Session musician in the context of "House band"

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⭐ Core Definition: Session musician

A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a tour. Session musicians are usually not permanent or official members of a musical ensemble or band.

Many session musicians specialize in playing common rhythm section instruments such as guitar, piano, bass, or drums. Others are specialists, and play brass, woodwinds, and strings. Many session musicians play multiple instruments, which lets them play in a wider range of musical situations, genres, and styles. Examples of "doubling" include double bass and electric bass, acoustic guitar and mandolin, piano and accordion, and saxophone and other woodwind instruments.

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👉 Session musician in the context of House band

A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment.It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which are the regular performers at a nightclub, especially jazz and R&B clubs. The term can also refer to a group that plays sessions for a specific recording studio. House bands on television shows usually play only cover songs instead of originals, and they play during times that commercials would be seen by the home viewing audience. Therefore, only those present in the studio during the show's taping see their full performances.

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Session musician in the context of Chord chart

A chord chart (or chart) is a form of musical notation that describes the basic harmonic and rhythmic information for a song or tune. It is the most common form of notation used by professional session musicians playing jazz or popular music. It is intended primarily for a rhythm section (usually consisting of piano, guitar, drums and bass). In these genres the musicians are expected to be able to improvise the individual notes used for the chords (the "voicing") and the appropriate ornamentation, counter melody or bassline.

In some chord charts, the harmony is given as a series of chord symbols above a traditional musical staff. The rhythmic information can be very specific and written using a form of traditional notation, sometimes called rhythmic notation, or it can be completely unspecified using slash notation, allowing the musician to fill the bar with chords or fills any way they see fit (called comping). In Nashville notation the key is left unspecified on the chart by substituting numbers for chord names. This facilitates on-the-spot key changes to songs. Chord charts may also include explicit parts written in modern music notation (such as a musical riff that the song is dependent on for character), lyrics or lyric fragments, and various other information to help the musician compose and play their part.

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Session musician in the context of Kyle Eastwood

Kyle Eastwood (born May 19, 1968) is an American jazz bassist and film composer. He studied film at the University of Southern California for two years before embarking on a music career. After becoming a session player in the early 1990s and leading his own quartet, he released his first solo album, From There to Here, in 1998. His album The View from Here was released in 2013 by Jazz Village. In addition to his solo albums, Eastwood has composed music for nine of his father Clint Eastwood's films. Eastwood plays fretted and fretless electric bass guitar and double bass.

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Session musician in the context of Gary Usher

Gary Lee Usher (December 14, 1938 – May 25, 1990) was an American rock musician, songwriter, and record producer, who worked with numerous California acts in the 1960s, including the Byrds, the Beach Boys, and Dick Dale. Usher also produced fictitious surf groups or hot rod groups, mixing studio session musicians with his own associates (including Chuck Girard and Dick Burns). These bands included the Super Stocks (with the hot-rod song "Midnight Run"), the Kickstands, the Hondells with their No. 9 US pop single "Little Honda", and Sagittarius.

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Session musician in the context of Hal Blaine

Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. His drumming is featured on 150 US top 10 hits, 40 of which went to number one.

Born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Blaine moved with his family to California in 1944 and began playing jazz and big band music before taking up rock and roll session work. He became one of the regulars in Phil Spector's de facto house band, which Blaine nicknamed "the Wrecking Crew". Some of the records Blaine played on include the Ronettes' single "Be My Baby" (1963), which contained a drum beat that became widely imitated, as well as works by popular artists such as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, Neil Diamond, and the Byrds.

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Session musician in the context of The Monkees

The Monkees were an American pop rock band, formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s, whose lineup consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. One of the most commercially successful bands of the late 1960s, the group was conceived in 1965 by television producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the NBC situation comedy series of the same name. Music credited to the band was released on LP, as well as being included in the show, which aired from 1966 to 1968.

At first, the band members' musical contributions were primarily limited to lead vocals and the occasional composition; the remainder was composed by professional songwriters and performed by session musicians such as the Wrecking Crew, under the music supervision of Don Kirshner and with production by figures including Boyce and Hart, Jack Keller, and Jeff Barry. From 1966 to 1967, the group enjoyed a consecutive run of four chart-topping albums: The Monkees, More of the Monkees, Headquarters, and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.. During this period, they also achieved three number-one singles: "Last Train to Clarksville", "I'm a Believer", and "Daydream Believer".

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Session musician in the context of Moe Tucker

Maureen Ann "Moe" Tucker (born August 26, 1944) is an American retired musician, singer, and songwriter who achieved international fame as the drummer of the rock band the Velvet Underground. Tucker occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, including the songs "After Hours" and "I'm Sticking With You".

After the Velvet Underground disbanded in the early 1970s, she took a hiatus to focus on her marriage and family. She returned in the 1980s, and, until the late 2000s, released four studio albums and performed as a session musician. In 1996, Tucker was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Velvet Underground.

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Session musician in the context of Love Me Do

"Love Me Do" is the debut single by the English rock band the Beatles, backed by "P.S. I Love You". When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom on 5 October 1962, it peaked at number 17. It was released in the United States in 1964 and topped the nation's song chart. Re-released in 1982 as part of EMI's Beatles 20th anniversary, it re-entered the UK charts and peaked at number 4. "Love Me Do" also topped the charts in Australia and New Zealand.

The song was written several years before being recorded, and prior to the existence of the Beatles. It features John Lennon's prominent harmonica playing and duet vocals by him and Paul McCartney. Three recorded versions of the song by the Beatles have been released, each with a different drummer. The first attempted recording from June 1962 featured Pete Best on drums, but was not officially released until the Anthology 1 compilation in 1995. A second version was recorded three months later with Best's replacement Ringo Starr, and this was used for the original Parlophone single first pressing. A third version, featuring session drummer Andy White in place of Starr, was used for the second pressing and also included on the band's Please Please Me album and on the 1964 Tollie single in the US. It was also included on the American LPs Introducing... The Beatles and The Early Beatles.

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