DENNY TEDESCO Son Preserves Wrecking Crew’s Musical History | Best Classic Bands

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Son Preserves WreckingCrews Musical History

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Denny Tedesco with his late guitarist father Tommy Tedesco

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ewsflash: Denny Tedesco hastime to spend with his family.The director of riveting music

documentary The Wrecking Crew stillcant believe it himself. The film he beganworking on three years before the birth ofhis 16-year-old daughter has finally beenresearched, shot and edited, its kudos-filled festival tour finished, its rightsclearances funded and completed, itstheatrical run over, its four-CD soundtrackand DVD and Blu-ray discs released. (Itsalso available on demand from severalsources; see our review here)

Im glad I dont have to put my family through it anymore, Tedesco says. The story now is that we gotit out. People are blown away that it actually came to fruition.

All thats left for The Wrecking Crew is continued marketing and the occasional booking for WreckingCrew players. Last month four of the studio musicians featured in the film reunited for a performance ata fundraiser in Los Angeles for Musack, which connects music and arts professionals with students to

by Laura Huntt Foti

The Wrecking Crew: Feature on ET

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Son Preserves Wrecking Crews Musical History | Best Classic... http://bestclassicbands.com/son-presrves-wrecking-crews-music...

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Members of The Wrecking Crew gathered for a Phil Spector session.

Tedesco with Wrecking Crew pianist & later star in-his-own-right Leon Russell.

help encourage their interest and skills in creatDeasy and Don Peake and bass player Joe Osbohits and reminisce, 300 collective years of pop music history and rock, jazz, country and contemporaryChristian as well.

Tedescos gone back to his film and video production roots, shooting projects for hire his current oneinvolves Cover Girl and MTV. Hes also doing interviews in support of the films home video release andpondering the debts he accrued to keep the film going over the years. Until the revenues start to flow,the memories are still fresh: drawn-out negotiations and personality mediations, debts incurred anddreams deferred. And, finally, his personal vision made public.

This vision and the music tomatch includes footageof his father,guitaristextraordinaireTommy Tedesco,a sessionmusician whoplayed not onlyon thousands ofpop songs butmany film scoresand jazz albums

as well. The senior Tedesco died in 1997. Dad had great chops, Denny says, better at 62 than everbefore.

Anyone who was around the Los Angeles music industry in the past decade heard about Tedesco and hismission to raise the money needed to clear the music that is crucial to telling The Wrecking Crewsstory. Clearing rights so the film could screen at the South By Southwest Film Festival in 2008 andother festivals was one thing, as those showings are not considered commercial (read for profit) bythose who hold the rights to the music. But once there, says Tedesco, No one would pick us up becausethere was still a backend. Naysayers abounded as Tedesco sought the hundreds of thousands of dollarsneeded to clear the rights to the movies 110 songs from record companies, music publishers and theAmerican Federation of Musicians (AFM).

Union negotiations werecomplicated by Tedescos ownconflicted interests: as afilmmaker he needed to keepcosts down; as a son whosemother was the beneficiary ofhis late fathers royaltyearnings, he wanted themusicians to receive as muchas possible.

The film had over a dozenAudience awards from thefestivals where it screened, butuntil the licensing was paid it couldnt be released in theaters. So in 2010, Tedesco turned tofundraising. He mortgaged his house. He maxed out his credit cards. He traveled with the film to 30cities, four-walling theaters for special screenings, with sponsors ranging from local music stores toestate planners and hearing aid companies. He got the message: his audience was aging fast. Heramped up the fundraising, with Kickstarter and International Documentary Association campaigns. Hehit up friends, strangers and more potential sponsors,including a drum company where a staffer askedhim Whos Hal Blaine? He followed the advice of Greg Ogonowski president of Modulation Index, acompany that makes software products for audio encoding, streaming, metadata and logging who hadsuggested including dedications and other naming opportunities in the film and soundtrack.



