Home » Search Center » Results: Hal Blaine

Results for "Hal Blaine"

About Hal Blaine

Results for pages tagged "Hal Blaine"...

Musician

Hal Blaine may well be the most profilic drummer in rock and roll history. He's certainly played on more hit records than any drummer in the rock era, including 40 #1 singles and 150 that made the Top Ten. Eight of the records he played on won Grammys for Record of the Year. Blaine, who was born Harold Simon Belsky in 1929, became a professional drummer in 1948 and joined teen idol Tommy Sands' band in the late Fifties. He was the most in-demand session drummer in Los Angeles during the Sixties and early Seventies, and a list of musicians he played with reads like a who's who of popular music. In 1961, Blaine drummed on Can't Help Falling in Love With You, one of Elvis Presley's most memorable sides, and he would play on Presley's film soundtracks throughout the Sixties

Album

Shimmering Prologue: The Lost Sandbox Sessions

By Brian Wilson

Label: April First Records
Released: 2026
Track listing: Far East Tango; Random Chatter (pastiche 1); Good Vibes (Third Unused Coda); Billy’s Stray Harp Blues (F# major/minor to B major); Random Chatter (pastiche 2); Satin Doll/Cotton Tail Medley; Smile 7; Caravan; Caroline Changed Her Mind; Come and Sing This Song with Us; Random Chatter (final pastiche); Far East Expressions.

Article: Album Review

Duke Ellington, Brian Wilson and Friends: Shimmering Prologue: The Lost Sandbox Sessions

Read "Shimmering Prologue: The Lost Sandbox Sessions" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
April 1, 2026

Picture this: LA: Tuesday, early September, '66. A few months after Pet Sounds (Capitol, 1966) reshaped the landscape. The weather (pre-climate change) breaks around the mid 70's with a slight breeze sliding in from the east. Mired in an un-stately creative slump, Duke Ellington finds himself being ushered into 6000 Sunset Boulevard (Western Studio ...

Article: Book Review

Drums & Demons: The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon

by Doug Collette
February 27, 2024

Drums & Demons: The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon Joel Selvin 288 Pages ISBN: #978-1635768992 Diversion Books2024 In keeping with the title of Drums & Demons, Joel Selvin's account of The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon is a schizophrenic piece of work. A seasoned journalist who's distinguished himself with ...

Article: Interview

Chuck Granata: On Sinatra, The Beach Boys, and Johnny Mandel

by Nicholas F. Mondello
May 22, 2020

Chuck Granata is a record and radio producer, author, music historian and archivist. He has written four books on music and sound recording: Sessions with Sinatra: Frank Sinatra and the Art of Recording (Chicago Review Press, A Capella Books, 1999), Wouldn't it be Nice: Brian Wilson and the Making of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (Chicago ...

Article: SoCal Jazz

Dave Weckl: The Cymbal of Excellence

by Jim Worsley
May 15, 2019

Attention to details and impeccable standards coupled with a desirous curiosity and a wealth of talent have served Dave Weckl well. The savvy and astute musician has meticulously traversed the jazz and fusion world over the past few decades. Weckl is on a very short list when the topic of drumming icons is broached. Perhaps best ...

Article: Profile

Glen Campbell: 1936-2017

by C. Michael Bailey
August 13, 2017

“Well, that moment has come that we have known was an inevitable certainty and yet stings like a sudden catastrophe. Let the world note that a great American influence on pop music, the American Beatle, the secret link between so many artists and records that we can only marvel, has passed and cannot be replaced -my ...

Article: Top Ten List

Denny Tedesco's Top Ten Wrecking Crew Songs

by Alan Bryson
March 14, 2015

In his All About Jazz interview, documentary filmmaker Denny Tedesco mentioned he had acquired the rights to over one hundred songs to use in his documentary film The Wrecking Crew. The film deals with the history of the studio and session musicians in '60s Los Angeles. After the interview we asked him to do the near ...

Article: Extended Analysis

Paul Simon: The Complete Albums Collection

by John Kelman
January 11, 2014

If the history books were to be closed on singer/songwriter Paul Simon's career today, he'd have already left a legacy more than sufficient to ensure a substantial chapter. While other emergent songwriters of his day--Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and Randy Newman amongst them--have clearly evolved over the years, there's been an underlying approach that's remained consistent ...

News: Recording

Hal Blaine on 'Good Vibrations'

July 23, 2012

In February 1966, the Beach Boys began to record their most ambitious album to date—a project called Smile. Following in the wake of the Beatles' Rubber Soul (released in December 1965), Smile was to be the Beach Boys' game-changer, an ante-raiser that would be a sequel to their Pet Sounds album released in May 1966. [Pictured: ...