Documentary About The Wrecking Crew About To Show At SXSW And Other Fests

Some good info and photos here:
http://classicstudiosessions.blogspot.com/
and here:
http://www.rigorousintuition.ca/board2/viewtopic.php?p=484106

Think that is Ray Pohlman on electric bass behind Jimmy's newspaper.

Award winning music doc needs to pay final licensing costs to be released.

Just received this link, from Ben Greenman's good blog
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/12/the-session-musicians-who-dominated-1960s-pop.html The film is currently only a little more than halfway toward its two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar goal, with a stated deadline of December 21st. But because the Internet has magical powers when it comes to content distribution, much of what Tedesco has created can already be viewed online. On the film’s official Web page,http://www.wreckingcrewfilm.com/ entering your e-mail address will give you access to dozens of outtakes from the film, including interviews with Leon Russell and Glen Campbell, and vignettes on everything from Phil Spector’s famed holiday album “A Christmas Gift For You” to Perry Botkin’s discovery of Harry Nilsson. This featurette, produced for the Nashville Film Festival, includes Tedesco’s summary of the film and content from it, including footage of his father.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzShxEa1LMo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCTw3nRG4lw

http:://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfP24IajV8M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfP24IajV8M

http://www.wreckingcrewfilm.com/contracts.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=forv3svsYzU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bPw-0YVXEI

http://www.wreckingcrewfilm.com/upcoming.html

3 Oklahoma screenings coming up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q15LqTowvhA

http://www.laweekly.com/music/studio-musicians-who-played-on-two-decades-of-hits-finally-get-their-due-5414177

interview with Denny Tedeco. The Wrecking Crew, a heartfelt, engrossing documentary 19 years in the making, which finally sees theatrical release in New York and Los Angeles on March 13.

Hoping for a showing in my hood

Wow, finally.

Nice flick, very enjoyable. Had no idea Tommy Tedesco was so funny. A lot of these musicians I had never heard speak at all, so that alone was cool. Love the parts where the musician plays along to the original record, like Joe Osborn doing his slick bass part from 5th Dimension's "Aquarius." Carol Kaye seemed to be getting along fine with Hal Blaine - I had thought there was some bad feeling between them - maybe that was subsequently?

It is a little weird seeing talking heads who are no longer alive, like Dick Clark.

This would go together really well as a double-bill with Rachel Lichtman's documentary about Boyce & Hart called The Guys Who Wrote 'Em, which by comparison is more visually unconventional, and which apparently has not yet had a proper release.

Carol Kaye seemed to be getting along fine with Hal Blaine - I had thought there was some bad feeling between them - maybe that was subsequently?

I think she's ticked at him for coming up with the Wrecking Crew name, and disputes that they were ever called that:

http://carolkaye.com/

MESSAGE: "I'm always deeply devoted since the 1970s to the cause of studio musicians being recognized for the talent and full scope of their depth in helping to create the 1960s-70s hit records and movie/TV show soundtracks. The Denny Tedesco-Hal Blaine "wrecking" film-doc doesn't tell the real story as he said it would, it's skewered, re-edited. We were never known as the Hal Blaine-invented 1990 self-promo "wrecking crew" term - like Leon Russell, Al Kooper others say, that's pure baloney. The 50-60 of us (out of 400+ hard-working recording musicians) were sometimes called the CLIQUE and most were successful jazz musicians with fine reputations before ever doing studio work.

Kent Hartman obtained my interview under fraud pretenses. His phony "wrecking" book re-invents history, please don't buy it. My book will be out this year, Carol K.

I support the Howard Roberts Tribute Documentary which has many of our Studio Musicians in it.

(tbh, I take much of what she says with a grain of salt; she spent decades claiming she, and not James Jamerson, played on "I Was Made To Love Her," "Bernadette," "I Can't Help Myself," "Dancing In The Streets," and other Motown hits.)

I thought there was also something about her downplaying Hal Blaine's actual work, and/or the extent of it, compared with that of Earl Palmer

She has a pretty distinctive sound, I reckon. Should be pretty easy to spot her.

Seen some mixed reviews of the film, but am gonna try to see it anyway this week

BTW y'all there was a virtual and unofficial 4CD box set put together to promo this a while ago. It's a really really great listen. Last time I checked there was still a working link for it on Wi11@rd's W0rmh0le5.

Noticed the sign for this outside the IFC Center but have yet to see.

IFC is showing it in their tiny screening-sized room, just fyi

Recently showed up on Netflix. Streaming now. So far thing was happiest to learn more about Plas Johnson.

Mickey Dolenz is very funny.
Herb Alpert looks like Merle Haggard.
Bones Howe is a Nabokov fan.

excellent movie! first half hour, 45 minutes or so is like.. some of the most exciting music doc stuff i've ever seen.

how comes Hal ended up as a security guard after being a multi millionaire?? there's.. more to that story surely?

I still need to see this

there are moments in that doc that actually give me chills. my kinda history.

After months of licensing, the compilation soundtrack is now available.

On September 14th, Pianist Don Randi is releasing his autobiography, "You've Heard These Hands".

After months of licensing, the compilation soundtrack is now available

Two years after we've all downloaded it

This is good, although I find something slightly depressing about it -- the whole non-stop well-oiled machine aspect of it. I'm actually struck by how little of the music is really among my favorite stuff, other than maybe the Beach Boys material. I also am reminded that I always found Hal Blaine a bit boring as a drummer, though excellent, although I love Earl Palmer.

I've never really loved Phil Spector girl group music for example -- I enjoy it but it's just not what excites me.

I don't mean to be rockist about it, but I think there is a lot to be said for the diversity of sounds that comes from bands playing their own music.

