Sundance Film Festival to include Jimmy Page guitar documentary's U.S. premiere

The guitar documentary "It Might Get Loud," starring Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White, is set to make its U.S. premiere at the Sundance Film Festival next month.

Directed by Davis Guggenheim and produced by Thomas Tull and others, the film makes its second festival appearance following its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September. It is destined for wider distribution next summer, having recently been purchased by Sony Pictures Classics.

"It Might Get Loud" successfully unites Page, White and Edge for the first time, as the film's official Web site explains:

"While each guitarist describes his own musical rebellion, a rock 'n' roll summit is being arranged. Set on an empty soundstage, the musicians come together, crank up the amps and play. They also share their influences, swap stories, and teach each other songs. During the summit Page's double-neck guitar, The Edge's array of effects pedals and White's new mic, custom built into his guitar, go live."

Sony describes "It Might Get Loud" as "a musically and visually uplifting love letter to the electric guitar told through the experiences of these three major figures across three generations of rock 'n' roll."

Back to the official Web site:

"The musical journey is joined by visual grandeur too. We see the stone halls of Headley Grange where "Stairway to Heaven" was composed, visit a haunting Tennessee farmhouse where Jack White writes a song on-camera, and eavesdrop inside the dimly lit Dublin studio where The Edge lays down initial guitar tracks for U2's forthcoming single. The images, like the stories, will linger in the mind long after the reverb fades.

"'It Might Get Loud' might not affect how you play guitar, but it will change how you listen."

What's particularly notable about this film for Jimmy Page enthusiasts is the fact that it contains new music from him, created on screen. He had gone all decade, from 2000 on, without releasing any original material -- a point he addressed in an interview with David Cavanagh for Uncut magazine earlier this year: "That doesn't matter!" said the guitarist. "No! What does that matter?"

The Sundance announcement arrived Dec. 4 by way of a press release pertaining to films that to be screened at the festival that are not taking part in the competition.

Despite its seemingly Led Zeppelin-related title, another film slated to run at Sundance has nothing to do with Led Zeppelin. There's a film called "Over the Hills and Far Away," directed by Michael Orion Scott, that "chronicles the journey of the Isaacson family as they travel through Mongolia in search of a mysterious shaman they believe can heal their autistic son." Again, it has nothing to do with Led Zeppelin; I'm sorry I mentioned it.

The festival runs Jan. 15-25 in Utah. Ticketing information is available here, and other information about the festival is available here.

Update: It Might Get Loud is now scheduled for five screenings at Sundance. The first and second are on Jan. 16, at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. The other screenings are on Jan. 17, 18 and 24.

Uncut magazine explores Jimmy Page's entire career

Writer David Cavanagh dropped by LedZeppelinNews.com back in April to let me know about a major feature then being planned for Uncut magazine, centering on Jimmy Page's career from the early 1960s onward. It is now the cover story of the magazine's January 2009 Collector's Issue.

The piece culls together never-before-seen interview quotes about Page from fellow musicians and past collaborators such as Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, Paul Rodgers and Jeff Beck. In portions already posted online, Andrew Loog Oldham and Donovan reflect on their earliest encounters with Page in the 1960s and their impressions of him then and through the years.

Oldham, who was an early manager of the Rolling Stones, places the first time he was introduced to Page as around April or May 1964, which seems to be a year before he founded the Immediate Records label. Oldham recalls in an interview with Rob Hughes:

"The first time Jimmy Page came into my life I was already doing sessions with either Marianne Faithfull or Vashti Bunyan or The Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra. Charlie Katz was our musical fixer at Immediate, a lovely old Jewish gent, and our main guitarists at that time were Big Jim Sullivan, John McLaughlin and Joe Moretti. One day Charlie said to me, "You know, I've got this new young lad. I think you'll like him, Andrew.' And I think he may have said, 'He doesn't read [sheet music].'

"So there Jimmy was, in Pye Studios or Olympic or wherever ... we were, sitting next to Big Jim and the others. And that was the first time I saw him. I think he might have just left Carter-Lewis & The Southerners. So Jimmy's there on most of our sessions, basically from 'As Tears Go By' onwards. I'm not sure if he was on the Gene Pitney stuff, but we're talking April or May '64."

