The World Premiere of The Session Man is opening the Doc N Roll Festival 2023 at the Barbican on 26th October!

October 10, 2023

The Session Man, a 90-minute feature documentary, tells the story of Nicky Hopkins, the highly gifted and prolific session pianist, and unsung hero. Nicky Hopkins not only played with The Kinks, The Who, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, he also played on solo albums of all four members of the Beatles in the early part of a stellar career that spanned over 30 years. During that time, he contributed to over 250 albums and a vast number of single releases. Nicky’s legendary piano riffs and wonderful musical motifs helped ordinary tracks become extraordinary and iconic. So many of them remain popular today. The generations that followed The Golden Era of Rock And Roll soon discover those iconic tracks that made Nicky Hopkins a legend amongst his peers – tracks like “Revolution” by The Beatles, “Like A Rainbow”, “Sympathy For The Devil” and “Angie” by the Rolling Stones, “Jealous Guy” by John Lennon and “You Are So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker. The Session Man’s narrator, Bob Harris, former presenter of the BBC’s The Old Grey Whistle Test, had no hesitation at the end of the film in confirming that, “Nicky Hopkins’ contributions made him Rock And Roll’s greatest Session Man.”

Written, directed, and produced by Michael Treen, with cinematographer Luke Palmer, co-producers Mike Sherman and John Wood, associate producers Gary Byrne, Jonathan Scott Donnet, Sergio Goldstein, Ray Kooyenga, Akos Kunfalvy, Mila Kunfalvy, Eli Miller, Kathy Oliver, and Erin Whitwell, and segment producer Frank Torchia.

OnSight completed Full Picture and Sound Post for this project, with Senior Colourist Andy Lee, Online Editor Andrew Fisun, Audio by Sound Supervisor Andy Coles, and Post Producer Jade Townsend.

Click here for tickets.

Watch the trailer here.