L.A. Studio Musicians Recieve Long-Awaited Recognition

Updated:

June 29, 2009 1:12 pm

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Good things come to those who wait and that’s certainly true for The Wrecking Crew. The band of studio musicians who played on some of the most famous pop hits of the ‘60s and ‘70s are finally getting some formal recognition and are experiencing renewed interest in their behind-the-scenes contribution to popular music.

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After 40 years of being relatively invisible to the public, The Wrecking Crew finally got theirs on Wednesday when the some of the group of musicians were inducted into Hollywood’s RockWalk, a music gallery honoring some of pop music’s greatest. The Wrecking Crew is the name given by drummer Hal Blaine to the group of musicians who played together on several chart-topping hits from the likes of Frank Sinatra, the Mamas and the Papas, the Beach Boys, and others.

The core group that comprised The Wrecking Crew was made up of Los Angeles musicians including drummer Hal Blaine, guitarist Glen Campbell of country music fame, bassists Carol Kaye and Leon Russell, keyboardist and bassist Larry Knechtel, who played the keys on “Bridge over Troubled Water,” and late guitarist Tommy Tedesco. These musicians were the base of most of Phil Spector’s productions and were responsible for most of the instrumentation on a large fraction of pop albums produced in the ‘60s and ‘70s. The stars of these bands, the people in the public eye, oftentimes were not playing the music on their own albums — it was The Wrecking Crew.

The Wrecking Crew is also enjoying attention lately with “The Wrecking Crew,” a documentary on the group directed by Danny Tedesco, son of late Wrecking Crew guitarist Tommy Tedesco. “The Wrecking Crew” has been featured at several film festivals including the the Nashville Film Festival and the Seattle International Film Festival, where it won the audience award for Best Documentary.

Members of The Wrecking Crew continue to play music together and will be touring film festivals throughout the year.