Page had the ability to communicate with other musicians easily while playing, Oldham recalls: "It was all in the nod, the look in the eye. And I saw that in Jimmy. It was apparent that he knew that too." He says the sly guitarist, who would have been turning 21 in January 1965, eased his way into the session world, doing so modestly, rather than taking it by storm.

Oldham also comments:

"Jimmy and I never really socialized. I ran into Jimmy about four years ago on the streets of Soho and that was the first time I’d seen him since back then. I never really saw him through the Led Zeppelin period. But Zeppelin changed so much about the record business. I mean, that was the first branding, wasn’t it?"

Page joined the Yardbirds full-time in June 1966 but continued doing session work whenever he could get around to it. Some of his sessions placed him with bassist John Paul Jones, who would later join him in Led Zeppelin. One of those Page-Jones sessions was in April 1968, recording "Hurdy Gurdy Man," which became a hit for Donovan. In an interview by Nick Hasted, the singer remembers what Page was like in those days:

"I didn't know him socially, because in those days sessions were three songs, three hours. He was long-legged, not-so-long-haired then, dark clothes, bohemian but quiet. Who would've thought this guy would become a giant - the great treasure of the Pagan Celtic Rock of Britain, Ireland, Scotland and Wales."

Donovan recalls how the musical director instructed Page at the session:

"John Cameron told him [Page], 'All you've got to do is listen to Donovan's guitar. Although it's acoustic, the way he's hitting it is the way the power-chords would go.' Rather than plug in, I was hitting driving chords on the acoustic in such a way that they buzz. So I guess Page listened. Jimmy added power and pagan rock. To this day, everyone wants that sound. And John Paul Jones arranged it, he gave the shapes to those sounds. And of course we really should have stopped the guitar solo, because I had another verse to sing that George Harrison had given me. But when we heard this thing that Page was doing coming out, we just said, 'Keep playing …' That might have been the first power-chord solo."

Uncut expects to post the rest of the feature about Page online too. Page is quoted in the magazine about himself, and also interviewed is Steve Albini, who produced Page and Plant's 1998 album Walking into Clarksdale. This issue of Uncut is on newsstands now.

Robert Plant to grace two albums set for release in March

Scott Matthews, who supported Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on tour earlier this year, gets a little help from his friend on his upcoming sophomore album. The disc, which is titled Elsewhere, is expected to be released in March and feature one song Matthews had the pleasure of recording with Plant. It is a piece Matthews wrote called "12 Harps."

It is one of two albums to be released in March that feature guest vocals from Plant.

The Galway Advertiser in Ireland last week published a long interview that mentions several things Matthews has in common with Plant. Besides both being singers from the Black Country and fans of the Wolverhampton Wanderers football club, they share some common musical influences.

Both name Jeff Buckley as a powerful and emotional singer, and Matthews's voice has been compared to the late singer's.

As attributed to Matthews in the Galway Advertiser:

"My dad's record collection had a lot of 1960s classics and my mum liked Motown. ... There was always good music in the house. I got into the guitar and discovered Led Zeppelin. I was really into their acoustic stuff like Led Zeppelin III. I got a lot of inspiration from that and the kind of ethnic stuff they did as well.

"I have some issues with my vocals. ... Maybe it's a little insecurity on my part but a lot of people tell me that my voice suits the kind of music I do. Robert Plant himself said that was one of the things he noticed and that he really liked my voice. That was such a good thing to hear and a real boost to my confidence.

"I got to know him before recording the second album and I had a song in mind for him called '12 Harps.' It has leanings towards acoustic Led Zeppelin with mandolins. For me to be singing in the same room with Robert Plant - I was so scared. With [Jimmy] Page, [John Paul] Jones, and [John] Bonham behind him, what he did with his voice back then in Zeppelin is pretty untouchable. The sheer range and dynamic he’s got. He’s 60 now and his voice is more mature and has a real resonance in it. It's one of the stand out tracks on the album!"

