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Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders. The term is applied not only to those working in contemporary musical styles such as rock, jazz, country, R&B and pop but also classical music. Versatility is one of the most important skills of session musicians as they may have to perform in a range of different settings. Session musicians are expected to learn parts rapidly and be skilled in both sight reading and ear training.

Session musicians are used in any situation where musical skills are needed on a short-term basis. Typically session musicians are used by recording studios to provide backing tracks for other musicians in recording studios and live performances; recording for advertising, film and television; or theatrical productions.

The terms "session musician" and "studio musician" are now synonymous, though in past decades the latter term more typically described musicians who were associated with a particular record company or recording studio.

History and associations[link]

During the 1920s and 1930s most record companies had their own prolific "studio bands" turning out records of the latest pop hits. These were often made up by jazz and dance band musicians who were at the same time members of regular working bands and who divided their time between studio work (recordings as well as broadcasting) during the day and live performances in the evenings. Notable such "studio musicians" include Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Oscar Peterson, Jack Teagarden, Red Nichols, Miff Mole, Andy Sannella, and Mike Mosiello.

Although session musicians have long and successful careers and can achieve considerable fame within the music industry, they rarely achieve popular celebrity. Notable exceptions include the members of the band Toto who met in various recording sessions; John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page, who were well known as session musicians before their later success with Led Zeppelin; keyboardist Rick Wakeman; and renowned vocalists Valerie Simpson, Lisa Fischer and Luther Vandross.

Among the most prolific established studio musicians are The Wrecking Crew. Based in Los Angeles, the Wrecking Crew has recorded innumerable songs and albums since the 1960s. One of their bassists, Carol Kaye, is said to be the most recorded bassist of all time with 10,000 sessions spanning four decades,^[1] yet is largely unknown to the general public.

The Funk Brothers were session musicians who performed the backing to many Motown Records recordings from the late 1950's to the early 1970's. The legendary Billy Preston was a session musician who played with Mahalia Jackson and was known as the 'fifth' Beatle for his work with the Beatles.

The Los Angeles singer/songwriter scene associated with The Troubadour nightclub and Laurel Canyon in the late 1960's to mid-1970's was supported by musicians Russ Kunkel, Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar and Craig Doerge. This session combo, nicknamed The Session or The Mafia, backed many musicians, among others: Carole King, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Kris Kristofferson and David Crosby.

A few session musicians have even built reputations of notoriety: English session singer Tony Burrows appeared so often as a frontman for various one-hit wonder studio groups (such as Edison Lighthouse, The Flower Pot Men, The Pipkins, The Brotherhood of Man, White Plains, and The First Class), in a short period of time during the early 1970s, that his attempts at a solo career under his own name were hampered, due in part to burnout.

Another well-known group of session musicians is called The Nashville A-Team and is made up of A-list studio musicians who recorded during the Nashville Sound era. Their contributions began in the 1950s with artists such as Elvis Presley. Some of these musicians are still alive today. The original A-Team includes bassist Bob Moore; guitarists Grady Martin, Hank Garland, Ray Edenton, and Harold Bradley; drummer Buddy Harman; pianists Floyd Cramer and Hargus "Pig" Robbins; fiddler Tommy Jackson; steel guitarist Pete Drake; harmonicist Charlie McCoy; saxophonist Boots Randolph; and vocal groups The Jordanaires and The Anita Kerr Singers. The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section comprising Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood, and Jimmy Johnson, also known as The Swampers, is another well-established group of session musicians. They have become known for the "Muscle Shoals Sound." Many of the recordings done in the Memphis area, which included Muscle Shoals, Alabama, used the The Memphis Horns in their arrangements. MFSB was a group of soul music studio musicians based in Philadelphia at the Sigma Sound Studios; they later went on to become a name-brand instrumental group, and their best known hit was TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia), better known as the theme from Soul Train.

See also[link]

• Ray Charles Singers
• Hal Blaine and the Wrecking Crew

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Usual Suspects - A Tribute to Los Angeles Studio Musicians
• Advantages of Using Session Musicians on Your Songwriting Demo

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Johnny Hiland
Background information
Genres	Country, rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle
Years active	since 1996
Labels	Favored Nations
Associated acts	Toby Keith, Hank Williams III, Steve Vai,(The Sound Guitar Magazine)
Website	johnnyhiland.net
Notable instruments
Fender Telecaster Paul Reed Smith JH Signature

Johnny Hiland is an American musician. He began as a bluegrass player, and then went on to play jazz, blues and heavy metal.

