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Thread: CNN: Session Players honored on Hollywood RockWalk

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    Redsmetz redsmetz's Avatar
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    CNN: Session Players honored on Hollywood RockWalk

    Interesting story on CNN today about the session players in Los Angeles, dubbed The Wrecking Crew. I'd be interested in seeing the documentary if it comes to the Esquire.

    LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- They played with Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boys, the Mamas and the Papas, the Monkees, and countless others on chart-topping and Grammy-winning hits. But for all their success, the Wrecking Crew may have well been the invisible people.

    Until now.

    On Wednesday, the group of some of "the greatest musicians in the world," in the words of drummer Hal Blaine, was inducted into Hollywood's RockWalk, the Sunset Boulevard music gallery that honors some of pop music's most notable musicians.

    Among those attending were Blaine, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer on songs including "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Strangers in the Night," "Good Vibrations" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water"; guitarist Glen Campbell; Danny Tedesco, son of the late guitarist Tommy Tedesco; bassist Jimmy Bond; and Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas.

    "It's like one big birthday party," Blaine told CNN upon seeing many of his old colleagues.

    The Wrecking Crew was the name given the core group of L.A. session men and women who played on hundreds of chart hits, TV themes, movie soundtracks and commercial jingles. Phil Spector used the Wrecking Crew on most of his productions; Brian Wilson tapped their talents when he wanted to experiment in the studio and his group, the Beach Boys, was on tour.

    Others in the group included pianist Leon Russell, keyboardist and bassist Larry Knechtel (that's his piano on "Bridge Over Troubled Water"), bassists Carol Kaye and Chuck Berghofer (Berghofer played the descending bass line on Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin' "), saxophonist Steve Douglas and guitarist Barney Kessel.

    Blaine credited Tedesco, director of a new documentary about the band, for maintaining interest.

    "[The film] came out so wonderful," Blaine said. Tedesco has "been directing commercials for a very long time and so this was a new project for him, but he knew exactly what he was doing and he went for it and did it."

    Campbell, who broke away from the Wrecking Crew in the mid-'60s to become of the leading country singers of the '60s and '70s, says he missed being part of a band.

    "I wanted to stay here and play with the musicians. It was what I really enjoyed doing, more so than singing. I was a guitar player, one of the gang!" he said. "But putting yourself out there yourself, it's a lot different. You've got the people out there and the band back here and I missed my peers a lot."

    "The Wrecking Crew" is making the rounds at film festivals. Hollywood's RockWalk is located at Guitar Center's Sunset Boulevard location.
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    Member durl's Avatar
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    Re: CNN: Session Players honored on Hollywood RockWalk

    American Heritage magazine did a good article on the Wrecking Crew a year or so ago. Interesting read.

    http://www.americanheritage.com/arti...-russell.shtml

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    Redsmetz redsmetz's Avatar
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    Re: CNN: Session Players honored on Hollywood RockWalk

    Quote Originally Posted by durl View Post
    American Heritage magazine did a good article on the Wrecking Crew a year or so ago. Interesting read.

    http://www.americanheritage.com/arti...-russell.shtml
    Thanks for the link - what a fascinating article.
    “In the same way that a baseball season never really begins, it never really ends either.” - Lonnie Wheeler, "Bleachers, A Summer in Wrigley Field"

    The Baseball Emporium - Books & Things.

    The Baseball Bookstore

    http://tsc-sales.com/
    http://tscsales.blogspot.com/
    http://silverscreenbooks.com/

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    Member durl's Avatar
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    Re: CNN: Session Players honored on Hollywood RockWalk

    Yeah. While I knew that session musicians did most of the work, it was pretty fascinating to learn just how many albums that small group of musicians worked on.


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