THE WRECKING CREW Unmasks Anonymous Studio Musicians Behind 60s West Coast Sound

THE WRECKING CREW, the new documentary on the legendary musicians that made the West Coast Sound and played on hundreds of songs that would be the soundtrack for millions of lives, is shared by filmmaker Denny Tedesco and subject Don Randi. Featuring the trailer and footage from the film, we get added insight about the stars and background players that included Cher, Nancy Sinatra, Denny Tedesco and Carol Kaye, among others. Tedesco takes us through the 18-year journey to make the film, the struggle to secure the rights to over 100 songs, and Randi brings us back with him to the studio floor where some of the greatest songs of all time were recorded for $25 a session-all in this uncensored BYOD interview, hosted by Ondi Timoner.

Guest Bio

What the Funk Brothers did for Motown…The Wrecking Crew did, only bigger, for the West Coast Sound. Six years in a row in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, the Grammy for “Record of the Year” went to Wrecking Crew recordings. And now, THE WRECKING CREW tells the story in pictures and that oh, so glorious sound. The favorite songs of a generation are all here, presented by the people who made them for you. THE WRECKING CREW is a documentary film produced and directed by Denny Tedesco, son of legendary late Wrecking Crew guitarist Tommy Tedesco. The film is a fun and moving tribute from Denny to his father and to the music, the times and to the secret star-making machine known only as “The Wrecking Crew.”

Denny Tedesco grew up in Los Angeles and is an alumnus of Loyola Marymount University. He started his film career as a set decorator on feature films such as Eating Raoul. He then traveled the world as a lighting technician and location producer for IMAX films. From the shark infested waters of Australia, to an exploding Volcano of Mt. Pinatubo (Philippines), and to the plains of Africa, he has filmed under the most challenging conditions. Yet nothing has ever challenged him more than bringing the story of his father, Tommy Tedesco and his friends to the big screen. The phrase “labor of love” may be over-used, but in this case it was the only way to make THE WRECKING CREW come to life.

Born Don Schwartz in New York City and raised in the Catskill Mountains, Don Randi received training in classical music. After his father’s death, he and his mother moved to Los Angeles in 1954, and the following year he started work at a record distribution company where he heard and became influenced by jazz musicians, particularly Horace Silver.

He began his career as a professional pianist and keyboard player in 1956, gradually establishing a reputation as a leading session musician. In the early 1960s, he was a major contributor, as musician and arranger, to producer Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound.” He also played piano on “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” and every album by Nancy Sinatra as well as being a member of her touring band for decades, and The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations”. He claims to have played on over three hundred hit records, working with musicians such as Linda Ronstadt, Quincy Jones, Cannonball Adderley, Herb Alpert, Sarah Vaughan and Frank Zappa. In 1970 he opened The Baked Potato jazz club in Studio City, California, and formed his own group, Don Randi and Quest, as the house band. The band has subsequently recorded over 15 albums and were nominated for a Grammy in 1980 for the album New Baby. In 2010 The Baked Potato was named Best Jazz Club in Los Angeles magazine.