Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band was the
house band for
Conan O'Brien's
late-night talk show ''
Conan'' from its debut on November 8, 2010 to the final episode of its 60-minute format October 4, 2018.
Guitarist and
arranger Jimmy Vivino is the group's leader. The group was originally formed and led by
drummer Max Weinberg in 1993, and played under the name The Max Weinberg 7 when it was the house band for ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...
'' in New York through 2009. The band then played under Max Weinberg and The Tonight Show Band during their brief 2009–2010 stint on ''
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show that featured Conan O'Brien as host from June 1, 2009, to January 22, 2010, as part of NBC's ''Tonight Show'' franchise. O'Brien had previously hosted NBC's ''Late N ...
'' in Los Angeles. They were then briefly known as The Legally Prohibited Band during their participation with O'Brien in the 2010
The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour.
During The Max Weinberg 7 days, the band included Jimmy Vivino on
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
,
Richie "LaBamba" Rosenberg on
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...
,
Scott Healy
Scott Healy is an American pianist, keyboardist and composer best known as the keyboardist for Conan O'Brien. He was the keyboard player for the Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band on '' Conan'' on TBS. His association with O'Brien dates back t ...
on
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
,
Mike Merritt on
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
,
Mark "Love Man" Pender on
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
and
acoustic guitar, and Jimmy's older brother
Jerry Vivino
Jerry Vivino (born January 8, 1954 in Paterson, New Jersey) is an American musician.
Biography
He was a member of the Basic Cable Band, the house band for the TBS late night program '' Conan''. He was also a member of The Tonight Show Band, ...
on
woodwind
Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...
s. When the group moved to Los Angeles to become
The Tonight Show Band
The Tonight Show Band is the house band that plays on the American television variety show '' The Tonight Show''. From 1962 until 1992, when the show was known as '' The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', the band was a 17-piece big band, and ...
, they added an eighth member,
James Wormworth, on percussion. Wormworth had often substituted as drummer when Weinberg toured with
Bruce Springsteen as a member of the
E Street Band
The E Street Band is an American rock band, and has been musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing caree ...
, prior to being made a permanent fixture in the band; Jimmy Vivino had served as the band's leader during those periods. Weinberg did not participate in the Legally Prohibited Tour and his departure from the group and from O'Brien was made official in September 2010.
The band's final regular appearance on ''Conan'' was on the show's last hour-long episode on October 4, 2018. With the show switching to a half-hour format, it was announced the band would not be returning in 2019. They appeared on four special episodes recorded at
San Diego Comic Con that year, and the final eight episodes of the program in 2021 as Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Four.
History
The Max Weinberg 7
Max Weinberg was the drummer for
Bruce Springsteen as a member of the
E Street Band
The E Street Band is an American rock band, and has been musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing caree ...
until its dissolution in 1989. Weinberg returned to school, but soon desired to resume drumming. He auditioned to be the principal drummer for the Broadway show ''
Tommy
Tommy may refer to:
People
* Tommy (given name)
* Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film
* ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...
'', but was selected as the second substitute. That night, Weinberg had a chance sidewalk meeting outside the
Carnegie Deli
The Carnegie Deli is a small Jewish delicatessen, formerly a chain, based in New York City. Its main branch, opened in 1937 near Carnegie Hall, was located at 854 7th Avenue (between 54th and 55th Streets) in Midtown Manhattan. It closed on De ...
with newly selected ''Late Night'' host
Conan O'Brien, where Weinberg spoke about his ideas for music on the show. O'Brien agreed to give Weinberg an audition as
bandleader for his forthcoming show. Weinberg quickly put together The Max Weinberg 7, recruiting musicians he had worked with during his career, and got the job.
Rosenberg and Pender had played with
The Miami Horns
The Miami Horns are an American horn section best known for touring and recording with Southside Johnny, Bruce Springsteen, Little Steven and The Max Weinberg 7. They have also toured, performed or recorded with, among others, Diana Ross, Gary U ...
, and had a long joint history with Weinberg from touring or recording together with Springsteen,
Southside Johnny
John Lyon (born December 4, 1948), better known by his stage name Southside Johnny, is an American singer-songwriter who usually fronts his band Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.
Southside Johnny has long been considered the Grandfather of ...
,
Little Steven
Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin ...
,
Gary U.S. Bonds, and
Darlene Love
Darlene Wright (born July 26, 1941), known professionally as Darlene Love, is an American singer and actress. She was the lead singer of the girl group the Blossoms and she also recorded as a solo artist.
She began singing as a child with her ...