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George Harrison with Wrecking Crew bassist Joe Osborne

For instance, on the films homepage youll find a strip of linked logos for variosupporters button on the menu bar that leads to lists of other sponsors, donorsponsors. The movie wasnt just a labor of love for Tedesco but many others that shared his convictionthat it documented an important behind-the-scenes story that needed to be told andpreserved beforetoo many of the principal figures were no longer around to give their first-hand accounts.

As the money came in, Tedescos commitment to the project shifted from the personal to theprofessional to make sure his donors felt that they hadnt thrown away their money. All I had was mypromise to everyone to get it out, he says.

I survived making this film because of what my father taught me: Dont blow up on the leader. Whichmeans, if youre in a session, you could be 125% right. But if you call someone out, especially in front ofpeople, dont expect to come back the next day. So think before you say it. Tedesco acknowledges,Theres been times when I could have totally lost my mind and blown someone off. He tried not toburn any bridges as he sought buy-in both metaphorical and financial.

Tedesco cant help butfind irony in the factthat the movie hemade about his fatherand the other topstudio musicians ofthe 60s kept himaway from his familyjust as those longrecording sessionsprevented his ownfather from spendingtime with him. But hecouldnt help it,

driven as he was to tell the stories of the musicians whose works are so beloved but whose names werelargely unknown. Until, that is, The Wrecking Crew.

In the film Plas [Johnson, a saxophonist] says Im a better grandfather than I was a father. I realizewhen he says that, thats how Ive affected my kids, my wife and my marriage the last few years. But Iknew if I didnt do it no one else would. All I had were two promises: one promise to everyone whodonated that well get this out there, and a promise to my family that it will get better.

Another irony is the fact that he has grown close with several of the musicians, including keyboardistDon Randi. He mellows me out from all the stress thats been around me for 19 years, Tedesco says. Ididnt know him growing up. I always knew of Don, but I only heard the name. So when we starteddoing things together, traveling to screenings, I started to realize how fortunate I was to know him now.He said to someone recently, Im closer to Denny than I was to his father.

The musicians had what was essentially a business relationship. Almost like a factory worker, TommyTedesco left his work behind when he stepped through the door of his house. My father was playingthe music but he wasnt listening to it. He didnt know what the experience of it was. When he camehome, he didnt practice. He didnt play the stereo. We never heard music at home unless it was my



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brother. He played in aband, and at home hewould play the stereo. Notmy dad. Hed had enough.Of himself Denny Tedescosays, Im not a musician. Icant play anything. Theseguys were the original BestClassic Band.

Get The Wrecking Crew DVD, Blu-ray and CD at a special discount price for Best Classic Bands readers!Simply click on this link and enter BESTCLASSICBANDS into the Promo Code box and youll receive 10percent off your purchase.

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Who Are The Wrecking Crew?

About Latest Posts

LLaauurraa HHuunntttt FFoottiiLaura often says, Music is my madeleine, a Proustian reference meaning that when she hears certain classicsongs she can completely transport mentally to another time and place. She has used her deep connection tomusic in her career, including three memorable years at Billboard as queen of music video and three years atRCA Records she prefers not to discuss.

More recently, after a move from New York to Los Angeles and a long stint in interactive multimedia, Lauramoved into internet/social media marketing for music and other clients. In 2012 she wrote The Cusp ofEverything, a novel incorporating a full soundtrack. In 2014 she wrote and performed a one-woman showabout online dating, All the Wrong Men. Currently she is working on a new show, My Life as a Shiksa, andworkshopping her play, Worldly Possessions.

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The 10 GreatestGuitar Riffs of

10 Great End ofSummer Songs

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Hal Blaines nephew, Michael Kravitz has a tribute band called Demolition a tribute toThe Wrecking Crew:http://www.demolitionatributetothewreckingcrew.com

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DENNY TEDESCO Son Preserves Wrecking Crew’s Musical History | Best Classic Bands