Hanna-Barbera Question: Session Musicians?

Does anyone familiar with Hanna-Barbera know which session musicians had performed on any of the theme tunes for any of this cartoon studio's 1970s-early '80s output?

Partial list of theme tunes:
* Hong Kong Phooey (1974)
* Valley of the Dinosaurs (1974)
* The Tom & Jerry / Grape Ape Show (1975)
* The Scooby-Doo / Dynomutt Hour (1976)
* Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics (1977) / Scooby's All-Stars (1978)
* C.B. Bears (1977)
* Skatebirds (1977)
* The New Fred and Barney Show (1979)
* The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show (1980-81)

Off the top of my head, I know the members of "Wrecking Crew" (including Hal Blaine, Tommy Tedesco, Carol Kaye and even Leon Russell) did some of the stuff of the '60s, but for those cartoon scores of the mid-late '70s and early '80s, I can think of the numerous members of Toto, including the Porcaro brothers (keyboardist Steve, bassist Mike and drummer Jeff; their father, Joe Porcaro, was also an accomplished session musician), guitarist/singer Steve "Luke" Lukather and keyboardist/singer David Paich (his father Marty Paich was a well-known orchestral arranger in the '60s, including on Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!), and also bassist Jaco Pastorius (1951-1987). Other jazz greats such as Pat Metheny, Larry Carlton and Nathan East come to mind.

~Ben

 

Didn't "The Wrecking Crew" do this?

 

In the 1960s, yes... on Jonny Quest to name but one. I would also guess the Wrecking Crew (including Hal Blaine on drums and Carol Kaye on bass) were also involved in the theme tune for The Harlem Globetrotters (the 1970-71 CBS series), with Jeff Barry as songwriter.

I also forgot to mention Tommy Morgan played the bass harmonica on the Hong Kong Phooey (1974) theme tune. He also played that instrument on numerous songs on The Beach Boys' 1966 album Pet Sounds.

For The Super Globetrotters (1979), I'd guess the members of the Funk Brothers and/or James Jamerson were among the participants.

~Ben

 

Didn't Larry Marks sing the first, "soulful" Scooby Doo theme?

Who was on "Captain Groovy"?

 

Yes, and then Austin Roberts (nee George Austin Robertson, Jr.) took over for the second year (1970). With his arrival, there were new background music cues that he sang lyrics to (on all episodes except "A Tiki Scare is No Fair").

~Ben

 

I really love the rarely-heard "long" version of the Jonny Quest theme song...



That's some very fine jazz playing there, particularly from the horns and trombones.

 

This fellow did numerous HB sessions.

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My daughter took dance at his wife’s dance studio. Really great guy. A lot of photos and other bits of memorabilia adorned the walls, including a thank you letter from HB when he retired from session work. I never knew the full breadth of his studio credits until I read the linked VG article.

 

I would really like to know who sang (and played) on the Banana Splits songs. This particular track is supposed to feature Ritchie Adams and/or Mark Barkan, but there is a similarity to the vocalist on the Scooby-Doo theme song...I believe Joe Levine sang some of them ("I Enjoy Being A Boy?" "Two Ton Tessie,")