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This is why being a session player sucks
- Thread starter 3star2nr
- Start date
Maybe he got paid nicely, had fun playing, and likes having a quiet life away from the limelight.
A lot of people don't care about recognition. You just won't hear about it because they don't care.
A lot of cats are sick of travel, band BS, etc, and are more than happy to do the studio thing, and home w/family every night.
The line to Beres Hammond's "Can You Play Some More" is, to this day, heard in a lot of backyard cookouts in Flatbush!!!!!!!!
My neighborhood is blessed with several super pro players that tour with the big names and do session work while at home, and very few know their names. They are just in the background with people like Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Robert Plant, etc. I don't think that they care about any fame at all - they just want to make good music.
Recognition can definitely be nice but as the prime motivating factor in the unleashing of creative energy? Not for me.
If playing bass is your job, then you have to expect to work. It will often involve stuff that may not be the most fun, or what you would do on your own time.
I teach history, and I love it, but I do not get to teach my favorite topics all of the time.
I teach history, and I love it, but I do not get to teach my favorite topics all of the time.
Yep--that's me right there. I got sick of touring and being away from home and my kid. Also got sick of the hoops you had to jump through to be "in the spotlight" as an artist or band member. Now I do music full-time in the studio composing and producing, and I'm quite happy with my anonymity.
It's possible that he's recognized within the community of session players and keeps busy with a lucrative career. He must have been hired for that session for a reason.
Who's to say they didn't get their props! Probably a well know west indian studio player. Probably been on a ton of records.
I will say though, one thing that I think DOES suck is that if you do want to find out who played on something, it can be a real challenge in these days of downloads with no liner notes. Man, growing up, buying records and CDs, for me one of my favorite things was reading the liner notes, seeing studio pics sometimes, stuff like that. That is something this geezer really misses.
I'd love to be anonymous and busy as hell...that'd be the life. After my years on the road, I realized what a small part of the pie actually playing the bass is with most "music" careers. I wish I could just walk into a studio every day, lay down some awesome parts and go home (and make a decent check). I think a really developed player can let go of their work as there's always more magic waiting to pop out of the fingers.
I never had the right connections, nor the social drive to make such a lifestyle a reality.
I never had the right connections, nor the social drive to make such a lifestyle a reality.
Go watch Tous les matins du monde...
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For a fame vs. woodshedding (literally) kind of theme.
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For a fame vs. woodshedding (literally) kind of theme.
