‘Immediate Family’ – An Interview with Denny Tedesco

Denny Tedesco is a producer from Los Angeles, California, and in addition to working behind the scenes on many projects and productions around the world, he also produced and directed the excellent documentary “The Wrecking Crew,” about the musical geniuses behind the biggest hits of the 1960s and early 1970s. And his newest documentary, “Immediate Family” will be playing twice at the 2023 Florida Film Festival, and similarly covers another group of studio musicians who wrote the biggest hits of singer-songwriter era of the 1970s and 80s. In this interview I ask him about the long tail of “The Wrecking Crew,” and how he managed to secure so many big names for his new film

Chris Crespo: Congrats on the continued success of “The Wrecking Crew” as it continues to be discovered and appreciated since its release. What does it mean to you to see the results of all the work you put into documenting your father’s legacy along with his fellow musicians?

Denny Tedesco: I never thought that I would still be getting emails and compliments so many years later. It has been such a great feeling when musicians from around the world ask me, “Are you any relation to Tommy?” Then they talk about “The Wrecking Crew” documentary and how much they love the film. Makes me really proud.

It was only after seeing the film did I discover why it was hitting the right notes (pun intended). I think why it resonates so much is because everyone can pull something out of it. If you’re of a certain age, you remember the music the first time around. Or later when your parents played those songs. Now I have audiences mention their Grandparents playing that song.

Then there is the father/son relationship that we all can relate to. Losing a parent is part of life. There is the other story that was very important to me and that was being able to contribute as long as you can in your work. For my father it was being a guitar player for as long as he could play. All of us in our careers have that. We all want to be relevant in our work and personal lives.

CC: You managed to interview an impressive array of legendary musicians for this new documentary, but was there anyone you wanted to talk to but couldn’t make work? Or did you interview everyone on your wishlist?

DT: There were many folks that we wanted to interview but Covid stopped us in our tracks. Most of the artists that were in the film were interviewed before Covid and I’m so lucky. I don’t think it would have happened for those two years. There are 3 zoom interviews that we did that are acceptable for us because of the artist and message – Neil Young, Steve Jordan and Stevie Nicks. I would have loved to be in person with them but it wasn’t possible. But so grateful they allowed us to interview them through zoom.

If there was one artist that I wish we could have interviewed would have been Warren Zevon who passed years ago. He would have had so many great stories.

CC: What was the most surprising thing you learned while making Immediate Family?

DT: How close they were to the artists. There are two major differences between my father and the Wrecking Crew Musicians and the Immediate Family era. When my father was working in the 60s, they are knocking out albums in 1-2 days. It was a factory. Many of the singers were never even around. So my father wasn’t hanging around with Brian Wilson, Frank Sinatra, or Elvis. He went and recorded for 3 hours at a time and went home. He never went on the road with those artists.

The Immediate Family era was the opposite. The musicians were at the beginning of their careers and were of the same age as the artists. Danny Kortchmar grew up playing with James Taylor at the Cape. So they all hung out together and took time recording the albums. Then when the album was done, they went on the road and supported that recording with the same band. So their friendships grew as they spent months and months together in the studios and on the road.

CC: Now with the experience of making two music documentaries, are they any bands or artists you would be interested in making movies about, or are you looking to try out other genres of storytelling?

DT: There are so many stories that can be told and they should be. I was offered a music doc recently and knew right off the bat, I’m not that person. I didn’t even know the name of the group. Even though they were big in the 90s. Could I do it? Yes, but it probably wouldn’t be as good as the person who loves the music and the story.

But I am working on the 3rd music doc. The story of Wolfman Jack which is right up my alley. I love that story. He was so influential at the time and wasn’t even a musician.

I’m also producing a comedy show called, Hanging With Doctor Z. Imagine Merv Griffin Show meets Fernwood Tonight but the host is Dr. Z from the Planet of the Apes (played by comedian Dana Gould). Dr. Z is stuck in 1960s-70s era and its all improv with the greatest comics of our time. It’s like watching serious jazz musicians play. I’m having so much fun with that.

Chris Crespo is a movie critic, writer and podcaster based out of Orlando, Florida. He hosts the weekly podcast Cinema Crespodiso, and has also made appearances on Doug Loves Movies, A Mediocre Time with Tom and Dan, The Curtis Earth Show, and more. This is his 13th year covering the Florida Film Festival.

This interview was conducted via email.