Early life[link]

Hiland grew up in Woodland, Maine. He was born with nystagmus, a condition of involuntary eye movement.^[1]

Career[link]

In 1996, Hiland moved to Nashville and worked as a session musician for country artists including Toby Keith, Ricky Skaggs, Janie Fricke, and Hank Williams III. Hiland signed with Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label as a solo artist. The Johnny Hiland Band has released two studio albums on the Favored Nations label.^{[citation needed]}

Besides guitar, Hiland also plays banjo, fiddle and mandolin.^[1]

Other activities[link]

Hiland also works as a motivational speaker as well as a children's author. Hiland's first children's book. Tuff the Special Bear, which he wrote and illustrated, was published in 2006. In December of 2010, Hiland became partners with Jason Macedo (guitarist) as magazine partner in The Sound Guitar Magazine..^[1] In, 2011 Johnny signed with Mike Varney's Shrapnel Records.

Solo discography[link]

• 2004 Johnny Hiland (Favored Nations)
• 2008 Loud And Proud (Favored Nations)

Equipment[link]

Originally a dedicated Fender Telecaster player, in 1998 Hiland became the first unsigned artist to ever be awarded an endorsement deal from Fender.^[2] In 2007 Paul Reed Smith and Hiland collaborated to design a Johnny Hiland Signature model guitar based on some of the technical specifications of many of Hiland's favorite session instruments.^[3] He recently endorsed the "Nashville Special Elite" guitar built by Abraham Wechter of Wechter Guitars.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• [1]

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Joe Osborn (born August 28, 1937 in Mound, Madison Parish, Louisiana)^{[citation needed]} is an American bass guitar player known for his work as a session musician in Los Angeles and Nashville during the 1960s through the 1980s.

Osborn began his career working in local clubs, then played on a hit record by singer Dale Hawkins.^{[citation needed]} He moved to Las Vegas at age 20, and spent a year playing backup for country singer Bob Luman. With legendary guitar player Roy Buchanan among his bandmates, Osborn switched from guitar to electric bass. In 1960, with Allen "Puddler" Harris, a native of Franklin Parish, also in northeastern Louisiana, and James Burton, originally from Webster Parish, he joined pop star Rick Nelson's backup band, where he spent four years. His playing on such Nelson hits as "Travellin' Man" began attracting wider notice, and he found opportunities to branch out into studio work with artists such as Johnny Rivers.

When the Nelson band dissolved in 1964, Osborn turned to studio work full-time. For the next ten years, he was considered a "first-call" bassist among Los Angeles studio musicians^[1] (known as The Wrecking Crew), and he worked with well-known producers such as Lou Adler and Bones Howe, frequently in combination with drummer Hal Blaine and keyboardist Larry Knechtel. His bass can be heard on many of the hit records cut in Los Angeles during that time, along with numerous film scores and television commercials.

In 1974, Osborn left Los Angeles and moved to the country and western capital, Nashville. He continued an active studio career, playing behind such vocalists as Kenny Rogers, Mel Tillis, and Hank Williams, Jr. One count listed Osborn as bassist on fifty-three No. 1 hits on the country charts.^{[citation needed]}

Osborn's instrument throughout most of his recording career was a 1960 Fender stack-knob Jazz Bass, which was given to him by Fender just prior to touring in Australia with Nelson. Osborn said he was initially disappointed that Fender had not sent a Precision model, which he had been using. But he said he grew to like the Jazz Bass because the narrower neck made it easier for his short fingers. He strung the bass with LaBella flatwounds that he did not change for 20 years. His style is distinctive, with a resonant, bright tone produced, in part, by his use of a plectrum (pick).

Many producers and arrangers chose to spotlight his contributions by mixing the bass line more prominently than had been customary, and incorporating brief bass solos into their arrangements.^{[citation needed]} His playing can be heard on records by such well-known groups as The Mamas & the Papas, The Association, and The 5th Dimension. Osborn can be heard on Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water" and the 5th Dimension's version of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In".

