Christ! You could lose your place when you’re playing along with that.”
Watch Ronstadt and her crackerjack band – including lead guitarist Wachtel – perform two classics in 1977
Ronstadt’s musical arranger for many years was the immensely talented multi-instrumentalist Andrew Gold. He and Wachtel overlapped for many years in her band, and for a while Gold also served as the opening act for Ronstadt. “We would [also] play for Andrew’s show,” recalls Wachtel. “After we rehearsed one day, he said he wanted to play [bass guitarist Kenny Edwards and me] a song. And he sat down at the piano and played us this ballad. We’re listening to it and I’m looking at Kenny and I said to Andrew, ‘Why don’t you do it as a fast song?’ And he goes, ‘What?!?’ I said, ‘Give it a beat. Make it a fast song.’
www.andrewgold.com/
‘Really? No, I don’t think so.'” Wachtel was insistent. “‘Make it a fast song.’ Kenny and I were thinking the same thing. (starts mimicking the uptempo beginning) He goes, ‘Oh, man! That’s pretty cool.'”
Kenny Edwards, Linda Ronstadt, Andrew Gold, Waddy Wachtel and Dan Dugmore at Universal Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif., Sept. 28, 1977 (Photo © Henry Diltz; used with permission)
The song was “Lonely Boy.”
“That’s how it became the beat that it had and we went into the studio… again… live. My solo on that is a live solo. Everything on that track is live. By the end of that tour, is was part of the repertoire. The funny postscript about it… So we cut the song and it became the hit it should have been. It was really great and I was happy I was able to do what I did on it. One night I’m going into a 7-Eleven to buy some cigarettes (laughs) and I get in there and I reach into my pocket and I’ve got no money. That’s the thing about being a musician. You’re working, you’re working. You have no money. (laughs) So I get in this store and ‘Lonely Boy’ is on the radio and I don’t have a dime on me. And I’m looking at the guy behind the counter and I think, ‘Gee… I wonder if I tell that guy that’s me playing that solo, would he give me a cigarette?’ I just walked out thinking I’m not gonna bother. That’s the highs and lows of the music business right there. (laughs) It’s blasting on the radio and I’m thinking I can’t even buy a pack of fucking cigarettes.” (laughs)
Related: In 2021, we talked to Wachtel about his work on legendary recordings from Warren Zevon, Randy Newman and others, and appearing in… The Poseidon Adventure
bestclassicbands.com/waddy-wachtel-interview-2021-10-31-21/
The subject turns to Keith Richards.
I met Keith when I was on the road with Linda [in the mid ‘70s]. We were in London, doing a European tour and we were playing a theater called the Old Vic. Before we left, we had done a run at the Amphitheatre in L.A. and I had met Mick and Woody, and then after the Old Vic show downstairs in the dressing room, next to Peter Asher, there’s Keith Richards. I went over and I said, “Oh, a Rolling Stone, and we’re the same height. Nice to meet you, man.” And Kenny Edwards and I spent the next three nights hanging at Keith’s house in London, and just had a great, great time. The first night, I told him the band would love to meet him, and everybody came to my hotel room and Keith was so gracious. He was so amazing. He was fielding questions from everybody. I was sitting there looking at this thinking, ‘This is insane.’ I kept thinking, ‘I can’t ask him a question.’ And finally I said, ‘Well, I do have one question.’
“I said, ‘Keith, when you guys finished “Street Fighting Man” in the studio, what was that first playback like, to hear it all together?’ And he just looked at me like I was from Mars and he went, ‘I don’t fucking know.’ And I thought, ‘Great. He just answered every other question from all these people, but for me, he shines me.’ (laughs) I couldn’t believe it!
“We became really good pals. He spent three days hanging with me and we actually did a recording session right before we left London. And then over the years, whenever he’d come to [Los Angeles], I’d see him. We’d hang out, play guitars for a while and talk music. Dug each other right away. And played together very well, always.
“And then I get a call from an attorney one day. ‘I’m an attorney for Keith Richards; he’s looking for you.’ I said, ‘Oh, he’s looking for me. Why don’t you give him my number?’ (laughs) He said, “He’s at Larrabee Studio. Do you know where that is?’ And I went, ‘Of course, I do.’ And he said to call him.
Waddy Wachtel and Keith Richards during the X-Pensive Winos’ set in New York City, March 10, 2022
“So I call him and he says, ‘Wadds… hey man, how are you?’ He said, ‘Listen, I’m putting a band together, and you’re the other guitar player.’ I went, ‘What?!?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah, man. That’s it. You’re it. You’re the one I want.’ I went, ‘Fine with me.’ (laughs) ‘Okay with me.'” The band Richards was organizing was the X-Pensive Winos.
