Editing Jimmy Page (section)

=== Early 1960s: session musician ===
While still a student, Page often performed on stage at the [[Marquee Club]] with bands such as [[Cyril Davies]]' [[All-Stars (band)|All Stars]], [[Alexis Korner]]'s [[Blues Incorporated]], and fellow guitarists [[Jeff Beck]] and [[Eric Clapton]]. He was spotted one night by John Gibb of Brian Howard & the Silhouettes, who asked him to help record some singles for [[Columbia Graphophone Company]], including "The Worrying Kind". [[Mike Leander]] of [[Decca Records]] first offered Page regular studio work. His first session for the label was the recording "[[Diamonds (Jerry Lordan song)|Diamonds]]" by [[Jet Harris]] and [[Tony Meehan]], which went to Number 1 on the singles chart in early 1963.<ref name="Schulps" />

After brief stints with [[Carter-Lewis and the Southerners]], [[Mike Hurst (producer)|Mike Hurst]] and the Method and [[Mickey Finn (guitarist)|Mickey Finn and the Blue Men]], Page committed himself to full-time session work. As a session guitarist, he was known as 'Lil' Jim Pea' to prevent confusion with the other noted English session guitarist [[Big Jim Sullivan]]. Page was mainly called into sessions as "insurance" in instances when a replacement or second guitarist was required by the recording artist. "It was usually myself and a drummer", he explained, "though they never mention the drummer these days, just me&nbsp;... Anyone needing a guitarist either went to Big Jim [Sullivan] or myself."<ref name="Schulps" /> He stated that "In the initial stages they just said, play what you want, cos at that time I couldn't read music or anything."<ref name=DuNoyer>{{cite magazine|last=Du Noyer|first=Paul|title=Who the hell does Jimmy Page think he is?|magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q magazine]]|date=August 1988|pages=5–7}}</ref>

{{listen|type=music
| filename = Jimmy Page - She Just Satisfies.ogg
| title = She Just Satisfies
| description = Sample of "She Just Satisfies", Page's first single (released in 1965).{{sfn|Case|2009|p=43}}
| pos = right
}}

Page was the favoured session guitarist of record producer [[Shel Talmy]]. As a result, he secured session work on songs for [[the Who]] and [[the Kinks]].<ref name=tripleJ>{{cite web|last=Kingsmill|first=Richard|url=http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/music_specials/s1402502.htm|title=Led Zeppelin Triple J Music Specials|work=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=12 July 2000|access-date=20 August 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120174156/http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/music_specials/s1402502.htm|archive-date=20 January 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Page is credited with playing acoustic twelve-string guitar on two tracks on the Kinks' [[The Kinks (album)|debut album]], "I'm a Lover Not a Fighter" and "I've Been Driving on Bald Mountain",<ref>Booklet of [[Kinks (album)|The Kinks]] Deluxe Edition Sanctuary Records 2011</ref> and possibly on the B-side "I Gotta Move".<ref>Booklet of the Kinks' Picture Book box set Sanctuary Records 2008</ref> He played rhythm guitar on the sessions for the Who's first single "[[I Can't Explain]]"<ref name =DuNoyer/> (although [[Pete Townshend]] was reluctant to allow Page's contribution on the final recording; Page also played lead guitar on the B-side, "[[Bald Headed Woman]]").<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thewho.com/index.php?module=discography&discography_item_id=90|title=Official Discography|publisher=The Who|date=13 September 1971|access-date=14 January 2013}}</ref> Page's studio gigs in 1964 and 1965 included [[Marianne Faithfull]]'s "[[As Tears Go By (song)|As Tears Go By]]", [[Jonathan King]]'s "[[Everyone's Gone to the Moon]]",  [[the Nashville Teens]]' "[[Tobacco Road (song)|Tobacco Road]]", [[the Rolling Stones]] "[[Heart of Stone (Rolling Stones song)|Heart of Stone]]" (along with "We're Wasting Time") (also, [[Van Morrison]] & [[Them (band)|Them]]'s "[[Baby, Please Don't Go]]", "Mystic Eyes", and "[[Here Comes the Night]]", [[Dave Berry (musician)|Dave Berry's]] "[[The Crying Game (song)|The Crying Game]]" and "My Baby Left Me", [[Brenda Lee]]'s "Is It True", [[Shirley Bassey]]'s [[Goldfinger (Shirley Bassey song)|"Goldfinger"]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/jimmy-page-goldfinger-theme/|title=Jimmy Page Recalls Playing on James Bond 'Goldfinger' Theme|website=Ultimate Classic Rock|date=19 January 2021 }}</ref> and  [[Petula Clark]]'s "[[Downtown (Petula Clark song)|Downtown]]".