Osborn also played on many of Neil Diamond's major hits in the late 1960s and early to middle 1970s, including the hauntingly unique bass lines on "Holly Holy" in 1969. Osborn is also known for his discovery and encouragement of the popular brother-and-sister duo, The Carpenters.^{[citation needed]}

Osborn left Nashville in 1988 and settled in Keithville in Caddo Parish near Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana. As of 2005, he lived in semi-retirement. He still records occasionally, and sometimes plays in a family band called The Third Generation with his children and grandchildren.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, Osborn was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

He has had a signature bass, named the "Joe Osborn Signature", made by American guitar manufacturer Lakland; however, it is no longer in production.^{[citation needed]} Osborn is currently producing demo recordings by teen musician Matthew Davidson.

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Vintage Guitar Magazine

External links[link]

Lakland Joe Osborn Signature model

Lawrence William "Larry" Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist, best known for his work as a session musician with such artists as Simon & Garfunkel, Duane Eddy, The Beach Boys, The Mamas & the Papas, The Partridge Family, The Doors, and Elvis Presley, and as a member of the 1970s band, Bread.

Biography[link]

Born in Bell, California, in 1940, Knechtel's musical education began with piano lessons. In 1957, he joined the Los Angeles based rock and roll band Kip Tyler and the Flips. In August 1959 he joined instrumentalist Duane Eddy as a member of his band The Rebels. After four years on the road with the band, and continuing to work with Eddy in the recording studio, Knechtel became part of the Hollywood session musician scene, working with Phil Spector as a pianist to help create the famous Wall of Sound effect. Knechtel became a prominent member of The Wrecking Crew, a loose collection of session musicians who performed on many songs of the period.^[1]

His most famous piano work is his 1970 Grammy Award winning contribution to "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel. In addition to this ballad, he could also rock out on the keyboards, as evidenced by his effort on Johnny Rivers' 1972 hit "Rockin' Pneumonia - Boogie Woogie Flu", originally done by Huey "Piano" Smith.

Knechtel was proficient in other instruments, notably the harmonica and also the electric bass guitar, which can be heard on "Mr. Tambourine Man" by The Byrds, "Stoney End" by Barbra Streisand, and on tracks by The Doors (who did not have their own bass guitarist). In 1971, he joined the band Bread, where his contributions include the guitar solo on the hit single "The Guitar Man".

In later years, Knechtel lived in semi-retirement in Yakima, Washington, until his death. He had, however, worked with record producer Rick Rubin, contributing keyboards to albums by Neil Diamond and the Dixie Chicks, touring with Elvis Costello and also the Dixie Chicks in support of their Grammy Award-winning album Taking the Long Way. In 2007 he was inducted into The Musician's Hall of Fame with his fellow members of The Wrecking Crew. During this time Knechtel contributed guest spots on many recordings for dozens of Northwest artists including Wayman Chapman, Ken Stringfellow (Posies, R.E.M., Big Star), Quakers On Probation, Dimestore Mystery, Elba, Animals at Night, Zera Marvel, Colin Spring and his son, Lonnie Knechtel.

Death[link]

Knechtel died on August 20, 2009, in Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, Washington, at the age of 69 of an apparent heart attack.^[2] He was survived by his wife Vicki, his son Lonnie, and his daughter Shelly, who lived in Washington.

Discography[link]

This section requires expansion.

With Howard Roberts

• Antelope Freeway (Impulse!, 1971)

With Lalo Schifrin

• Rock Requiem (Verve, 1971)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Musicians Hall Of Fame
• List of Larry Knechtel's session contributions
• Larry Knechtel Homepage

Will Lee (August 6, 1908 – December 7, 1982) was an American actor best known for playing the store proprietor Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street, from the show's debut in 1969 until his death in 1982.

Early career[link]

Lee was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York and began his career as a character actor on stage. He was a member of the Group Theater in the 1930s and appeared in Johnny Johnson, Night Music, Boy Meets Girl, The Time of Your Life (as Willie the pinball machine addict) and other Broadway plays. He succeeded John Garfield as the lead in Golden Boy.

