The Black Seeds and audience Photo: Supplied
Behind just about any song or album you’ve heard there are /special/ bunch of voices and players that bring the magic. You won’t spot them in the band photos or in the music videos but their mark is absolutely there on the finished product you hear.
They are session musicians - the guns for hire, the magic sauce, utility players and secret weapons who have only been getting their dues in recent history. The most famous ensembles such as Tamla Motown's personnel, or the LA Wrecking crew who boasted Glenn Campbell, Dr John, Leon Russell and Carol Kaye in their line up
In The Secret Life of Session Musicians we’ll meet some of the local players who you’ll have heard or seen with Tami Neilson, Fat Freddy's Drop, Dave Dobbyn, Neil Finn, LAB, Che Fu, Anna Coddington, The Brunettes, Anika Moa, SJD, Dimmer
We’ll find out what it takes to be a good session musician, and how that stacks up against being in your own band, is it even possible to make a living from session work.
And whether the Swiss army knives of Aotearoa Music even consider themselves session musicians.