Starting tonight, Matthews plays three consecutive nights throughout Ireland, and he says he hopes to play a lot of his new material. He is booked to play at Dolans in Limerick tonight, at Roisin Dubh in Galway tomorrow, at the Spirit Store in Louth on Dec. 6, and at Auntie Annie's in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Dec. 8.

The other track Plant has recorded for another album set to drop in March is called "What You Gonna Do, Leroy." It will be included on Buddy and Julie Miller's Written in Chalk, due March 3 on New West Records.

The track is described in a Dec. 2 press release as "a swampy stomp written by Mel Tillis and originally performed by Lefty Frizzell."

Plant joined Miller onstage on Sept. 18 for a live performance of that song.

This year, Buddy Miller played guitar and pedal steel backing Plant and Alison Krauss on their Raising Sand tour. While Plant and Krauss earned Americana awards in September for Album of the Year and Duo/Group of the Year, Miller earned his own Americana award for Instrumentalist of the Year.

Robert Plant, Alison Krauss nominated for five Grammys

Five new Grammy nominations have been given to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss for their work together.

Their second single, "Please Read the Letter," is up for Record of the Year against some other entries by artists including Leona Lewis, who joined Jimmy Page onstage at the Olympics closing ceremony in August, and Coldplay, which was nominated in seven Grammy categories.

As expected, Raising Sand is up for Album of the Year, squaring off in this category with some heavy hitters: Coldplay again, rap artist Lil Wayne (who tops the number of nominations at seven), R&B singer Ne-Yo (who has six nominations) and Radiohead (which has five nominations).

The feat of earning five nominations was also achieved by artists John Mayer and Jazmine Sullivan.

Raising Sand's opening track, "Rich Woman," was nominated in the category Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, affording Plant and Krauss the opportunity to repeat their win in the same category at this year's ceremony. That win in the 2008 Grammys was for their cover of the Everly Brothers' "Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)," the only track of theirs eligible for nomination at this time one year ago.

Representing a genre shift for Plant, their version of Roly Salley's "Killing the Blues" is up for Best Country Collaboration With Vocals. George Strait is nominated twice in this Grammy category: once for a duet with Kenny Chesney and also for another with Patty Loveless.

Raising Sand is also up for Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album against the latest from Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, Ry Cooder and Rodney Crowell.

The Grammy winners are to be announced in February. The 51st Annual Grammy Awards is set to be broadcast live on Feb. 8.

In addition to the earlier Grammy, the Plant-Krauss collaboration on "Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)" earned the Musical Event of the Year award last month at the Country Music Association's annual awards ceremony. The video for that song won a CMT Music Award in April in the Wide Open Video category.

In September, Plant and Krauss received two awards from the Americana Music Association, for Album of the Year and Duo/Group of the Year.

Stars misaligned for Myles Kennedy?

Do you know what you're doing next year? It's only in each December when planning for "next month" means you're also planning for "next year."

Right about now, any musician who might want to be hitting the road big-time in 2009 ought to have made up his or her mind as to how to go about making that happen.

Yet in the land of Jimmy Page, no decisions have been made about what's in store for 2009. John Paul Jones wants to go out and make some loud music with Jimmy as soon as possible, but he is already planning to get some work elsewhere too.

And remember that guy Myles Kennedy, the Alter Bridge singer-guitarist who's been rumored to be the front-running candidate to sing for Page and Jones in a new touring band? This virtual limbo has left Kennedy in a precarious situation.

While he's waiting to find out what his own destiny holds in 2009, his bandmates in Alter Bridge may not be as patient. As the three other guys in that band were also members of Creed first, it's been reported that an announcement regarding a possible Creed reunion -- with singer Scott Stapp at the helm -- is "imminent."

Rolling Stone attributes this statement to multiple sources who say the band would tour in 2009.

The whole idea of a Creed reunion came about as possible only when Kennedy's name was outed as the singer rehearsing new material with Page, Jones and Jason Bonham, who were reportedly seeking to tour as either Led Zeppelin or as a new band with a new singer.

