Tim May

Tim May is one of those top-flight recording session guitarists whose career is measured not in years but in decades, and whose discography is so long that you can really only mention the highlights. A veteran of the LA recording scene since the late '70s, May's guitar work has shown up on tunes by everyone from Jerry Lee Lewis to John Williams and everything in between.

Coming from a musical family in Cleveland, Tim was encouraged to pursue a musical career. Tim started studying guitar at age 9, and at age 15 he took a clinic with the legendary Johnny Smith, and also studied with Howard Roberts, who took him under his wing, inviting him to watch a recording session and giving him sage career advice. One piece of advice he got from Roberts was to move to L. A. at exactly the age of 20 - which he later did. In the meantime he kept playing and at the age of 16 he jammed with George Benson for several hours in his hotel room.

After studying music with Dr. William Fowler at the University of Utah, Tim moved to L. A. in 1974. He started playing with lots of L. A. bands including Louie Belson's big band, which led to further connections in the music business. By around 1977 he was getting so much session work that he no longer had time for live gigs.

By the early '80s May was playing on some of the biggest records of the decade. He seems to have had a knack for showing up on the first breakthrough albums of future stars and megastars such as Lionel Ritchie, Barbara Streisand, The Pointer Sisters, and Whitney Houston as well as established stars like Celine Dion, Herb Albert, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Kenny Rogers, Liza Minelli, Peggy Lee, Diana Ross, Linda Ronstadt, Donna Summer, Leon Redbone, and on and on. He's also played on some classic rock hits like Blondie's "Call Me" and on cues for great movie scenes such as those in Back to the Future; that's Tim playing when Marty McFly blows out the walls with Doc Brown's mega-amp as well as the famous "Johnny B. Goode" lead at the high school dance. As a first-call session guitarist, Tim has played on thousands of soundtracks for movies, TV shows, records and jingles including Friends, The Simpsons, Eight Crazy Nights and Bringing Down the House.

Tim May released his first solo CD in 1998, entitled One Piece of the Big Picture featuring L. A. session veterans Harvey Mason, Ernie Watts, Chuck Berghofer, and Mike Lang. The experience of recording this album brought Tim back to the clubs to play live jazz. His second CD, Live Jazz Guitar, is nearing release and features session wizards Abe Laboriel on bass and Bob Zimmitti on drums. In the Los Angeles area you can hear Tim live at various clubs with many of southern California's top players.

Titles by Tim May:

Product Number	Title	Format	Price
FGM1011	Kilby, Davis & May Live in Kansas City DVD	DVD	$29.95

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