Looking back at The Wrecking Crew‘s Hal Blaine following his passing earlier this year. One of the greatest studio musicians ever and one of the most recorded drummers of all time. His drumming has been heard on thousands of songs and hundreds of hits, 40 of which went to number one, laying the foundation for artists such as Frank Sinatra, The Supremes, Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, John Denver, Tanya Tucker, Simon & Garfunkel, Barbara Streisand, Steely Dan, Neil Diamond, and the Byrds. It’s fascinating to hear him in the context of so many different arrangements and approaches to songwriting, recording techniques of various producers, tones, artists’ musical visions and evolving tastes in different eras of popular music. And yet you can always hear his signature sound within it all. His influence on drumming and session recording in popular music can’t be measured.
