Rating the perfect late evening bands ever on TV : NPR

The 8G Band on February 24, 2014 — the very first episode of Late Night time with Seth Meyers. Left to proper: Eli Janney, Fred Armisen, Kim Thompson, Syd Butler and Seth Jabour.

Peter Kramer/NBC/Getty Pictures

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Peter Kramer/NBC/Getty Pictures

When producers at Late Night time with Seth Meyers informed keyboardist and affiliate musical director Eli Janney the present would remove its dwell backing group, The 8G Band, on account of funds cuts, he wasn’t all that stunned.

“This was a second, actually, all of us noticed coming,” stated Janney, who made his title as a bassist and keyboardist for the indie rock band Ladies Towards Boys – and as a producer with artists like James Blunt – earlier than musical director Fred Armisen requested him to hitch Late Night time’s backing group in 2014.

Janney says Armisen was seeking to deliver an indie rock band into the world of late evening TV.

Together with Janney on keyboards and Armisen on guitar, they’d Seth Jabour on guitar, Marnie Stern on guitar, Syd Butler on bass and Kimberly Thompson on drums. However when Armisen’s performing profession took off, he wound up leaving Janney in cost – returning for brief stints as a visitor drummer a number of instances a 12 months.

“About six months into the present, [Armisen] was like, ‘Hey I’ve to go work on the subsequent season of Portlandia, I ought to be again in about 30 days,” Janney stated, laughing. “After which he simply by no means got here again [full time].”

Thompson and Stern ultimately left the band, and 8G started enjoying with a succession of visitor drummers, together with Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain, Styx’s Todd Sucherman and Queens of the Stone Age’s Jon Theodore. Janney stated they seemingly carried out with over 300 drummers; Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters was on their schedule to seem when he died in 2022.

The group’s final look in a brand new episode is Thursday, with Armisen again enjoying drums for his or her last week. Satirically, Janney and Armisen have been simply nominated for an Emmy this 12 months for greatest musical course.

“I feel we knew broadcast TV was shrinking normally…[and] there’s only a restrict to how many individuals are watching after 12:30 [a.m.] at evening on broadcast,” he added. “Everyone’s shifting to streaming. However I believed we had a pair extra years, not less than.”

Once I caught up with Janney on a Zoom name final week, he was philosophical and comparatively upbeat, stressing that producers and star Seth Meyers had fought to maintain the band. As an alternative, they’ll pre-record music that the present can use in future episodes.

Trying again on extra late-night bands price remembering

As a musician and late evening TV nerd, I’ve an accompanying obsession with the bands who again the reveals, and I’ve seen numerous them dwell. Late evening bands typically embody and amplify the tone of a present – Johnny Carson’s Tonight Present had a rollicking, old fashioned huge band, whereas Jimmy Fallon’s model has the urbane cool of rap/soul/funk stars The Roots.

Now that 8G joins the ranks of bands of the previous, I’m reflecting on extra late evening bands which have – or will sooner or later – go down in historical past. Right here’s a listing of the perfect.

#1: The World’s Most Harmful Band/CBS Orchestra

Late Night time with David Letterman (NBC) and The Late Present with David Letterman (CBS)

This group was squarely in my technology – a band I used to be hooked on from their early days with Letterman on NBC within the mid Nineteen Eighties, proper up till his retirement on CBS in 2015. It started as a hip 4 piece full of the perfect session musicians in New York, together with drummer Steve Jordan (now with the Rolling Stones), bassist Will Lee and often-barefoot guitarist Hiram Bullock, led by keyboardist and Saturday Night time Reside alum Paul Shaffer. Their stripped-down, funky sound was a welcome change from Carson’s large, extra conventional jazz band. Through the years, the group developed right into a a lot bigger unit with two guitar gamers and a horn part; P-Funk keyboard legend Bernie Worrell even performed with them for a time. And the band was able to every little thing from skin-tight backing of James Brown to together with visitor musicians like David Sanborn and buying and selling quips with Letterman himself.

“I watched them on a regular basis…and simply felt like they have been on one other degree from what I used to be doing,” Janney stated. “Additionally, they appeared to be having the perfect f—ing time. It wasn’t uptight in any respect.”

#2: The NBC Orchestra

The Tonight Present Starring Johnny Carson (NBC)

So most of the traditions we affiliate with late evening TV and music began with Carson’s huge band, from a flashy, signature theme tune to a bunch full of ace musicians – like jazz trumpeters Clark Terry and Snooky Younger. Trumpeter Carl “Doc” Severinsen led the group, carrying flashy garments and bantering with Carson whereas sometimes main bits like “Stump the Band,” the place viewers members tried to call songs they couldn’t play.

#3: The Roots

Late Night time with Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Present with Jimmy Fallon (NBC)

It might have appeared odd to some for a rap band from Philadelphia to hitch Late Night time when SNL alum Fallon took over the present from Conan O’Brien in 2009. Nevertheless it made excellent sense to me – bringing a contemporary, genre-blending angle to the present whereas that includes among the finest bands in any class. And their “Gradual Jam the Information” segments are nonetheless a traditional. Nonetheless, NBC took a short while to agree: bandleader Questlove informed me they have been initially signed to a succession of 13-week contracts, in case the community determined to make a change shortly.

#4: Jon Batiste and Keep Human

The Late Present with Stephen Colbert (CBS)

No shade to present Colbert bandleader/guitarist Louis Cato – a tremendous multi-instrumentalist who I first noticed enjoying drums with David Sanborn, George Duke and Marcus Miller years in the past – however the first model of Colbert’s band led by piano prodigy Batiste was a breath of contemporary, progressive air. The band, which Batiste had put along with classmates from Julliard nicely earlier than they landed on Colbert‘s present, effortlessly moved from jazz and R&B to pop and even classical – with a cool means of enjoying whereas strolling by way of the viewers that recalled the Second Line marching bands from Batiste’s native New Orleans.

#5: David Sanborn and buddies

Sunday Night time/Night time Music (NBC)

Government produced by SNL showrunner Lorne Michaels, this present was an offbeat experiment which aired for 2 seasons starting in 1988, that includes the late jazz saxophonist Sanborn and co-host Jools Holland with a band of ace backing musicians, performing with a big selection of various artists in a single present. Bassist Marcus Miller (Miles Davis/Luther Vandross) was the musical director, with guitarist Hiram Bullock, drummer Omar Hakim (Sting/David Bowie), keyboardist Philippe Saisse and lots of extra. Sanborn cherished to deliver various kinds of musicians collectively, having jazzers Carla Bley and Steve Swallow carry out with funk grasp Bootsy Collins. And the band’s rocking tackle “See the Mild” with Jeff Healey stays one among my favourite performances by the late guitar god.