Just added to the Movies You Might Not Know list…
“Tom Dowd and the Language of Music” is a documentary about one of the greatest record producers/engineers of all time.
If you bought records by any of the big names on the Atlantic label from the 50s through the 90s, you probably saw Tom Dowd’s name in small print on the back. He worked with the Rolling Stones, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Cream, Otis Redding, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dizzy Gillespie, and many more.
In the movie, music legends like Eric Clapton and Gregg Allman and record executive Jerry Wexler talk about working with him. Dowd, who died in 2002, acts as tour guide through his remarkable life, including his years working on The Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb — as a teenager! One of the highlights of the movie is seeing Dowd sitting behind a control board, playing with the original tracks of “Layla,” re-discovering elements of the song he’d forgotten were in there.
“Tom Dowd and the Language of Music” is running at various times this month on IFC. If you miss it, get the DVD. It’s must-see for anyone into the history of rock and R&B.
Here’s the trailer…