Legendary Los Angeles musicians on tour in NYC. These guys have played with pretty much everyone! Look up their contributions to the world of rock and roll and be staggeringly blown away. Just. Wow.
- Danny Kortchmar - guitar / vocals
- Waddy Wachtel - guitar / vocals
- Lee Sklar - bass
- Russ Kunkel - drums
- Steve Postell - guitar / vocals
More on this band, courtesy of Mix:
Danny Kortchmar & The Immediate Family
L.A.’s Ultimate Session Musicians Take the Lead—In Studio and On Stage
ROBYN FLANSAUG 3, 2018
When Niko Bolas walked into Jackson Browne’s Groove Masters Studio last October to begin engineering Danny Kortchmar’s upcoming album, Honey Don’t Leave L.A., he was convening with musicians he viewed as big brothers and heroes.
“I had to make them proud. I was very excited and nervous,” Bolas says. “They’re the cats.”
Of course, so is he. For the past 35 years Bolas has worked on sessions with those same cats: Kortchmar, who wrote songs for and/or played guitar with artists such as Jackson Browne, Don Henley, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and a long, long list; drummer Russ Kunkel, whose resume includes those artists and more; guitarist/writer Waddy Wachtel, who has worked for the same people, plus Warren Zevon and Iggy Pop; and session bassist Leland Sklar, who has played for a ridiculous list that includes Henley, Vince Gill, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and many others.
These are some of the finest session players ever, from anywhere. And the history they have amassed is immense.
Wachtel is the reason Bolas became an engineer. While in high school, he read Wachtel’s name as co-producer of Warren Zevon’s Excitable Boy, which convinced him to learn what a recording engineer was. Wachtel also played on that album, as did Sklar, Kunkel, Kortchmar and Browne.
Then Kortchmar, Sklar and Kunkel were on Bolas’ first session as an assistant engineer for a Richie Furay record at the Sound Factory. “My first job in the studio, my first element of responsibility, was getting Danny’s Firebird out of impound in 1978,” Bolas recalls with a laugh.
As time went on, Bolas says, they were on every session he was, and then “I wound up passing out in Danny’s guest house, Waddy’s guest house, Russell’s house.”
This kind of kinship is exactly what Kortchmar wanted on his record when a Japanese label called to request an album. Kortchmar then turned to composer/guitarist Steve Postell, who helmed the project with Fred Mollin.
Kortchmar’s first thought was to work with his “old musical buddies,” dubbing the collective Immediate Family. He points out, however, that mostly he had worked with this group in more subdued musical situations, such as on a James Taylor or Carole King project. This time the plan was to let loose with some good ol’ rock and roll.
Read more: https://www.mixonline.com/recording/danny-kortchmar-the-immediate-family