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Jonathan Glazer’s unusual Holocaust film The Zone Of Interest opens in four theaters in New York and LA today as Cord Jefferson’s satirical comedy American Fiction debuts in seven, the latest trenchant specialty offerings in a fall market full of strong titles as year-end approaches and the awards season clicks into high gear after Golden Globe nominations this week.

From A24, The Zone of Interest premiered at Cannes (Deadline review here), winning the Grand Prix, and the Fipresci Prize. The (actual) commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his wife Hedwig strive to build a dream life for their growing family in a lovely villa and garden whose back wall abuts the concentration camp. The film opens with the family picnicking and frolicking on a lush riverbank, then trekking happily home.

For filmmaker Denny Tedesco, making the 2015 film The Wrecking Crew, about a renowned group of L.A. session musicians that backed everyone from The Mamas & the Papas to The Beach Boys, was personal. He’s the son of Tommy Tedesco, after all — a Wrecking Crew guitarist and one of the prolific axemen in history — and sought to give dad his due.

Now, Tedesco is shining a light on a new, underappreciated group of session musicians in Immediate Family, a group that backed the likes of Steve Nicks, the Rolling Stones,...

"I would buy records just because they were on it." Magnolia Pictures has revealed an official trailer for a rock doc called Immediate Family, about making music in the 70s. This documentary is made by director Denny Tedesco, who states: "I had been hesitant to make a follow up to The Wrecking Crew. But when I was approached with the idea of The Immediate Family, I didn't think twice. The Immediate Family consists of Danny 'Kootch' Kortchmar Guitar / Vocal, Leland Sklar Bass, Russ Kunkel Drums, Waddy Wachtel Guitar / Vocal & Steve Postell Guitar / Vocal. They were at the genesis of the Singer Songwriter Era in the 1970s..." The film follows the music & lives of legendary 1970s session musicians who were featured on some of the most iconic recordings from the era. Featuring Carole King, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Keith Richards, Don Henley, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, Lyle Lovett, Phil Collins. It premiered at festivals last year,...

Magnolia Pictures announced on Thursday that they had acquired of North American rights to “Immediate Family,” director Denny Tedesco’s follow-up to his 2008 documentary “The Wrecking Crew,” which was also released by Magnolia.

While “The Wrecking Crew” followed the first wave of studio musicians in the 1960s, “Immediate Family” picks up where that film left off and highlights the talents of session musicians from the ’70s, with commentary from music legends Carole King, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Keith Richards, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, Lyle Lovett and Phil Collins.

“Denny Tedesco has given us another extremely entertaining glimpse behind the musical curtain of some of the most memorable songs of our time,” said Magnolia Pictures co-CEOs Eamonn Bowles and Dori Begley in a statement. “The musical talent of these studio players is rivaled by their incredibly engaging personalities and hilarious stories.”

“Immediate Family” tracks the rise and...

Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to “Immediate Family,” director Denny Tedesco’s follow-up to his acclaimed documentary “The Wrecking Crew.”

That earlier film, which Magnolia also released, followed the first wave of studio musicians in the ’60s. “Immediate Family” takes up the story where “The Wrecking Crew” ended, taking a deep dive through some of the most famous and influential session musicians from the 1970s.

To that end, the new documentary includes commentary from the likes of Carole King, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, Lyle Lovett, Keith Richards, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, and Phil Collins. Magnolia will release the film theatrically in December.

In addition to talking to those music legends, “Immediate Family” tracks the rise and collaborations of session musicians Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, and Waddy Wachtel as they help craft some of the decade’s most enduring hits.

The filmmakers say...

