"Immediate Family" Review

 The unknown and unsung musicians who played on the hit songs of he 1960s have been assayed in acclaimed documentaries Standing in the Shadows of Motown (which covered the Funk Brothers, the house band of Motown) and The Wrecking Crew (covering the L.A. session players which included pre-solo artist Glen Campbell and legendary bassist Carol Kaye) and fans of these retrospectives now have another documentary to check out from Denny Tedesco (son of Wrecking Crew guitarist Tommy Tedesco), director of the latter doc, Immediate Family. (Bad title even in context.)

Focusing on the quartet of players - guitarists Danny 'Kootch' Kortchmar and Waddy Wachtel, bassist Leland Sklar, and drummer Russ Kunkel - who became the first famous session cats thanks to manager/producer Peter Asher putting musician credits in album liner notes, they backed a Who's Who of 1970s stars such as James Taylor, Carole King, Jackson Browne, Stevie Nicks, Linda Ronstadt, and more and became in demand as others wanted the guys who played on so-and-so's album.

With testimonials from those they worked backed with copious clips, we're given the quick rundown of their lives and how they rapidly coalesced into the unit they became. Whereas the Wrecking Crew musicians didn't tour because they feared someone else getting their chair in the studios, times changed where artists wanted the guys who recorded the album to be their live band, so they had active studio and touring careers. Sklar and Wachtel are both recognizable to normies due to their distinctive looks - Sklar has a massive white beard and Wachtel long tight curly hair - so this may be revelatory to non-liner notes nerds.

There are amusing stories like when Everly Brothers superfan Wachtel auditioned for their touring band and met their music director, Warren Zevon, and showed he knew the material better than Zevon and the time Waddy accompanied Ronstadt to a strip club when she didn't have any ID on her. Don Henley's solo career is basically owed to Kootch as the fellows branched off into different career paths of production and writing in the Eighties.

The pacing drags a bit towards the end as the focus shifts to what they're doing now - they're all still active in their seventies, but also slowing down to enjoy life more - and their recording and live shows as The Immediate Family, but for fans of music docs (and liner notes), it's worth a watch.

Score: 7/10. Catch it on cable/streaming. (Viewed on Hulu.)