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Tom Dowd and the
Language of Music
review by Carrie
Gorringe, 19 September 2003
Toronto International Film Festival
2003
For
anyone who has ever listened to and marveled at the recordings of
such groups as Cream, Lynryd Skynyrd, John Coltrane’s exiquisite Giant Steps, The Allman Brothers, and anything from the vast output
of Atlantic Records, there is one more name that should be part of
their repertoire: Tom Dowd, the engineering genius who not only made
it possible, but also definitive. Director Mark Moorman captures it
all in his absorbing documentary, Tom Dowd
and the Language of Music. Through interviews with Dowd,
Atlantic Records’ founder Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, Dickey
Betts, Eric Clapton and others, Moorman creates a rich portrait of
both the Columbia Unversity-trained physicist-turned-artist, and the
history of the recording process itself. Beginning in 1947, Dowd was
still faced with having to record directly to disc. Tiring of its
limitations, and thanks to Dowd’s efforts, Atlantic Records was
the first record company to have eight-track recording facilities by
the mid-‘50s, no mean feat, since Dowd had to build the recording
console from radio-station reject parts (prior to the 1960s, that
was the only source of material). Moorman also carefully documents
the life of a studio engineer during the 1950s: chaos. Dowd recounts
how he had to record the Coasters at 4:00 p.m. one day, then work
with Charlie Mingus at midnight. There was little time for leisurely
retakes.
When
Atlantic Records moved away from jazz to go more mainstream in the
1960s, Dowd took his skills and used them to record Aretha Franklin
in her classic recordings at Muscle Shoals and Cream’s
"Disraeli Gears" before moving on to Derek and the
Domino’s "Layla" and all of the Allman Brothers’
albums. While watching footage of Dowd at work, one is reminded of
someone who worked by instinct, always knowing when the
"right" moment had been reached. Eric Clapton summed up
Dowd’s abilities thusly: "Most of the success of our
[Cream’s] early recording could be laid at his door." Dickey
Betts described Dowd as a psychologist who would dig out of the
performers everything that they were capable of doing. All who
worked with him describe him as a man who put everyone at ease in
his presence. Sadly, Tom Dowd died on October 27, 2002, but this
documentary is a fitting memorial to this grand talent behind the
scenes.
Toronto International Film Festival Coverage:
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