The Wrecking Crew (music)

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The Wrecking Crew was a nickname given to a group of Session musicians in Los Angeles, California who earned wide acclaim in the 1960s. They backed dozens of popular singers, and were one of the most successful "groups" of studio musicians in music history.

The Wrecking Crew's members typically had backgrounds in jazz or classical music, but were highly versatile. The talents of this group of 'first call' players were used on almost every style of recording, including television theme songs, film scores, advertising jingles and almost every genre of American popular music, from The Monkees to Bing Crosby.

The figures most often associated with the Wrecking Crew are producer Phil Spector (who used the Crew to create his trademark "Wall of Sound"), and Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson, who utilized the Crew's talents on many of his mid-Sixties productions including the songs "Good Vibrations", "California Girls" and the acclaimed album Pet Sounds.

[edit] Members

The best-known 'members' of this unofficial group are bassist Carol Kaye (one of the few women instrumentalists to achieve success in the recording industry at the time) and drummer Hal Blaine, who has played on tens of thousands of recording sessions, and is believed to be the most recorded drummer in history. Among his vast list of recordings, Blaine is credited with having played on at least forty U.S. #1 hits and more than 150 Top Ten records.

Guitar Player magazine cites Wrecking Crew member Tommy Tedesco as "the most recorded guitarist in history".

Notable members of 'The Wrecking Crew' included:

guitar: Glen Campbell, Barney Kessell, Tommy Tedesco, Billy Strange
saxophone: Steve Douglas, Jay Migliori
trumpet: Tony Terran, Ollie Mitchell
keyboards: Leon Russell, Mac Rebennack (aka Dr John), Mike Melvoin, Don Randi, Larry Knechtel
bass: Carol Kaye, Joe Osborn, Max Bennett, Chuck Berghofer, Ray Pohlman, Larry Knechtel
drums: Hal Blaine
percussion: Julius Wechter, Gary Coleman
conductor/arranger: Jack Nitzsche

They worked long hours and 15 hour days were not unusual, although the rewards were great — Carol Kaye has commented that during her peak as a session musician, she earned more per year than the President.