SNL Band Site Updated

New pictures and information on SNL's new musical director, Eli Brueggemann as well as keyboardist Tuffus Zimbabwe. And we bumped everyone else's numbers up, as we always do. 32 years for Pendarvis now, which might be a record.

Happy 35th, SNL

"Let us begin. Repeat after me. 'I would like...'"

"I would like..."

"'...to feed your fingertips...'"

"...to feed your fingertips..."

"'...to the wolverines.'"

"...to the wolverines."

35 years later, the show is still here. Happy 35th, SNL, and in celebration, we've freshened up the SNL Band Pages with a new year-by-year timeline and updated bios of all the regulars.

Tom "T-Bone" Wolk 1951-2010

The Music's Over blog is reporting that bass player and music producer Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, who played in the Saturday Night Live Band in the 1980's and 1990's, has died at the age of 58. Tom was also a member of Hall and Oates' backup band, along with guitarist G.E. Smith, who was musical director for SNL as well as Hall and Oates. Wolk was born in Yonkers, New York on December 24, 1951.

It's Wolk's insistent bass line introducing the Hall and Oates hit "Maneater" that draws comparisons to the bass player for the Motown house band, James Jamerson. Besides bass, he was also skilled on guitar, accordion, and organ. He played with and produced many other famous artists in a career that spanned almost 35 years.

Wolk and Smith joined the reconstituted Saturday Night Live Band in 1985 and brought a certain rock and roll style swagger to commercial breaks and other band appearances, so much so that after a year playing above the stage, producer Lorne Michaels brought the band center stage for the first time since the show's premiere in 1975 to give Smith and Wolk's performances more exposure. For his first several years on the show, Wolk shared the bass chair with Tony Garnier. Wolk left SNL after the 1991-1992 season and was replaced by a succession of talents: Paul Ossola, Tom Barney, and currently James Genus.

Tom "T-Bone" Wolk died Saturday night of a heart attack. Due to Wolk's passing, Hall and Oates have cancelled their expected appearance on tonight's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" anniversary show.

Happy Birthday, Steve Turre

60 candles today for the trombone wizard, who starts his 24th season in the house band on "Saturday Night Live" tomorrow night, with host Michael Phelps and musical guest Lil Wayne.

Dr. Luke Has Left The Building

And that building is the GE Building, where "Saturday Night Live" is produced 20 weeks out of the year. Dr. Luke, of course, is guitarist Lukasz Gottwald, whose career as songwriter and producer (think "Since U Been Gone" for Kelly Clarkson) has now overtaken playing in the late night show's band. So, after ten years, the guitar chair is vacant again.

The foregoing is not based on any inside information, but just wishful, fannish thinking (even a 46-year-old is entitled to such thoughts).

G.E. Smith needs to reclaim his birthright and get back in the band.

When G.E. was hired as the guitar player in 1985, the band suddenly had a face and a personality. So much so that he was named co-musical director (with Cheryl Hardwick) the next year. The band was moved to center stage and director Davey Wilson did bumpers after almost every show segment with the band, something unheard of up to that point. G.E. and his bass player, the trusty Tom Wolk, were as much a part of the fabric of the show as Dana Carvey and the late Phil Hartman, the show's hot comics of the time.

Take away G.E. beginning in the 1995 season, and the band loses that. (Do you even remember who replaced Geege that first year? It was Jane Getter for a couple of weeks, then Yoshiko Hirashige.)

We'll see how this all plays out in late September, but of course, the ultimate decision is with those entrusted with SNL's music heritage, Lenny Pickett and Leon Pendarvis.

DVD Recommendation of the Day

G.E. Smith: 50 Watt Fuse is a new documentary about the session guitarist and one-time bandleader on "Saturday Night Live". He's played with practically everyone in the business and he has some great stories he'll share with you on this DVD. If you click on the link you'll be whisked right to amazon.com and we'll get a couple of cents for each one sold through here.

Michael Brecker 1949-2007

The sax player, one of only three people to solo over the theme song of "Saturday Night Live" over the years, has lost his battle with leukemia.

Great Website!

That's all I had to say upon encountering the website of veteran bass player Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, who has played with damn near everybody. That's him you hear on that opening bassline on "Maneater" by Hall & Oates, very much inspired by Motown bass whiz James Jamerson (one of Bone's heroes). There's a candid gallery with some great pictures of Tom, G.E. Smith and guest artists (like Eric Clapton and Lonnie Mack) taken during his years in the SNL Band. Thanks much to Callie Ray for passing along the link and always keeping her eyes open for this stuff over the years!

Michael Brecker...

...is, and has been, a very talented saxophone player (who was at one time - the 1984-1985 season - sax soloist in the Saturday Night Live Band). However, at minimum, Michael Brecker is a human being, subject to illnesses, and right now he's facing a doozy of one - a bone marrow disease that inhibits his ability to produce blood cells. He is in search of a donor. I want you to go to http://www.michaelbrecker.com and go to the link on the front page that says "Michael's Current Challenge". There you will find a letter from his wife discussing the specific illness that Michael has and the steps you can take to see if you are the match that can save his life. Thank you.

SNL Band Pages - Updates

Hello all! Yes, even though they look like they haven't been updated in a while, cosmetically or otherwise, we still feature the Saturday Night Live Band Pages on our site, chronicling all thirty years of the band. Even though the band's presence on the show has waned in recent years, we still support their musicianship and efforts.

The show is starting to resemble a lifer's group, with several members marking their 20th year on the show and one starting his 25th. We'll soon update the pages, but here is the 2004-2005 roster.