Lee was co-founder of the Theater of Action and a member of the Federal Theatre Project. During World War II, he served in Army Special Services in Australia and Manila and was cited twice for directing and staging shows for troops overseas, as well as teaching acting classes. After the war, he appeared Off Broadway in Norman Mailer's Deer Park (as movie mogul Teppis) and on Broadway in The Shrike, Once Upon a Mattress, Carnival!, Incident At Vichy and The World of Sholom Aleichem.

Blacklist and teaching[link]

Lee also began appearing in films, including bit parts in Casbah, A Song Is Born, Little Fugitive, and Saboteur. Will Lee was blacklisted as an alleged communist and barred from films and on television for five years during the Red Scare, according to members of his family. He had been active in the Actor's Workshop and had been an unfriendly witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in 1950 investigating show business. At the end of that period, in 1956, he landed the role of Grandpa Hughes in the soap opera As The World Turns; however, the role was recast with Santos Ortega on the show's second episode.

He taught at the American Theatre Wing for nine years (where his students included James Earl Jones) as well as at the New School for Social Research, Boston University and the Uta Hagen-Herbert Berghof Studio. In addition, he conducted his own acting classes. Outside of Sesame Street, later roles included television movies and a supporting role as the judge in Sidney Lumet's 1983 film Daniel (with Mandy Patinkin, Ed Asner, and Peter Friedman). He also worked in commercials, including a spot for Atari, as a grandfather learning to play Pac-Man from his granddaughter and spots for Ocean Spray juice.

Impact of Mr. Hooper[link]

In 1969, he pursued the role of Mr. Hooper on the popular children's show Sesame Street. "He gave millions of children the message that the old and the young have a lot to say to each other," said Joan Ganz Cooney, president of the Children's Television Workshop. The New York Times reported that on Sesame Street, Will Lee's Mr. Hooper ranked ahead of all live cast members in recognition by young audiences, according to a survey. His bowtie and hornrimmed reading glasses became his trademark.

In a November 1970 TIME article, following the show's first season, Lee recalled his feelings about the show:

I was delighted to take the role of Mr. Hooper, the gruff grocer with the warm heart. It's a big part, and it allows a lot of latitude. But the show has something extra, that sense you sometimes get from great theater, the feeling that its influence never stops.

In addition to being a staple of Sesame Street for more than ten years, Lee portrayed Mr. Hooper in television specials (Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, A Special Sesame Street Christmas), guest appearances (Evening at Pops: 1971), stage appearances, countless record albums, and parades, including the 1982 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was revealed in Christmas Eve on Sesame Street that the character of Mr. Hooper is Jewish, as was Lee himself.^[1] Lee taped his final segments as Mr. Hooper in November 1982, but his death would become the focal point of Episode 1839, in which Mr. Hooper's death is explained to Big Bird.

According to his obituary in The New York Times as he became known on Sesame Street, children would approach him on the street and ask, "How did you get out of the television set?"' or whisper, "I love you." "Apart from the joy of knowing that you are helping so many kids, the recognition is heartwarming," Lee was quoted as saying in 1981.

Death of Mr. Hooper[link]

Will Lee died on December 7, 1982 at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City from a heart attack at the age of 74. Lee was never married and never had any children, and was survived by his sister Sophia Lee-Lubov who lived in Florida. Lee's death left the producers of Sesame Street, the Children's Television Workshop, with questions about how to acknowledge the death of one of the series' most visible actors. After considering a number of options, CTW decided to have the character of Mr. Hooper die as well, and use the episode to teach its young viewers about death as a natural part of life.

Episode 1839, now known to children and fans as "Farewell, Mr. Hooper" aired on November 24, 1983 (Thanksgiving Day), and was quickly selected by the Daytime Emmys as being one of the 10 most influential moments in daytime television.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

• History of Sesame Street

References[link]

• "Will Lee, 74, Was Mr. Hooper on Television 'Sesame Street'", The New York Times, December 9, 1982, http://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/09/obituaries/will-lee-74-was-mr-hooper-on-television-sesame-street.html 
• "Death and Sesame Street", The New York Times, November 27, 1983, http://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/27/arts/death-and-sesame-street.html 

External links[link]

• Will Lee at Find a Grave
• Muppet Wiki: Will Lee
• Will Lee at the Internet Movie Database
• Will Lee at The Internet Broadway Database