Audition at RCA

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Movie
German title Audition at RCA
Original title Audition at RCA
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1964
length 16 minutes
Rod
Director DA Pennebaker ,
Richard Leacock
production DA Pennebaker
music Dave Lambert
camera DA Pennebaker,
Nicholas Proferes ,
Jim Desmond
cut DA Pennebaker,
Nicholas Proferes
occupation

u. a.

Audition at RCA (alternative title Lambert & Co. ) is a 1964 documentary by DA Pennebaker about jazz singer Dave Lambert and a recording session with his new group for producer George Avakian at the RCA Victor studios .

background

The documentary filmmaker DA Pennebaker met Dave Lambert through the sound engineer Bob Van Dyke; Lambert, who was a trained carpenter, then helped expand the new production studio for the Pennebaker team (Drew Associates) in New York City. At that time the singer had put together a new vocal group and also wrote several songs for this formation. This group Lambert & Co. consisted of the singers Mary Vonnie, Sarah Boatner, David Lucas and Leslie Dorsey; it was created shortly after the dissolution of Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan in early 1964.

Lambert intended to record demo material with the group so that the songs might be released on RCA. Pennebaker, who loved producer George Avakian, agreed to film this recording session at RCA Studios (155 East 24th Street). Pennebaker worked with three cameras - one he operated himself, the other Nicholas "Nick" Proferes and Jim Desmond. While Proferes was filming in the control room, Pennebaker and Desmond were with the singers. Pennebaker's camera mostly focused on Sarah Boatner; Desmond's camera was heavily focused on Mary Vonnie. According to Pennebaker's memoirs, he did not give proper stage directions; He worked in a similar way on his film about the Monterey Pop Festival (1968):

“Everyone had a free spirit to go with his gut. Then we'd edit the results later. We never told anyone to do anything for the camera nor did we say a word to them. Sarah took off her shoes on her own, and they moved around in a circle without coaching so Dave could see the musicians. "

- DA Pennebaker

The group recorded a total of ten songs, Individualist Waltz, Think of Me, Leaving, Old Folks, Comfy Cozy Blow the Man Down, Old Folks and Comfy Cozy , all of which (except for Old Folks ) were by Dave Lambert. Lambert's vocal quartet consisted of hitherto unknown singers, none of whom later became more prominent in the jazz scene. In the film you can see the rehearsals and recordings of Blow the Man Down and Comfy Cozy . In addition to the singers and Avakian's production crew, the studio also included three accompanying musicians ( Moe Wechsler , George Duvivier , Gary Chester ) as well as Steve Sholes, then head of the pop music department at RCA, and Ben Rosner, an A&R at RCA.

The film found no distribution for showing in American theaters after its completion; nor was it broadcast by any television station. After Dave Lambert's death in October 1966, it was shown at a funeral service at New York's Village Gate jazz club . A copy of the film came to Europe through a German television reporter; After (probably more private) performances of the film in Europe, inquiries were made about the corresponding record, but RCA Victor had decided not to produce singles or long-playing records . DA Pennebaker recalled in an interview:

"Of course, there was no record, because RCA decided not to make it, and so this whole thing was like a ghost presence, and I loved the songs, but they were never going to be released because nobody was ever going to sing them except David's little group. So I said in my head that maybe my reason for existing was to make films of people that nobody else was going to make films of because I like the music or I like them or whatever. "

- DA Pennebaker

reception

In Europe, Pennebaker's 1966 film was received positively by the Cahiers du cinéma ; "Audition at RCA is a model of technical perfection and of equilibrium in the description".

Web links / sources

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The film team also included Nancy Sen, Nina Shulman and Bob Van Dyke. See G. Roy Levin: Documentary explorations: 15 interviews with film-makers. 1971, p. 229
  2. ^ A b D. A. Pennebaker: Interview
  3. ↑ Cahiers du cinéma in English , issues 1–12. Cahiers Publishing., 1966