Tom Dowd and the Language of Music (E)

Film series: “What does it sound like, baby?”

When?

Thursday 14 March 2013, 19:00

Where?

The Electric Theatre, Onslow Street, Guildford, GU1 4SZ

Open to:

Public, Staff, Students

Admission price:

£7, £5.50 concessions

Admission information:

Tickets from Electric Theatre Box Office (Mon-Sat 10:30-17:00), 01483 444789, or online at www.guildford.gov.uk/electrictheatre

Tom Dowd started off as a teenage nuclear physicist on the Manhattan Project but eventually chose music instead, becoming the house engineer for Atlantic Records. He recorded an astonishing array of artists, including John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, and the Modern Jazz Quartet; the pioneering Soul records of Ray Charles and Sam Cooke; R&B artists like The Platters, The Drifters, The Coasters, and Ben E. King; and Soul legends Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and Aretha Franklin. In the late 1960s, Dowd also began producing artists, resulting in landmark albums by Derek & The Dominos, Rod Stewart, The Allman Brothers Band, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. 

Tom Dowd and the Language of Music takes the viewer behind the scenes of this extraordinary life, revealing how this one man transformed the way we hear music today.

Appearances by: Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, The Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Les Paul, Aretha Franklin, Joe Bonamassa, Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, Phil Ramone, Arif Mardin, Mike Stoller, Al Schmitt and more.

(2004) Director: Mark Moormann, 90 min, Cert E

Sundance Film Festival Official Selection 2003
Toronto Film Festival Official Selection 2003

Film Series: "What does it sound like, baby?" - The quest for sound in music creation, performance and recording

This series brings together four extraordinary films about a broad range of artists who share a common goal: the right sound for their music. Sometimes this was done by fusing unrelated existing sounds to create entirely new genres (Ray Charles or Jimmy Page), sometimes by bringing highly traditional sounds into the present (Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch or Jack White); sometimes by endlessly searching for the right sound for a simple part (U2’s The Edge); or sometimes combining all of the above (producer Tom Dowd). This series draws from the research of University of Surrey popular music scholar Tim Hughes, who will give a short introductory talk before each screening, and will be available after the screenings to engage in more relaxed discussions at the bar.