best.com!not-for-mail
Subject: Saturday Night Live FAQ:  Band Information
Supersedes: <snl_bandinfo_1996.02.20@best.com>
Date: 22 Mar 1996 14:10:09 -0800
References: <snl_faq_1996.03.20@best.com>

Posting-Frequency: Monthly


Saturday Night Live FAQ:  Band Information
==========================================
This is a compilation of information about the bands that
have played on Saturday Night Live.  It was put together
for me by Dave Mackey (dmackey@raven.cybercomm.net).


The Saturday Night Live Band has been a fixture since the show's 
inception in 1975. Their function on the show is to play the opening
and closing themes, commercial leadins and leadouts, incidental
music for sketches, and sometimes accompanying musical guests. Sometimes
members of the band have appeared in sketches; one became a full-fledged 
featured player.

Those players listed without dates are primarily fill-ins. There may be 
one or two names missing, however, this list is virtually complete. 

The Players
-----------

Musical Directors

     Howard Shore (1975-1980 and 1985-1986) 
     Kenny Vance (1980-1981)
     Tom Malone (1981-1985)
     Cheryl Hardwick (1986-present)
     G.E. Smith (1986-1995)
     Lenny Pickett (1995-present)

Keyboards
     Cheryl Hardwick (1975-1980, 1985-present)
     Paul Shaffer (1975-1980; periodically thereafter; also in cast as
featured player 1979-1980, though he did appear in sketches before that
official designation was made) 
     Leroy Leon Pendarvis (1980-present) 
     Ray Chew (1980-1984) 
     Chris Palmaro (1980-1984) 
     Marc Shaiman (for Sweeney Sisters sketches) 
     Dave Christiansen 

Guitar

     Bert Jones (1975-1979) 
     Georg Wadenius (1979-1980, 1982-1985) 
     David Spinozza (1980-1982) 
     G.E. Smith (1985-1995) 
     Yoshiko Hirashige (1995-present) 
     Hiram Bullock (subbed one time in 1981; Lew Del Gatto, who contracts
the musicians for the band, doesn't remember it happening, but I saw his
name on the credits) 
     Jane Getter (first two shows of 1995-1996 season) 

Bass

     Bob Cranshaw (1975-1978) 
     Marcus Miller (1978-1980) 
     Neil Jason (1980-1983) 
     Tom Barney (1983-1985, 1995-present, also fill-ins 1990's) 
     Tom "T-Bone" Wolk (1985-1991, plus one fill-in in 1993-1994 season) 
     Paul Ossola (1991-1995) 
     Will Lee 
     Tony Garnier 
     Francisco Centeno (listed on credits as Francisco Santana) 
     Mark Egan 
     Mark O'Connor 

Drums

     David Shaw (1975-1977) 
     Steve Jordan (1977-1978) 
     Buddy Williams (1978-1985) 
     Steve Ferrone (1985-1986) 
     Chris Parker (1986-1991, also fill-ins 1970's) 
     Matt Chamberlain (1991-1992) 
     Shawn Pelton (1992-present) 
     Steve Gadd 
     Billy Cobham 
     Andy Newmark 
     Alan Schwartzberg 
     Vince Carlutta 

Trumpet

     Alan Rubin (1975-1984) 
     Tom Malone (1984-1985) 
     Earl Gardner (1985-present) 
     Jon Faddis 
     Kamau Adilifu 

Trombone

     Tom Malone (1975-1985) 
     Steve Turre (1985-present, also plays conch shells) 
     Robin Eubanks 
     Britt Woodman 
     Barry Rogers (popular Latin-style trombonist, now deceased) 
     Keith O'Quinn 
     Birch Johnson 

Saxophones

     Howard Shore (1975-1980) 
     Lou Marini (1975-1984) 
     Mauricio Smith (1975-1977) 
     Howard Johnson (1975-1980) 
     Lew Del Gatto (1977-1979, 1985-1995, also fill-ins for Gomez,
1995-present) 
     George Young (1979-1980, 1990-1995) 
     Lawrence Feldman (1980-1984, also fill-ins for Young, 1990's) 
     Ronald Cuber (1980-1984) 
     Michael Brecker (1984-1985) 
     Lenny Pickett (1985-present) 
     Alex Foster (1985-1990, 1995-present) 
     Lino Gomez (1995-present) 
     David Sanborn 

Percussion

     Errol "Crusher" Bennett (periodic) 
     Valerie Naranjo (1995-present) 

Tuba

     Howard Johnson (1975-1980) 
     Tony Price (periodic, 1986-present) 

Vocalist

     Buster Poindexter (nee David Johansen) (1986-1987) 
     Christine Ohlman (periodic, early 1990's) 

Most Recent Show

     For December 16, 1995 (Madeline Kahn/Bush) the band consisted of Cheryl
     Hardwick, Leon Pendarvis, Shawn Pelton, Tom Barney, Yoshiko Hirashige,
     Valerie Naranjo, Earl Gardner, Steve Turre, Alex Foster, Lenny 
Pickett, 
     Lino Gomez and Tony Price.

Notes
-----
Leon Pendarvis has been in the band for the longest continuous stint,
16 seasons so far. Both he and Cheryl Hardwick have spent sixteen seasons
in the band, though Cheryl took five years off to do other things. (The
April 1994 issue of "Keyboard" has an excellent article about Cheryl and
Leon; they discuss their gear and the problems of putting together music
for a live TV show in less than half a week.) 

Lenny Pickett, currently musical director, has not missed a single show
since his joining the band in 1985. Lew Del Gatto also had a perfect
attendance record during his ten years in the band from 1985-1995. 



