On this day (August 11) in 2022, Bill Pitman died at the age of 102. He was a member of the group of session musicians in Los Angeles known as the Wrecking Crew. As a result, he played on hundreds of songs from dozens of A-list artists. For instance, he recorded multiple albums with the Beach Boys, including Pet Sounds. He also appeared on tracks from Cher, Pat Boone, James Brown, Bobby Darin, the Everly Brothers, Frank Sinatra, and many more. He was also among the first guitarists superstar producer Phil Spector called. Pitman also provided music for a long list of TV shows and movies, including Wild Wild West, Bonanza, the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, among others.
Pitman didn’t just grow up in a musical household. His father, Keith Pitman, was a professional bass player who worked for NBC. During the Great Depression, he brought in steady income by working as a freelance musician. When Pitman was still a boy, his father commissioned John D’Angelico to build his first guitar.
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“Of course, it was beautiful, and I fell in love with it,” Pitman said of the instrument. He learned to play and, by the time he was in high school, he was playing with other talented musicians. “I was hanging out with two guys who went on to become major jazz names–Shorty Rogers and Shelly Manne. We’d play music all day, then go listen to Charlie Parker. Pitman, Rogers, Manne, and Eddie Bert played gigs around the Bronx until the early 1940s, when Pitman was called to serve in the war.
Bill Pitman’s Career Takes Off
After serving five years in the Army Air Corps, Bill Pitman relocated to the West Coast, where he attended the L.A. Conservatory of Music and Art. That’s where he met his wife, who was a singer. She fell pregnant before he finished his degree. So, he dropped out and went to work at a pipe-bending factory. After three years, his boss encouraged him to follow his passion and become a musician.
“My wife said she’d get a job at General Motors if I’d promise to practice eight hours a day on what I needed to learn to be competitive,” Pitman recalled. He studied and practiced five or six days a week. Eventually, he started going to Los Angeles jazz clubs and realized he could play better than most of the guitarists on the clubs’ stages.
One evening, he struck up a conversation with Laurindo Almeida, who was playing in Peggy Lee’s band. This led to an audition, after which Pitman joined the band. He played with the band for three years before he landed a regular spot on The Rusty Draper Show.
While working on the radio show, session guitarist Tony Rizzi asked Pitman to fill in for him on a session at Capitol Records. This led to steady session work. “I was making $400 a week just doing favors for guys. Howard Roberts, Jack Marshall, Al Hendrickson, Bob Bain, and Bobby Gibbons all called me to fill in. That’s how I got started in the studios,” Pitman said. “The next thing I knew, I was calling guys to fill in for me.”
Working with the Beach Boys
Bill Pitman played several sessions with the Beach Boys, including their signature hit “Good Vibrations.” He was also on the classic albums Pet Sounds and Smile.
“When I got the call for the Beach Boys, I gave them what they wanted, then got the hell out,” Pitman said. He recalled the session for “Good Vibrations” going on so long that he forgot what song they were working on. “Brian kept coming in at midnight and would get hungry, then order Italian food for us, and finally say he was too tired to work,” he said. “He’d say, ‘Barbara, pay the guys and give them double scale and we’ll do it again tomorrow.’ So, sometimes it was hard to take it seriously.”
Roger McGuinn Remembers Bill Pitman and the Wrecking Crew
When the Byrds signed their deal with Columbia Records, the label demanded that seasoned session players work the first sessions. Those sessions produced “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “I Knew I Want You.” In an interview with NPR, Roger McGuinn recalled working with the Wrecking Crew.
“The first single was with the Wrecking Crew, and I was honored, because I’d had about five years of studio experience in New York, so they let me play with them,” he recalled. “Leon Russell, Hal Blaine, Jerry Cole, Larry Knechtel, and Bill Pitman were in the studio at the time. They were the coolest guys. They were like James Dean. You know, they wore black leather jackets with the collar up and very cool. I was honored,” McGuinn added.
Featured Image by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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