Wrecking Crew FB page (is it run by Tommy Tedesci's son Denny?) posts new stuff everyday, a lot of it pretty generic built every once in a while something kind of interesting. For instance today I learned about recording engineer Hank Cicalo who was previously unknown to me.e

bump

I dunno why it took me so long to watch this. I knew a little bit about them bc of being a Leon Russell & Glen Campbell fan but jesus, the scope of the music they played on was unbelievable

I mean, in terms of all the 60's music that I love, the Wrecking Crew is technically my favorite band: I already owned like 3/4 of their catalog without even knowing it!

Doc itself was structured strangely, but yeah...enjoyed the hell out of this. immediately went to my computer & made a Wrecking Crew playlist :D

Yeah it's a fun watch. A bit of a patchwork but they own up to how it was filmed/assembled over years, as you note, but it's a fine snapshot.

my new hero is carol, bass queen

this movie is so badly put together!

Yeah i couldnt get thru it

Doc itself was structured strangely, but yeah...enjoyed the hell out of this. immediately went to my computer & made a Wrecking Crew playlist :D

Was it on this thread that someone linked to a giant chronological playlist? I know I downloaded a copy.

Oh, it was Tyler!

https://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/129350927532/the-wrecking-crew-we-got-good-at-it-the

Dunno if the link is live, but you can find your way to one that works for sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9-FfwwXRDg

Louie Shelton. You might be suprised at what he played on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv9J6-6Fmfc

Or you can read it here
http://louieshelton.com/

Or here:

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=6458

RIP Max Bennett

X-post-Shelton with quite a resume

X-post-Shelton with quite a resume

According to this interview with Max Bennett Louis Shelton was the one who came up with the name of his band L.A. Express: http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=2418

This has been going around fb lately. Turns out, the drums on the soundtrack are overdubbed by Earl Palmer. Apparently, Elvin wasn't properly/correctly miked during the filming. Palmer said it was without question the most difficult session he'd ever done (which makes sense: "Play a solo just like Elvin Jones. Oh, and make sure you sync up to the film").
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-IRNECavtI

So there was a Latino Wrecking Crew says professor/ author Josh Kun:

[/i]as been explored about this “parallel Wrecking Crew” which you could (and in many cases still can) call on when you wanted a Latin-inflected sound.
That’s precisely what we tried to address with this book. We have interviews with the top living Latin American session players in L.A. We managed to track down the majority of them. [Radio journalist] Betto Arcos and I did those interviews, and he was really helpful in identifying some of those great L.A.-based players. So we have Abraham Laboriel in there, [Brazilian percussionist] Paulinho da Costa, [Colombian reedman] Justo Almario, [Peruvian drummer] Alex Acuña, [Cuban percussionist] Luis Conte, [Brazilian percussionist] Airto Moreira, and [Mexican-American percussionist] Ramon Yslas. They’re all, save for Yslas, roughly the same generation, and together they played on thousands of recordings in the United States alone. And not just in “Latin” projects, but for major commercial artists like Joni Mitchell, or Madonna, or, [/i]

So there was a Latino Wrecking Crew says professor/ author Josh Kun:

[/i]as been explored about this “parallel Wrecking Crew” which you could (and in many cases still can) call on when you wanted a Latin-inflected sound.
That’s precisely what we tried to address with this book. We have interviews with the top living Latin American session players in L.A. We managed to track down the majority of them. [Radio journalist] Betto Arcos and I did those interviews, and he was really helpful in identifying some of those great L.A.-based players. So we have Abraham Laboriel in there, [Brazilian percussionist] Paulinho da Costa, [Colombian reedman] Justo Almario, [Peruvian drummer] Alex Acuña, [Cuban percussionist] Luis Conte, [Brazilian percussionist] Airto Moreira, and [Mexican-American percussionist] Ramon Yslas. They’re all, save for Yslas, roughly the same generation, and together they played on thousands of recordings in the United States alone. And not just in “Latin” projects, but for major commercial artists like Joni Mitchell, or Madonna, or, [/i]

So there was a Latino Wrecking Crew says professor/ author Josh Kun:

[/i]as been explored about this “parallel Wrecking Crew” which you could (and in many cases still can) call on when you wanted a Latin-inflected sound.
That’s precisely what we tried to address with this book. We have interviews with the top living Latin American session players in L.A. We managed to track down the majority of them. [Radio journalist] Betto Arcos and I did those interviews, and he was really helpful in identifying some of those great L.A.-based players. So we have Abraham Laboriel in there, [Brazilian percussionist] Paulinho da Costa, [Colombian reedman] Justo Almario, [Peruvian drummer] Alex Acuña, [Cuban percussionist] Luis Conte, [Brazilian percussionist] Airto Moreira, and [Mexican-American percussionist] Ramon Yslas. They’re all, save for Yslas, roughly the same generation, and together they played on thousands of recordings in the United States alone. And not just in “Latin” projects, but for major commercial artists like Joni Mitchell, or Madonna, or, [/i]

Cool. Wonder if Laurindo Almeida rates a mention.

Oops. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-latin-american-wrecking-crew-a-conversation-with-josh-kun/

Kun is a professor at USC, a MacArthur fellow, and just edited the book "The Tide Was Always High: The Music of Latin America in Los Angeles"

Wow. How come I never heard of that guy before? And of course, Laurindo Almeida is mentioned pretty early on.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/12/arts/music/bill-pitman-dead.html

102 year old Bill Pitman rip

saw this online elsewhere: when Spector produced the enormously popular record "Be My Baby" in 1963, he named the jam session on the flip side "Tedesco and Pitman," after two of his favorite guitar players: Tommy Tedesco and Bill Pitman...