If Kennedy was going to be tied up with another project, it would free up the rest of Alter Bridge to earn some money on a Creed reunion tour, which is anticipated to be a lucrative effort. Now that there seem to have been talks to reform Creed, it may be the way to go, no matter what happens between Kennedy and the Page camp.

But remember, no deal has been inked for Page to hit the road with Kennedy or anybody else in 2009. It's possible Page and Jones could overlook Kennedy and tour without him in lieu of another lead singer or an instrumental project. It's also possible, unfortunately, that Page and Jones would not go out together at all.

Either event, combined with a reformed Creed, means there is a slight chance Kennedy would be left out in the cold by both sets of musicians next year.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. I wonder if a Creed reunion would formalize without Kennedy's future with Page first having been solidified.

John Paul Jones collaboration to honor choreographer Merce Cunningham

When Merce Cunningham, choreographer extraordinaire, turns 90 on April 16, John Paul Jones will be there. That's because Jones will be helping perform a musical piece he was commissioned to write for the occasion.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music's Spring Gala is to feature the Merce Cunningham Dance Company on April 16, along with "the world premiere of a dazzling evening-length work" that saw Jones joining forces with New York-based underground rock group Sonic Youth, along with mixed-media sound composer Takehisa Kosugi.

The performance is scheduled to repeat on April 17, 18 and 19. Tickets to these events, priced between $25 and $75, are to go on sale to the general public on Jan. 21 and one week early for Brooklyn Academy of Music donors. Click here for more ticketing information.

Multiple reports have surfaced that Jones and Sonic Youth have now been in rehearsals. Pitchfork Media, Australia's Undercover, the United Kingdom's Guardian and Uncut have all reported on this collaboration.

This seems to be the first time Jones has worked with Sonic Youth, but Jones and Kosugi teamed up previously for another Merce Cunningham Dance Company event. On June 14-19, 2005, when the dance troupe performed at the Barbican Theatre in London, Jones and other musicians improvised music for each show. Jones recalled in a blog post afterward:

"The Merce Cunningham event was brilliant, 75 minutes of free improvisation was pretty exciting, and it was good fun working with the other musicians (Steven Montague & John King first show, Takehisa Kosugi & Kaffe Mathews the second). It was a really interesting experience and artistically more food for thought."

Page, Plant mourn former bandmate Michael Lee

Jimmy Page attended yesterday's funeral for drummer Michael Lee, whose death on Nov. 24 is now reported to be from a seizure.

It has been disclosed that Lee was epilectic, and a postmortem examination determined Lee had a fatal seizure.

An article by Lauren Pyrah of the Northern Echo states that Robert Plant provided flowers for Lee's funeral. Plant's written message for Lee is quoted as saying:

"What a waste. Too soon. I'm so sorry, I always enjoyed your enthusiasm and ideas. Robert P"

Lee accompanied Page and Plant on tour and in the studio during their years performing together in the mid '90s.

The funeral took place Dec. 3 at Darlington Crematorium in Darlington, England. Page is seen mourning in a photograph published along with the Northern Echo report.

An earlier statement by Daniel Stanton of Coallier Entertainment says:

"The results of post mortem was a seizure, apparently the worst one he could have had.

"Michael passed away at his flat (home) in Darlington. He was found at his home by his friend and police on the floor beside his bed.

"Michael was out the night before [he died]. He said he wasn't feeling well and went home to rest it off. When he didn't answer his phone the next morning, a friend had the police enter his home.

"Michael will sadly be missed.

"I have received endless calls from fans, friends and family members surrounding Michael's death.

"The guys in Thin Lizzy are crushed, I have spoken to people in the Robert Plant camp who have also expressed the same. Spike from the London Quireboys has been dedicating their shows each night to Michael. Dave Ling from Classic Rock magazine is said to be doing a feature on Michael Lee in an upcoming issue.

"We will all miss Michael. His boyish smile, his humor, his love and his talent, [but] most of all, we will miss his friendship.

"Michael died way too young. He shares his death with Freddie Mercury of Queen and drummer Eric Carr of Kiss, who also passed away on the same date.

"We love you, Michael. You are forever in our hearts and your music forever in our souls."