Richards and drummer Steve Jordan were in town working on the Hail, Hail Rock and Roll movie and he invited Wachtel to stop by the studio. “I knew Steve for years, so we were buddies anyway. So now there’s Steve, and Keith and myself. So Steve brought in Charlie Drayton and everybody thought of Ivan Neville together. That’s the Winos. And of course, Keith said, ‘We’ve gotta have Bobby Keys.’ So the Winos formed like that. That was it. There was no auditioning, really. It was, ‘You’re it. You’re it.'”
Drayton subsequently departed and the touring band added a bass player, Jerome Smith. “The rest of the band was the same: Bobby Floyd, Sarah Dash, Bobby Keys and the rhythm section, Steve, myself and Ivan.” Over the decades, they’ve recorded three albums, 1988’s Talk Is Cheap, 1992’s Main Offender and 2015’s Crosseyed Heart.
In 2022, they reunited onstage to play three songs at a New York City benefit concert. “It had been around 30 years in between gigs,” he laughs.
Wachtel is asked if he’s ever been starstruck. “Let’s put it this way, when I met Linda Ronstadt I was blown away. When I met Keith, I might’ve been starstruck, but we got along, you know what I mean? Being ‘starstruck’ became secondary to the friendships that developed right away. We relate. That’s what I loved. That’s what I still love. When the [Stones recorded 1997’s] Bridges to Babylon, [drummer] Jim Keltner and I were there every night. Keith called me and said, ‘Come down and play.’ Play on a Stones album? Yup.
“It was wonderful to meet these guys that I had been playing along with their songs forever and I knew every song that they did. When I met Mick, he and I had a contest. We were listening to some old R&B tunes and we were trying to outdo each other with who knew the phrasing better… who knew exactly how the song went, better than the other guy. That’s the thrill. The music is the thing. Being able to relate to music in the same way with people you’ve respected all these years and you find out they’re as crazed about the detail of it as you are. That’s the thrill. Or it becomes something like I said to Keith one day about his song ‘Hand of Fate.’ I said, ‘I love that song and I love the five-string part.’ And he goes, ‘What?’ And I said, “You know, the five-string part.’ ‘Huh?’ And I played him his song and he goes, ‘Oh, yeah, right. That’s how it goes. I forgot. That is good, isn’t it?’”
As for the Immediate Family, Wachtel, Kortchmar, Sklar, Kunkel and Postell will be back on the road together beginning in November for a series of West Coast dates, with the expectation that their tour will continue well into 2023. Tickets to see the band perform are available here. www.immediatefamilyband.com/
Listen to the Immediate Family’s cover of Sparks’ “The Toughest Girl In Town,” from their 2023 album
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Post by the Scribe on Oct 22, 2023 18:37:57 GMT
Review: “Immediate Family” The Musicians Who Made Carole King, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt’s Records Sing
www.showbiz411.com/2023/10/21/review-immediate-family-the-musicians-who-made-carole-king-james-taylor-linda-ronstadts-records-sing
■Music
by Roger Friedman - October 21, 2023 6:19 pm
If you grew up in the 70s and read album notes, you knew the names of Leland Sklar, Waddy Wachtel, Danny Kortchmar, and Russ Kunkel. They played on every James Taylor, Carole King, Jackson Browne, and Linda Ronstadt album, among others. They were to the 70s what Phil Spector’s Wrecking Crew had been to the 60s.
Denny Tedesco, who made the very complex and rewarding documentary about the Wrecking Crew, has done the same with these guys. They call themselves Immediate Family now, and previously were named The Section by James Taylor.
We do learn in this film that Peter Asher, who’s the center of all things in classic rock, was the first to list their names on albums, making them famous to those paying attention. Other musicians were indeed paying attention and many are interviewed here including Carole, James, Linda, Phil Collins, (now Rolling Stones) drummer Steve Jordan, Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Don Henley, and so on.
There are also interviews with the main guys, as well as other players in their circle including Val Garay and Craig Doerge.
“Immediate Family” is a nice companion piece to Alison Ellwood’s two part “Laurel Canyon” doc that played on Netflix that focused more on Joni Mitchell and Crosby, Stills & Nash. This film is more about the mechanics of how hits like “Fire & Rain” and “I Feel the Earth Move” were made, and why this particular quartet became ubiquitous because of their exceptional talents.
One thing you don’t get much of it anything personal about the Immediate Family — like whether they have families. Only toward the end is their an anecdote from the very articulate Wachtel about his mother. There’s nothing gossipy here either. For example, drummer Kunkel was married to singer Nicolette Larson (“Lotta Love”), engaged once to Carly Simon (who is strangely omitted from the film), and his original sister-in-law was Cass Elliott.
The most startling personal note come from Leland Sklar, the legendary bassist with a ZZ Top beard, who’s revered by the music world. Despite his huge successes, Sklar admits to a terrible lack of confidence, and maybe a desire to hide behind the beard. (He hasn’t seen his face since 1965.) Sklar says he hates it when people praise him in person, which is too bad.
Magnolia is screening “Immediate Family” on December 12th in theaters, and then releasing to streaming on December 15th.
AUTHOR
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
More articles from author
www.showbiz411.com/author/roger |
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