The Ringers, performing on Saturday at The Howard Theatre.

Rock and pop stars don’t reach the heights of success in a vacuum. They are at the tip of the iceberg, the most visible point of an organization that includes publicists, managers, producers and, of course, musicians. If you are a star like Beyoncé or Justin Timberlake and have a high-pressure performance at the Super Bowl or the Grammies, you are definitely going to surround yourself with the best. And even though those musicians get none of the spotlight, they are often among the finest players in the world.

On Saturday, three pioneering guitarists — Wayne Krantz, Michael Landau and Jimmy Herring — who each made their names as sidemen to hugely popular acts, will come to the District and share the spotlight as The Ringers.

“I’m not the leader. I’m not used to that,” said Krantz during a recent interview with DCist. “We’re not sideman either. It’s nobody’s band. Most great bands start like that, democracies.”

In the pop world, Krantz is best known for his work with jazz-rockers, Steely Dan. He has also worked with jazz heavyweights like Michael and Randy Brecker, as well as drumming icon Billy Cobham. Landau has been a staple of the L.A. session scene since the early ’80s. Michael Jackson, Seal, Joni Mitchell and Pink Floyd are just some of the acts that have called on his talents. Herring cut his teeth on the jam band circuit, having played with Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit and The Allman Brothers before taking Jerry Garcia’s place when the surviving members of The Grateful Dead reunited.

All three of these men are now bandleaders who tour regularly, and wouldn’t ordinarily share the stage. However, The Ringers is very much pre-fabricated, the result of the record company the three share, Abstract Logix, which specializes in instrumental fusion acts.

“We were all kind of working for the same label and the label thought it would be good to do something together,” explained Krantz. “It seemed like a good idea to everyone.”

Of course, three musician’s musicians of this caliber require a rhythm section that is up to the task. Drummer Keith Carlock has worked in Krantz’s band for many years, also toured with Steely Dan, and has toured extensively with Sting. Bassist Etienne Mbappé, a native of Cameroon who worked with keyboard great Joe Zawinul, has been playing with legendary guitarist John McLaughlin for the past several years.

The band is on a week long tour that will culminate this weekend with their performance at The Howard Theatre. At the time DCist interviewed Krantz, not only had the band not yet started rehearsal, but some of the members had never even met. Still, Krantz was able to offer some hints of what audiences could expect.

“It’s a fairly wide range just because as players we’re quite different is from one another,” Krantz said. “The nice thing playing with good people is that you know it’s going to be good.”

If this tour proves to be successful, there are also possibilities of future collaborations between these all-star axe men.

“It seems like a cool thing to do aside from what we normally do,” Krantz said. “If this is one more thing that we can add to the mix that’s fun and has a point, then yeah, we’ll be up for doing it again.”

The Ringers will perform at The Howard Theatre on Saturday, February 23, 2013. 6 p.m. doors/8 p.m. show. $25 in advance/$30 at the door.