The Band On Record
------------------
The band has released two albums: "Live From New York: The Saturday Night
Live Band" on ProJazz records (CDJ621), featuring the Tom Malone-led group
of the early 80's, and "G.E. Smith And The Saturday Night Live Band: Get A
Little" on Liberty Records featuring the entire lineup except Shawn Pelton,
replaced by Chris Parker, who returned to the band for the album. Guests on
some cuts included Mickey Curry, Tom Wolk, Marshall Crenshaw, and Kamau
Adilifu. Both albums are now out of print. 

The Malone album better represents the band's work for the show than the
Smith album, since the earlier one is entirely composed of material
recorded for the show, while Smith's album is part show cues and part
original material never heard on the show, all newly recorded. 

The cuts on the Malone album: 

     Black-Eyed G's 
     Jupiter 
     Gotta Keep My Eye On You 
     Carribean Festival (a leftover chart from the Howard Shore era,
arranged by Howard Johnson) 
     I Don't Want To Lose You 
     Boiler Room Inspection (popular commercial bumper 1980-1984) 
     Get Lucky 
     Lost In A Wonderland 
     G Jam 
     Saturday Night Live Theme 

The cuts on the Smith album, many of which are vocals: 

     Get A Little 
     Sloozy 
     Monkey Hips And Rice 
     Gin Blossoms 
     Might As Well Get Drunk 
     Helldrive 
     Willy D's Blues 
     Fattening Frogs For Snakes 
     Fat Girl/The Last Month Of The Year 
     Forgotten Songs 



Other Projects Of SNL Band Personnel
------------------------------------
     G.E. Smith: was in pit band for "Gilda Live", where he met future wife
Gilda Radner; with Hall And Oates; musical director of Bob Dylan tribute
show 
     Steve Turre: "Rhythm Within", "Sanctified Shells", "Right There",
"Dedication" (with Robin Eubanks), many sides with Art Blakey Jazz
Messengers. Steve is the quintessential cutting-edge jazz trombonist.
(As a trombonist myself I ought to know. Buy Steve's Albums!) 
     George Young: "Chant", "Burgundies", "Oreo", "Yesterday And Today",
"Spring Fever"; Young is a sax superstar in Japan, also with Manhattan
Jazz Quintet and New York First Call; twenty-year veteran studio session
musician 
     David Spinozza: "Spinozza" 
     Marcus Miller: several albums, producer 
     Lenny Pickett: many albums with his old group, Tower Of Power 
     T-Bone Wolk: record producer for Hall And Oates among others, also
played bass for Hall And Oates alongside G.E. Smith 
     Paul Shaffer: party album with his "Late Night With David Letterman"
band, co-writer of hit record "It's Raining Men" by Weather Girls; cable TV
special "Viva Shaf Vegas", music composer for "Square Pegs" 
     Cheryl Hardwick: wrote songs for short-lived Broadway show "Cut The
Ribbons" and various tunes for "Sesame Street"; musical director for
Lorne's short-lived primetime series "The New Show"; also, she was married
to the late Michael O'Donoghue 
     Howard Shore: film scores 
     Marc Shaiman: film scores 
     Tom Malone: now in horn section on "Late Show With David Letterman" 
     Lou Marini: sax player in band on "Night Life With David Brenner" 
     Steve Ferrone: played on the "Eric Clapton: Unplugged" session 
     Ray Chew: musical director on "It's Showtime At The Apollo" 

The Blues Brothers Band
-----------------------
The following musicians were part of the band that backed John Belushi and
Dan Aykroyd for the Blues Brothers act. Some of these musicians were
veterans of Stax Records, a major influence on Belushi and Ayrkoyd in
creating the group. 

     Guitars: Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Steve Cropper 
     Bass: Donald "Duck" Dunn 
     Drums: Steve Jordan 
     Keyboards: Paul Shaffer (replaced for the "Blues Brothers" movie
and soundtrack album by Murphy Dunne) 
     Trumpet: Alan Rubin 
     Trombone: Tom Malone 
     Saxophones: Lou Marini, Tom Scott 
     Vocalist/Blues Harp: Elwood Blues 
     Vocalist: Jake Blues 

There have been rumors of late that the Blues Brothers will soon be
revived with Jim Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. There's also been a report that
Film Roman, animators of "The Simpsons", is soon to develop a "Blues 
Brothers" animated series, to be written by former Belushi associate
Tino Insana. Up-to-the-minute information on the Blues Brothers may be 
found in their own Usenet newsgroup.

Stuff: Are They The SNL Band?
-----------------------------
Contrary to some references, the 70's music group Stuff, made up of
New York session men, never functioned as the Saturday Night Live Band.
They did appear on the October 2, 1976 show as backup to musical guest 
Joe Cocker. Everyone, including the SNL Band horn section wore Stuff
T-shirts.

Acknowledgements
----------------
donz5@aol.com, known as the info-wizard of the Letterman newsgroup,
helped this document immensely with his insights and information.

Thanks also to Doug Krause for providing a direct link to this page from
the Saturday Night Archives.

the SNL Band themselves, kudos to Lew Del Gatto and Leon Pendarvis,
for their valuable roster information. Lew has been band contractor for 
many years and helped immeasurably in sorting out the early band history. 
Leon provided me with the current lineup and helped me make sense of the 
many new faces in the band this season. Thanks Guys!

Forward questions or comments on this segment of the SNL FAQ to
dmackey@raven.cybercomm.net. Thank you! 

If this document is out of date, the latest version can be obtained from
one of these sources:

ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/tv/sat-night-live/band-info 
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.answers/tv/sat-night-live/band-info.Z 
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/tv/sat-night-live/band-info/faq.html 


-- 
       Doug Krause  dijon@lido.com  http://www.lido.com/
"The circle is now complete.  The Circle of Life!" -Mufasa Vader
