Session musician

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Session musicians are musicians available for hire, as opposed to musicians who are either permanent members of a musical outfit or who have acquired fame in their own right. Although the term generally refers to musicians skilled in contemporary musical styles such as rock, jazz, country, pop, etc., it can also be used to describe musicians from classical and other traditional styles.

1 Terms and usage
2 Notable session musicians
3 References
4 External links

"Studio musicians" are session musicians who do not work outside of the recording studio environment. These players work exclusively inside a studio environment, sometimes for a single studio whereas a session musician may perform at concerts or in any other performance scenario. In the everyday world of the music business, the terms "studio musician" and "session musician" are often used interchangeably.

Session musicians are used in any situation where musical skills are needed on a short-term basis, ranging from a few hours to many months. Typical uses of session musicians are:

In a recording studio to provide backing for advertising, film and television music
To provide instrumental or vocal backing for established solo artists or groups, both in the studio and in concerts and appearances
To act as temporary replacements for permanent members of a band or ensemble
To provide additional instruments or vocals when needed by a band or ensemble
In ensembles for theatrical productions

The term generally does not refer to:

Recording artists
Solo musicians or ensembles (without recording contracts) who give public or private performances for hire by themselves, such as wedding singers or bar bands
Amateur musicians
Full-time members of professional ensembles, such as symphony orchestras
Sidemen

Instead, session musicians perform with (and are hired by, or on behalf of) some other musical act or artistic production. Apart from being highly competent at their instruments, skilled session musicians are also expected to learn parts rapidly, and to play music by sight (reading directly from the musical score).

This is typically, but not exclusively, true of certain instruments or sounds that are required, such as backing vocals, rhythm sections, horn sections, percussion, etc.

The above definitions do not always apply to earlier times. For example, 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, Jack Teagarden, Red Nichols, Miff Mole, and Mike Mosiello.

Many session musicians have long and successful careers. Some achieve considerable fame within the musical industry, although session musicians do not usually achieve popular celebrity. Notable exceptions include the members of the band Toto, formed by a group of regular studio musicians in Los Angeles; John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page, who were well known as session musicians before their later success with Led Zeppelin; keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who started his career as a session musician before becoming a member of popular progressive rock band Yes; R&B singer-songwriters Valerie Simpson (half of the Motown writing duo, Ashford & Simpson) and Luther Vandross who each spent many years as top session vocalists based in New York City. Carol Kaye is the most recorded bassist of all time with 10,000 sessions spanning four decades, according to the Berklee College of Music.^[1] The 1954 recording session for the epochial "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and his Comets featured several session musicians, most notably guitarist Danny Cedrone, who performed the song's trademark guitar solo.