Top 10 Session Bands (That Became Their Own Bands)

One of Rock and Roll's Greatest Session Men: Booker T. Jones (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

The session musician, fleet of finger and quick to find a groove, is at the heart of some of rock and roll’s greatest sides. Some of those players took their show on the road (or at least onto records). Here are the Top 10 Session Bands (That Became Their Own Bands).

10. The Memphis Horns

Perhaps the best horn section ever, the Memphis Horns were the house brass and woodwind section for Stax and countless others since. In 1970, they released the first of their nine albums as a band.

9. Stuff

The New York jazz/funk group included session cats Richard Tee, Eric Gale, Cornell Dupree and, later in their career, Steve Gadd. They did three studio albums and four live albums during the late ’70s.

8. Ronin

The alternate name for Linda Ronstadt‘s old band, Ronin was lead by Waddy Wachtel on their one album in 1980 that features guitarist Dan Dugmore, drummer Rick Marotta and bassist Stanley Sheldon.

7. The Section

The cream of L.A.’s country rock sessioneers, The Section was Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, Craig Doerge and Russ Kunkel (along with Michael Brecker on their first album). He played the solo on this cut. They recorded three records in total between ’72 and ’77.

6. The Muscle Shoals Horns

Harrison Calloway, Harvey Thompson and Charles Rose made up the core of the group whose best album was a funky little number released in 1971.