Danny Kortchmar with Carole King in Denny Tedesco’s close-knit and illustrious Immediate Family states: “We got to meet and play with our heroes.” Photo: Denny Tedesco

Denny Tedesco’s close-knit and illustrious Immediate Family (a Doc NYC highlight which includes animation by Lewie Kloster and Noah Kloster), features on-camera in-person interviews with Stevie Nicks, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Carole King, Phil Collins, David Crosby, Lyle Lovett, Keith Richards, Steve Jordan, Peter Asher (of Peter and Gordon), Lou Adler, and Neil Young (on Zoom) on their seminal work with the masterful foursome of Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, and Waddy Wachtel (featured in Morgan Neville’s Keith Richards: Under The Influence) on some of the biggest hits of the Seventies and Eighties. The impact of The Beatles looms large (as it did for Don Letts in Bill Badgley’s Rebel Dread) and a peak at Immediate Family,...

Carole King and James Taylor perform their own hits — alongside harmonizing on each other’s songs — in the new trailer for concert documentary Carole King & James Taylor: Just Call Out My Name. The film premieres on Jan. 2 at 9:00 p.m. Et via CNN and will livestream via CNNgo. It will be available on demand from Jan. 3 through Jan. 9 via cable and satellite providers, CNNgo, and CNN mobile apps.

The exclusive trailer includes archival photos from the first time they performed together in 1970 at the storied Troubadour, alongside King and...

One of the great musical friendships and collaborations is getting a documentary of epic proportions. CNN Films and HBO Max announced today that it has ordered a documentary about the more than 50-year friendship and collaboration between Carole King and James Taylor. Directed by Frank Marshall and produced by the Kennedy / Marshall company, the concert documentary follows the duo’s 2010 reunion tour commemorating their 1970 show at the famed Los Angeles music club The Troubador. The film will premiere on CNN before eventually heading to HBO Max, reaching fans of all ages.

“I’ve been listening to and playing their music my whole life, so it’s especially meaningful to me and such an honor to be able to put together this special reunion concert by these two extraordinarily gifted friends,” Marshall said in a release.

One of the founders of Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment before founding Kennedy / Marshall with his wife Kathleen Kennedy,...

A documentary about the creative pairing of Carole King and James Taylor has been commissioned by CNN and HBO Max, with Frank Marshall set as director and producer, the two companies announced Friday. Under the terms of the deal, “Carole King & James Taylor: Just Call Out My Name” will premiere on CNN, while domestic streaming and international distribution rights will go to HBO Max.

Marshall, the producer of many feature blockbusters who is lately reinventing himself as a music documentarian, is coming off the warm reception for HBO’s “The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.” One of that film’s producers, Aly Parker, is taking on the role here as well, along with the Kennedy/Marshall Company.

The documentary will focus on the duo’s 2010 world tour, dubbed the “Troubadour Reunion Tour.” The title referred to their having played together at West Hollywood.’s famed Troubadour...

Frank Marshall is dancing from the Bees Gees to Carole King and James Taylor.

The filmmaker is directing and producing a concert documentary about the legendary musicians for CNN and HBO Max.

Carole King & James Taylor: Just Call Out My Name will premiere on CNN with HBO Max taking U.S. and international distribution.

The pair have been friends for 50 years and famously played together at LA’s The Troubadour in 1970. They got back together for a show at the venue’s 50th anniversary in 2007, where they played hits such as “You’ve Got a Friend” and “I Feel the Earth Move”, which sparked an arena tour in 2010. The film will document this tour.

It will also feature musicians including Danny Kortchmar, Russ Kunkel, and Lee Sklar, which backed the duo in 1970, 2007 and 2010.

Marshall, who recently directed HBO’s The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart and...

All these decades later, it’s easy to take Tapestry for granted. Like other 1971 staples, from Led Zeppelin IV to Joni Mitchell’s Blue, Carole King’s second solo LP — released 50 years ago today, and recently named the 25th greatest album of all time by Rolling Stone — has always seemed to be there. After its release, it was the Number One album in the country for an astonishing 15 weeks straight, a feat that seems unimaginable now. (Adele’s 21 topped it, at 24 weeks, but that’s the recent exception.) And subsequent...

