The Wrecking Crew guitarist Bill Pitman has died, aged 102
nme.comThe New York Times, Pitman died on Thursday August 11 at his home in La Quinta, California. No cause of death has been revealed, however the guitarist and bassist reportedly spent the last month of his life recovering from an accident that left him with a fractured spine.Born on February 12, 1920, Pitman was raised in a musical household, as his father worked as a staff bassist for programming at NBC.
His journey with music began at age five and through high school, making regular treks from New Jersey to Manhattan as an admirer of the local jazz scene.
He began playing in jazz clubs around LA in 1951 (at age 31) and his career catapulted after scoring a regular gig in Peggy Lee‘s backing band.He went on to perform regularly for The Rusty Draper Show, a radio gig that he stuck with for three years before being poached for session work by artists like Al Hendrickson, Howard Roberts, Buddy Rich and Red Callender.
His intro to rock’n’roll came at the hand of Phil Spector, who, after a chance meeting with Pitman, recruited him into his cohort of big-name session players.Though unnamed at the time, this cohort – which featured a fluctuating roster of members all based in LA – would go on to be dubbed by member Hal Blaine as The Wrecking Crew.
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