Martin Scorsese Remembers Robbie Robertson: ‘I Could Always Go to Him’

Martin Scorsese first met Robbie Robertson in the mid-Seventies when the Band contacted the director to film their final concert, which would become the moving celebration known as The Last Waltz. They remained close, working together on project after project, until Robertson’s death on Wednesday at age 80. In a tribute, Scorsese called Robertson one of his “closest friends” and “a constant” in his life and work.

“I could always go to him as a confidante. A collaborator. An advisor,” Scorsese wrote. “I tried to be the same for him.”

After The Last Waltz, the star-studded concert that Scorsese filmed on Thanksgiving Day 1976 in San Francisco, Scorsese asked Robertson to serve as a music producer and composer on several of his films. Their shared credits include The King of Comedy (1982), The Color of Money (1986), Casino (1995), Gangs of New York (2002), and The Irishman (2019), among others. Scorsese also served as executive producer and participated in the making of Once Were Brothers, a 2019 documentary about Robertson and the Band.

“Long before we ever met, [Robertson’s] music played a central role in my life — me and millions and millions of other people all over this world,” Scorsese said. “The Band’s music, and Robbie’s own later solo music, seemed to come from the deepest place at the heart of this continent, its traditions and tragedies and joys.

“It goes without saying that he was a giant, that his effect on the art form was profound and lasting,” he continued.

The pair worked together in recent years, too. Robertson composed the music for Scorsese’s highly anticipated upcoming picture, Killers of the Flower Moon. “There’s never enough time with anyone you love,” Scorsese wrote. “And I loved Robbie.”

Read Martin Scorsese’s full statement:

Robbie Robertson was one of my closest friends, a constant in my life and my work.

I could always go to him as a confidante. A collaborator. An advisor. I tried to be the same for him.

Long before we ever met, his music played a central role in my life — me and millions and millions of other people all over this world. The Band’s music, and Robbie’s own later solo music, seemed to come from the deepest place at the heart of this continent, its traditions and tragedies and joys.

It goes without saying that he was a giant, that his effect on the art form was profound and lasting.

There’s never enough time with anyone you love. And I loved Robbie.

From Rolling Stone US.