Documentary on Legendary 1970s L.A. Session Musicians Coming From Wrecking Crew Director

Director Denny Tedesco scored with his 2008 film “The Wrecking Crew,” his critically praised documentary on the legendary session musicians of the ‘60s who performed with everyone from the Beach Boys and Phil Spector to Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley — so it makes perfect sense that he’s begun work on a film about legendary 1970s session musicians called “Immediate Family.”

This crew, which backed Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon and countless others, includes guitarists Danny Kortchmar and Waddy Wachtel, bassist Leland Sklar, drummer Russ Kunkel and others.

Kortchmar, Sklar and Kunkel made up three-quarters of The Section, known for their studio and live work in support of some of the top selling singer/songwriters and solo singers of the era, as well as their own instrumental albums. (They were later joined by Wachtel.) Individually or together, in addition to the artists listed above, the musicians worked with Carole King, Keith Richards, Neil Young, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Don Henley, Phil Collins, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, Bryan Ferry, Lyle Lovett and Jimmy Buffett, and producers Lou Adler and Peter Asher — many of whom have already been interviewed for “Immediate Family.” In the documentary, many of these artists talk about their history with these musicians and what they brought to their songs.

Kortchmar quips, “we’re like a cover band that plays all originals,” referring to the band’s repertoire of hits they either wrote or co-wrote for artists like Browne (“Tender is the Night” and “Somebody’s Baby”), Taylor (“Honey Don’t Leave L.A.”), Henley (“Dirty Laundry” and “All She Wants to Do is Dance”), Zevon (“Werewolves of London” and “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead”) and others.

The Immediate Family documentary is produced by Greg Richling and Jonathan Sheldon of Pfonetic, producer Jack Piatt and co-executive producer Elmo Lovano, both of Jammcard, executive producer Cliff Burnstein, co-executive producer Caroline Hoste, and executive producers Matthew Helderman and Luke Taylor of BondIt Media Capital. Sales agents/EPs Dan Braun, Josh Braun and Ben Braun of Submarine are representing the film globally.

Popular on Variety:

Must Read

Film
COVER | Sebastian Stan Tells All: Becoming Donald Trump and Starring in 2024’s Most Controversial Movie
By Andrew Wallenstein 2 weeks

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXN8jqasrKGTZLumw9Jom6ibpaKyr8DAq7Bmp55iuaazxKebmqqpYn56g4%2BsZKVlkWLApr%2FSoqanZZ2qwKqvyJqlrGWTpLqqusZmnaunnWLEs7HCpKCnn12Yv6bDjJ2gq52TqbyzeZBrZ2xsZmqGc36O

Jenniffer Sheldon

Update: 2024-07-26

DazeBlog