[3] Especially in demand in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, McCracken appeared on many recordings by Steely Dan, as well as albums by Donald Fagen, Jimmy Rushing, Billy Joel, Roland Kirk, Roberta Flack, B.
King, Hue and Cry, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, the Monkees, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Lotti Golden, Idris Muhammad, James Taylor, Phoebe Snow, Bob Dylan, Linda McCartney, Carly Simon, Graham Parker, Yoko Ono, Eric Carmen, Loudon Wainwright III, Lou Donaldson, Aretha Franklin, Bob James, Van Morrison, the Four Seasons, Barbra Streisand, Hall & Oates, the Archies, Don McLean, Hank Crawford, Jerry Jemmott, Gary Wright and Andy Gibb.
In the middle 1960s, McCracken played in a North Jersey night club cover band called the Funatics under the stage name of Mack Pierce.
The band was made up of Steve Gadd, Tony Levin, Warren Bernhardt, George Young, Frank Vicari, Michael Brecker, Ronnie Cuber, Jon Faddis, Lew Soloff, Randy Brecker, Barry Rogers, Jon Pierson, David Spinozza and Joe Beck.
Among the many albums he performed on was the 1970 recording by writer/critic Robert Palmer's Insect Trust, Hoboken Saturday Night, together with Bernard "Pretty" Purdie and Elvin Jones.