In 1964, Page contributed guitar to the incidental music of [[the Beatles]]' 1964 film ''[[A Hard Day's Night (film)|A Hard Day's Night]]''.{{sfn|Power|2016|p=76}}

In 1965, Page was hired by Stones manager [[Andrew Loog Oldham]] to act as house producer and [[A&R]] man for the newly formed [[Immediate Records]] label, which allowed him to play on and/or produce tracks by [[John Mayall]], [[Nico]], [[Chris Farlowe]], [[Twice as Much]] and Clapton. Also in 1965, Page produced one of [[Dana Gillespie]]'s early singles, "Thank You Boy".<ref name="Deluxe2013">{{cite book|author=Jean-Emmanuel Deluxe|title=Ye-Ye Girls of '60s French Pop|date=18 November 2013|publisher=Feral House|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=TWwKAQAAQBAJ}}|isbn=978-1-936239-72-6|page=302}}</ref> Page also formed a brief songwriting partnership with then romantic interest [[Jackie DeShannon]]. He composed and recorded songs for the John Williams (not to be confused with the film composer [[John Williams]]) album ''The Maureeny Wishful Album'' with Big Jim Sullivan. Page worked as session musician on [[Donovan]] Leitch's ''[[Sunshine Superman (album)|Sunshine Superman]]'', on [[Engelbert Humperdinck (singer)|Engelbert Humperdinck]]'s ''[[Release Me (Eddie Miller song)#Engelbert Humperdinck version|Release Me]]'',<ref>{{cite news |last1=Simpson |first1=Dave |title='Everyone's laughing at it!' – how we made Release Me by Engelbert Humperdinck |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/oct/18/how-we-made-release-me-engelbert-humperdinck-beatles-strawberry-fields-forever |work=The Guardian |date=18 October 2021}}</ref> the [[Johnny Hallyday]] albums ''Jeune homme'' and ''Je suis né dans la rue'', the [[Al Stewart]] album ''[[Love Chronicles]]'' and played guitar on five tracks of [[Joe Cocker]]'s debut album, ''[[With a Little Help from My Friends (Joe Cocker album)|With a Little Help from My Friends]]''. Over the years since 1970, Page played lead guitar on 10 [[Roy Harper (singer)|Roy Harper]] tracks, comprising 81 minutes of music.

When questioned about which songs he played on, especially ones where there exists some controversy as to what his exact role was, Page often points out that it is hard to remember exactly what he did given the enormous number of sessions he was playing at the time.<ref name="DuNoyer"/><ref name="tripleJ" /> In a radio interview, he explained that "I was doing three sessions a day, fifteen sessions a week. Sometimes I would be playing with a group, sometimes I could be doing film music, it could be a folk session&nbsp;... I was able to fit all these different roles."<ref name="NPRPage"/>

Although Page recorded with many notable musicians, many of these early tracks are only available as [[bootleg recording]]s, several of which were released by the Led Zeppelin fan club in the late 1970s. Examples include early jam sessions featuring him and guitarists [[Jeff Beck]] and [[Eric Clapton]] covering various blues themes, which were included on compilations released by [[Immediate Records]]. Several early tracks were compiled on the twin album release, ''[[Jimmy Page: Session Man]]''. He also recorded with [[Keith Richards]] on guitar and vocals in [[Olympic Sound Studios]] on 15 October 1974. Along with [[Ric Grech]] on bass and [[Bruce Rowland]] on drums, a track called "[[Scarlet (song)|Scarlet]]" was cut (the same year he played acoustic guitar on the Stones' "Through the Lonely Nights"). Page reflected later in an interview with ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s [[Cameron Crowe]]: "I did what could possibly be the next Stones B side. It was Ric Grech, Keith and me doing a number called "Scarlet". I can't remember the drummer. It sounded very similar in style and mood to those ''[[Blonde on Blonde]]'' tracks. It was great, really good. We stayed up all night and went down to [[Basing Street Studios|Island Studios]] where Keith put some reggae guitars over one section. I just put some solos on it, but it was eight in the morning of the next day before I did that. He took the tapes to Switzerland and someone found out about them. Richards told people that it was a track from my album".<ref name="PP75" /> "Scarlet" was eventually released as a single from the reissue of the 1973 Rolling Stones album ''[[Goats Head Soup]]'' in 2020.

Page left studio work when the increasing influence of [[Stax Records]] on popular music led to the greater incorporation of brass and orchestral arrangements into recordings at the expense of guitars.<ref name="JPinterview" /> He stated that his time as a session player served as extremely good schooling:
{{blockquote|My session work was invaluable. At one point I was playing at least three sessions a day, six days a week! And I rarely ever knew in advance what I was going to be playing. But I learned things even on my worst sessions – and believe me, I played on some horrendous things. I finally called it quits after I started getting calls to do [[Elevator music|Muzak]]. I decided I couldn't live that life any more; it was getting too silly. I guess it was destiny that a week after I quit doing sessions Paul Samwell-Smith left the Yardbirds and I was able to take his place. But being a session musician was good fun in the beginning – the studio discipline was great. They'd just count the song off and you couldn't make any mistakes.<ref name="autogenerated1" />}}