Lew Del Gatto - baritone sax/arranger (on and off since 1977, mostly on!)
Leon Pendarvis - musical director/keyboards (since 1980)
Lenny Pickett - musical director/tenor sax (since 1985)
Earl Gardner - trumpet (since 1985)
Steve Turre - trombone (since 1985)
Alex Foster - alto sax (since 1985, except for a few years in the 90's when George Young had the chair)
Shawn Pelton - drums (since 1992)
Valerie Naranjo - percussion (since 1995)
Lukasz Gottwald - guitar (since 1997)
James Genus - bass (since 2000)
Katreese Barnes - keyboards (since 2000)

MR. SMITH GOES TO TOMS RIVER

I truly apologize for the late notice on this. G.E. Smith, the former bandleader of Saturday Night Live, will be appearing TONIGHT (Wednesday, November 12) at the Ocean County Library on Washington Street in Toms River, at 8:00 p.m. G.E. will be performing during the awarding of a $19,000 100th anniversary Harley Davidson V-Rod motorcycle, to benefit the library's expansion.

And how's this for a cruel twist of fate! Because of parent conferences at one of my schools, I'm unable to attend.

Damn.

Ocean County Library Press Release
SNL Band Pages

SNL Band In Vegas, Baby!

The Saturday Night Live Band has a Vegas gig to warm up before kicking off the show's 29th season. They, along with vocalist Christine Ohlman, will be at Bally's on Wednesday, September 17. Contact Bally's for more information.

In other SNL Band News, happy belated 55th birthday to trombonist Steve Turre, and a shout out to Katreese Barnes (and yes, we will fix your spelling!) for the nice e-mail and pointer to her website, www.katreese.com. The site is currently in the lab for an overhaul to be rolled out on Season Premiere night!

New SNL Book Gives The Band Short Shrift

For possibly the first time ever, I was in absentia for a Saturday Night Live season premiere. Therefore, there will be no updates to the SNL Band pages until next week. I have been told there is a new image of the band in the main titles, and we usually update that as well as going through and changing the hard date references as far as certain musicians' longevity.

BTW, I did purchase Tom Shales' and James Andrew Miller's "Live From New York: An Uncensored History Of Saturday Night Live" (Little, Brown & Company; $25.95 list). Had I read the caveat early in the acknowledgements regarding the decision to concentrate on the comedy element of the show and leave reportage of the music of the show, house and otherwise, to others, then I probably would have waited for paperback. Which is a shame because the book nicely fills in the gaps since the last major treatise on the show's behind-the-scenes history was published back in 1985, giving us coverage of such show landmarks as the ascent of Jon Lovitz and Phil Hartman, the Andrew Dice Clay and Sinead O'Connor incidents, and the tragic deaths of Gilda Radner, Hartman and Chris Farley.

The only music department employees to speak on the record are the show's inaugural music director, Howard Shore (who has more of an influence on what kind of show SNL was conceived as than some may think), and musician-turned-actor Paul Shaffer. Shore had some revealing thoughts on the types of musicians that populated the early SNL band, and we learn that the band actually scored some coke on air during a commercial break once, but that's about it. Cheryl Hardwick is mentioned only sporadically, and then mostly in the context of being Mrs. Michael O'Donoghue, although Victoria Jackson remembers her input on the "I Am Not A Bimbo" song. Shore and Dan Aykroyd also speak on the formation of the Blues Brothers Band with most of the musicians being procured through Tom Malone.

A major work, to be sure, but if the band and the music is your thing, skip it.

Dylan Returns To Newport

That's Bob Dylan on the right, at this past weekend's Newport Folk Festival. The man playing the bass is former SNL Band bass player Tony Garnier, who I once ran into at an animation art show looking over some Tom & Jerry original art. Dylan showed up at Newport this year for the first time since he "plugged in" in 1965 and was booed mercilessly (but was very warmly received this year, in stark contrast).

Howard Shore Wins Oscar!

There will be a more permanent notice on the SNL Band page soon, but congratulations to Howard Shore on his first of what could be many Academy Awards for Best Musical Score for "The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring". John Williams, himself nominated for two awards, applauded Shore from his orchestra pit position last night in the best show of class I've seen at the Oscars in quite some time - apart from Sidney Poitier's appearance earlier that evening, accepting an honorary Oscar for making it possible for other black actors to break through and become successful - and maybe win Oscars themselves like Denzel Washington and Halle Berry did later that evening. One of the better Oscar shows, but at a little over four hours, fifteen minutes, its 12:45 am finishing time is a little too late for someone who's gotta face a homeroom class at 7:20 am that morning. Maybe ABC can do something about that.

(Yeah, as soon as they fix the World Series so it doesn't end at 1 in the morning.)

What's Lenny Pickett Up To?

Long time no update. I got this e-mail from Lenny Pickett about a project he's doing.

Hi Everyone, Come hear us play!
Lenny Pickett Quintet
"...a rhythmically subversive kaleidoscopic pathway for funky and eccentric saxophone improvisations."

Thursday March 21st at Midnight
@Tonic 107 Norfolk St. (between Delancey & Rivington)

Katreese Barnes - Keyboards
Marlon Browden - Drums
James Genus - Bass
Miles Okazaki - Guitar
Lenny Pickett - Tenor Saxophone

Time To Update SNL Band

It's become an annual ritual of the last week of September: updating the SNL Band page to reflect another year notched under the belt of all of the players. When you consider that the core of this particular group of players has now been together for 17 years and there is one gentleman who's been with the show for 22 straight years, it becomes apparent that being with the SNL band is a lifetime gig.