Create Your Ultimate Band

Ideally one that would actually work together.

Guitar: Ry Cooder
Guitar/Harmonica: Alan Wilson
Bass: Ronnie Lane
Drums: Levon Helm
Piano: Dr. John

Vocals: shared.

Note that I attempted to make a group that would work well together. There are countless musicians I'd love to add but tried for chemistry and sound.

 

For me, it has indeed already existed!

 

If those departed were still among us and everyone each still in their prime years :

Mark Lindsay - lead vocals
Danny Hutton - lead vocals
Carol Kaye - guitar & electric bass
Tommy Tedesco - guitar
Larry Knechtel - keys & electric bass
Hal Blaine - drums
Steve Douglas - saxophone
Jackie Kelso - saxophone
Bud Brisbois - trumpet
Ollie Mitchell - trumpet
Jim Horn - flute
Tommy Morgan - harmonica
Tom Bahler - tenor backing vocal
John Bahler - tenor backing vocal
Jackie Ward - alto backing vocal
Sally Stevens - soprano backing vocal
Gene Morford - bass backing vocal


The greatest Pop-Rock studio group of all-time. Up to me, I'd name the group after the song 'September Street', which appears on the 1973 Chad Allan (former Guess Who singer) album 'Sequel'.

September Street would cover songs authored by the best pop-rock writers of the '6Os and '7Os, such as Jackson Browne, Donovan Leitch, Kris Kristofferson, Harry Nilsson, Burt Bacharach, Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart, Jackie DeShannon, Neil Diamond, Alan Gordon, Bob Dylan, Carole King, Dan Penn, Joe South, and Jimmy Webb, among others.

 

This could be a fun thread! For me:

Vocals - Ian Gillan and Floor Jansen
Guitar Steve Howe and Steve Hackett
Bass and backing / harmony vocals - Chris Squire
Keyboards - Jon Lord and Rick Wakeman
Drums - John Bonham

 

Lead Vocals: Tom Jones
Guitar: Ted Nugent
Bass: Lemmy Kilmister
Drums: Bun E. Carlos

 

Vox: Ronnie Van Zant
Guitar: Stevie Ray Vaughn
Guitar: Duane Allman
Bass: Tommy Caldwell
Drums: Frank Beard

 

When I did this thread a couple of years ago I think it was

Prince
Stanley Clarke
Bernard Purdie.

But there are hundreds

 

Elvis Presley vocals, gtr (circa 1961)
Jeff Beck gtr
Paul McCartney bass, vocals
Steve Winwood organ, piano, vocals
Billy Cobham drums

 

Miles on trumpet
Coltrane on sax
Hendrix on guitar
Bootsie on bass
Tony Allen on drums
Prince on guitar and vocals
They will just jam until the early morning, my friend

 

Karen Carpenter - drums, vocals
Minnie Riperton - vocals
Clarence White - guitar, vocals
Brian Cole - bass, vocals
Al Kooper - keyboards, guitar, vocals
Carl Wilson - guitar, vocals

 

Thank you for rescuing it. It bombed initially haha.

 

Lee Morgan - trumpet
Sonny Rollins - tenor sax
Eric Dolphy - alto sax, bass clarinet, flute
Jimi Hendrix - guitar
Bobby Hutcherson - vibes
Garth Hudson - various keyboards
Richard Davis - bass
Billy Higgins - drums

The Temptations - vocals, when needed

But would they work together? I tried to pick 'em so everyone there had worked with at least one other, or at least someone like that - but Garth and Jimi are the wild cards, there are safer choices there like Grant Green and Joe Zawinul, but I wanted to mix it up but stay within the bounds of sanity...I love Buddy Emmons' pedal steel and Johnny Gimble's fiddle playing, but I don't see a fit here.

 

I can dig that!

 

Vocals/bass - Phil Lynott
Rhythm guitar - James Hetfield
Lead guitar - Michael Schenker
Keyboards - Jon Lord
Drums - Mick Tucker

 

Drums: Animal.
Everything else: Spinal Tap.

But really, let's try a trio:
Drums: Evelyn Glennie.
Piano & vocals: Tori Amos.
Guitar: Polly Harvey.

 

Rock:
Guitar, vocals: Neil Young
Rhythm Guitar, vocals: Frank "Poncho" Sampedro
Bass, vocals: Billy Talbot
Drums, vocals: Ralph Molina


R&B/Blues/Rock:
Lead guitar, vocals: Jimi Hendrix
Rhythm guitar: Nile/Rogers
Bass: Bootsy Collins
Drums: Steve Jordan

Jazz:
Tenor Saxophone: John Coltrane
Trumpet: Miles Davis
Piano: Herbie Hancock
Guitar: Freddie Green
Bass: Ron Carter
Drums: Art Blakey

Blues:
Guitar/ Vocals: Elmore James
Harmonica/ Vocals: Charlie Musselwhite
Bass: Jerome Arnold
Drums: Fred Below

 

Robert Plant
Jimmy Page
John Paul Jones
John Bonham

No sarcasm intended.
Jimmy Page was trying to do just that..create the ultimate band and from that standpoint he did.

 

Tom Waits
Keith Richards
Mike Campbell
Flea
Steve jordan

 

BBG - Bonham, Bruce, Gallagher

 

Linda Ronstadt (was originally thinking Elkie Brooks or maybe Irma Thomas)
Lowell George
Jerry Garcia
Albert Lee
Leon Russell
Steve Gorman (had to have a Crowe in the mix)
and as it is a fantasy I'm going to play bass myself

 

Not sure they'd actually gel together very well, but:


Lead Guitar -- Jimi Hendrix
Rhythm Guitar -- Neil Young
Bass -- John Entwistle ... or ... Phil Lesh
Drums -- Keith Moon
Keyboards -- Ray Charles
Vibes -- Milt Jackson
Harmonica -- Toots Thielemans ... or ... Little Walter

Lead Vocals (Male) -- John Lennon ... or ... Howlin' Wolf
Lead Vocals (Female) -- Karen Carpenter
Harmony Vocals -- Beach Boys

Songwriter(s) -- Lennon / McCartney

 

To add to what I posted directly above, a great one that would gel together would be the band that was proposed and were apparently in discussions before Lennon decided against it... later stating (paraphrasing), "I'd been stuck with the same musicians for 10 years and decided I didn't want to get stuck with the same musicians again."

Whether those were completely John's thoughts or were heavily Yoko-influenced, who knows.

John Lennon
George Harrison
Eric Clapton
Klaus Voorman -- bass
Ringo Starr

(Plus the songwriting of John, George and Eric could have yielded some great stuff)

 

Vocal: Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin
Guitar: Jimi Hendrix
Bass: Bootsy Collins
Drums: Al Jackson Jr
Keyboard: Ray Charles
Sax: King Curtis

 

I'll take a ticket for that show.

 

Monk, Mingus, Coltrane, Jones

or

Little Richard vocal, piano, Chuck Berry g, Muddy Waters bass, Charles Connor ds

or

Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Herbie Hancock, Michael Henderson, Al Foster, Mtume

or

Bruford, Bruce, Tippett, Fripp, Driscoll-Tippetts

or

Marriott, Townshend, Entwistle, Moon

and many others.