A look at my favorite commercial TV music show, after-the-jump ….
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The death earlier this week of the alto saxophonist David Sanborn has brought forth numerous tributes. One of them was on this very site, from Vintner13— a short post that brought forth a good deal of recollections in the comments. And a few touched on my favorite commercial TV music show of all time, which will be the subject of tonight’s essay. Before I do: for those unfamiliar with David Sanborn (and if you are not a jazz fan, you may well be unfamiliar), some brief notes.
→ Born in Tampa in 1945, he came-of-age in the suburbs of St. Louis
→ Overcame childhood polio at age 3 (doctor suggested wind instrument)
→ Became primarily a jazz musician, with eclectic, extensive studio work
→ Joined the Butterfield Blues Band, played at Woodstock (film at this link)
→ Only drawback: a bit too much smooth jazz/lightweight pop for my taste
→ He played alto sax with a frenzied style (“keening”, one review had it).
→ Six-time Grammy Award winner
→ Played in the Saturday Night Live band for a year
→ Played the theme song to “L.A. Law” television show. Also played on:
→ David Bowie’s Young Americans, James Taylor’s How Sweet It Is
→ Stevie Wonder’s Tuesday Heartbreak, Linda Ronstadt’s The Water is Wide
→ And worked with numerous other musicians, far-and-wide
Night Music was an NBC one-hour music show on Sunday nights from 1988-1990. Though the show’s executive producer was SNL’s Lorne Michaels, and David Sanborn was its nonpareil host: the show was the brainchild of SNL’s musical director, Hal Willner— who used the show not to highlight the latest stars, but instead veteran stars who relished the chance to stretch beyond their normal work and reach new audiences.
There were plenty of big-name guests, then Willner put-on end-of-the-show collaborations that took my breath away: one was Leonard Cohen with the jazz saxophone legend Sonny Rollins. Hal Willner felt that was a reason why NBC ended the show early: the unusual musical pairings threw-off NBC brass.
I wrote a Top Comments essay on Hal after his death (in 2020) at this link.
As noted: what made the show special was the high caliber musicians appearing on the show .. which ended with an ensemble performance by all of the guests that night.
If you’d like to look at the eclectic lineups each night’s show featured: have at look at this Episode Guide.
And while YouTube has many whole-show videos — someone created a catalog of 68 individual songs, at this link— reflecting the diversity of performers.
With the death of David Sanborn this week (due to prostate cancer), it really is the end-of-an-era for this show. Given that he was an SNL bandmember (and his ties to Hal Willner, who worked on the show for nearly forty years), don’t be surprised if on this coming weekend’s season finale …. there will be an on-screen tribute.
Three selections to conclude tonight:
Now, on to Top Comments:
Nothing came in from the field this evening.
And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the diary by Dartagnan about whether the junior senator from Ohio might be Putin’s choice for VP — my T/C colleague Tara notes J.D.’s nutty ideas about voting ……. while jsteve7 thinks the comparison of GOP supporters of Putin to a former British prime minister may be misplaced.
Next - enjoy jotter's wonderful (and now eternal) *PictureQuilt™* below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment featuring that photo.
TOP PHOTOSMay 15th, 2024
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And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
6) He dyed. by rudewarrior +13317) Reactor incident? Chalk River Ontari … by Lex Lurker +9520) The line I’m waiting for: … by polecat +9123) Yep. Romney can pound sand. by radical simplicity +87