Session musician

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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.

Terms and usage

"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.

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 musical 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

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).

Notable session musicians

Many session musicians have long and successful careers. Although session musicians do not usually achieve popular celebrity (three 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, and keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who started his career as a session musician before becoming a member of popular progressive rock band Yes), some achieve considerable fame within the musical industry.

Other notable session musicians include: The Funk Brothers; The Wrecking Crew; The Memphis Horns; Atlanta Rhythm Section; Booker T and the MGs; Sly and Robbie; guitarists Michael Landau, Dann Huff, Lee Ritenour and Larry Carlton; bassists Tommy Sims, Jimmy Lee Sloas, Abraham Laboriel, Leland Sklar, Nathan East and David Hungate; drummers Paul Leim, Joey Waronker, Vinnie Colaiuta and Abraham Laboriel Jr.; vocalists Chris Rodriguez, Tommy Funderburk, and Bill Champlin; and keyboardists Keith Thomas, Steve Porcaro, and David Foster.

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