Bon Jovi rode their 1987 single “Wanted Dead or Alive” — with its power-ballad metaphor about a wandering outlaw, his steel horse, and a loaded six-string — into Eighties jukebox history. And it cemented singer Jon Bon Jovi as a rock-star cowboy in the process. He returned to the Wild West theme, with cowriters Richie Sambora and Holly Knight, for a pair of songs (“Ride Cowboy Ride,” “Stick to Your Guns”) on 1988’s New Jersey too. He and Sambora even wore cowboy hats onstage.

But nowhere did Jon Bon Jovi embrace his inner...

Their names are familiar to anyone who grew up on SoCal rock. In various combinations, guitarists Danny Kortchmar and Waddy Wachtel, bassist Leland Sklar, and drummer Russ Kunkel contributed to countless albums by James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, and Don Henley, among many others.

What they’ve never done is make a record on their own, but after nearly 50 years of playing together, these veterans have finally done just that. Calling themselves the Immediate Family, a nod to their connections to classic-rock all-stars, the band — which also includes singer,...

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,...

“I feel if I were to organize it correctly I would try to sing like a Mexican and think like a German. You know what I mean? I get it mixed up,” Linda Ronstadt joked to Rolling Stone in 1978. The quip was a comical reference to her Mexican-German heritage but also, in retrospect, a reflection of Ronstadt’s many musical influences and interests, along with the self-deprecating humor she has employed throughout more than five decades of music stardom. Born in July 1946 in Tucson, Arizona, where her father, Gilbert, the...

Thirty-nine years ago next month, Linda Ronstadt released Mad Love, her tenth LP as a solo artist. Ronstadt had previously topped both the pop and country singles charts respectively with high-spirited takes on “You’re No Good” and “When Will I Be Loved,” but Mad Love put the singer in new-wave rock & roll territory. While it’s actually one of her most adventurously vibrant efforts – not to mention Grammy-nominated and her seventh straight million-seller – reviews of the album were decidedly mixed.

Nonetheless, when young pay-cable company Home Box Office came...

J.D. Souther John David Souther Black Rose Home by Dawn (Omnivore)   J.D. Souther's songs are better known as sung by other people, which is good for his bank account but puzzling if you've heard his fine LPs. I wouldn't be surprised if more people nowadays know of him from his acting on the TV series Nashville than from his career in music. If there's any justice, these three reissues will redress that imbalance.

After this Texan moved to L.A., he teamed with Glenn Frey in the band Longbranch/Pennywhistle (they kept co-writing songs after Frey founded the Eagles, notably "New Kid in Town"), lived upstairs from Jackson Browne, and dated Linda Ronstadt.

Browne told him to audition for David Geffen, who'd just started the Asylum label, and that led directly to 1972's John David Souther. Its original ten-song program, which kicks off with "The Fast One," one of...

Eric Clapton and Keith Richards will perform at “Howlin’ For Hubert,” a celebration of the musical legacy of the late Hubert Sumlin and his influence on every guitar hero of today, on February 24 at New York’s legendary Apollo Theater. The evening will benefit the Jazz Foundation of America.

The concert will also feature performances by Doyle Bramhall II, Gary Clark Jr., James Cotton, Shemekia Copeland, Billy Flynn, Barrelhouse Chuck Goering, Buddy Guy, David Johansen, Steve Jordan, Danny Kortchmar, Dr. John, Keb Mo, Todd Mohr, Ivan Neville, Robert Randolph, Kenny Wayne Sheperd, Larry Taylor, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, Jimmie Vaughan, Jimmy Vivino, Willie Weeks, Jody Williams, Kim Wilson, and other special surprise guests.

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It’s ironic that the angry young man of Turnstiles (1976) and The Stranger (1977), who frantically ran from the middle-class cliches of his native Long Island, N.Y., should find himself nearly 20 years later contemplating the meaning of life along the sandy shores of — where else? — Long Island. Like rock & roll’s own songwriting version of novelist John Cheever, Billy Joel is torn by commonplace doubts about his place in the world. With his 12th album of new songs, River of Dreams, he again asks the sort of sobering questions about...