. In the early 1990s Weinberg and Pender were also in a band together called Killer Joe, which also featured Jimmy and Jerry Vivino. The Vivino brothers were experienced
New York session musicians and had been members of various
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
pit bands. They recruited the final two members of the band, Healy and Merritt, who had played together in various bands such as Jimmy Vivino & The Black Italians and The Vivino Brothers Band. Fill-in James Wormworth was also a member of the Vivino bands, but was initially left out of the ensemble because there was no need for two drummers.
Members of the band have participated in skits on ''Late Night'', particularly
fedoraed
LaBamba—who rarely speaks on air and is often the
punchline
A punch line (a. k. a. punch-line or punchline) concludes a joke; it is intended to make people laugh. It is the third and final part of the typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and the narrative which sets up ...
of O'Brien's jokes—and
bald
Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarrin ...
,
bespectacled
Glasses, also known as eyeglasses or spectacles, are vision eyewear, with lenses (clear or tinted) mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically utilizing a bridge over the nose and hinged arms (known as temples or ...
Mark Pender, who will often sing a tribute to one of the show's guests only to invariably launch into hysterical shrieking as he climbs the
scaffolding
Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures. Scaffolds are widely use ...
of the studio's seating area. Pender was also told by O'Brien to imitate soccer player
Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...
's famous
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
headbutt
A headbutt is a targeted strike with the head, typically (when intentional) involving the use of robust parts of the headbutter's cranium as the area of impact. The most effective headbutts strike the most sensitive areas of an opponent, such as ...
due to both Pender and Zidane's lack of hair. O'Brien would tease Wormworth because he drummed barefoot.
Weinberg was often involved in short, awkward, and/or humorous banter with O'Brien. O'Brien often made jokes about Weinberg's supposedly perverse sexual habits. Rosenberg is often the butt of jokes for both his healthy sized mustache and his often awkward demeanor on air, and his sexual orientation is occasionally questioned by O'Brien through monologue jokes and other comedy bits. O'Brien often has Rosenberg participate in potentially humiliating skits, such as dressing up his mustache in Christmas lights, or shaving it off. Additionally, Rosenberg provided the
falsetto interludes for the formerly regular skits "In the Year 2000" and "In the Year 3000". A noted incident of ridicule occurred in 2007 when the camera, which had unexpectedly cut to the band for a reaction shot, caught LaBamba consulting his sheet music with a somewhat puzzled look on his face. This caused O'Brien to draw attention to Rosenberg's goof, and to claim that LaBamba could not read music. The others are rarely used in sketches, although Mike Merritt takes part in sketches where O'Brien talks about race, to which Merritt's supposed thoughts are used in a voice-over where he ridicules O'Brien's lack of knowledge about
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
culture and O'Brien's own "abnormally" pale complexion.
The show often features a performance by a musical guest (a band or a solo artist) at the end, and some or even all members of The Max Weinberg 7 perform as backup musicians for the guests when needed, such as Weinberg performing the drums for the last half of the
Death from Above 1979
Death from Above 1979 (also known as Death from Above) is a Canadian rock duo consisting of bassist Jesse F. Keeler and drummer and vocalist Sebastien Grainger from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 2001. The band released their debut album, '' You're ...
song, "
Romantic Rights" while singer and drummer
Sebastien Grainger
Sebastien Alexandre Grainger (born 11 April 1979) is a Canadian singer and musician, best known as drummer and singer of the alternative rock duo Death from Above and the singer and guitarist for his band Sebastien Grainger and The Mountains. H ...
stands on the
bass drum.
Weinberg has, in the past, taken long leaves of absence to tour with the E Street Band. During his absences, he has typically been replaced by James Wormworth, and the band is led by Jimmy Vivino, then referred to as "Jimmy Vivino and The Max Weinberg 7".
The band plays an eclectic selection of music on the show, including frequent performances of songs by
The Clash
The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...
, one of O'Brien's favorite bands. Examples of songs by The Clash performed by the group include "Police on my Back", "The Magnificent Seven", "
Rock the Casbah
"Rock the Casbah" is a song by the English punk rock band The Clash, released in 1982. The song was released as the second single from their fifth album, ''Combat Rock''. It reached number eight on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the US (t ...
", "Spanish Bombs" and "
Train in Vain
"Train in Vain" is a song by the British punk rock band the Clash. It was released as the third and final single from their third studio album, ''London Calling'' (1979). The song was not originally listed on the album's track listing, appearing ...
".
![Max-Weinberg7](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Max-Weinberg7.jpg)
The band will often play a song to match a holiday or event ("
My Funny Valentine" on
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thr ...
), or sometimes play a song that is irrelevant to the event, causing O'Brien to question their choice of song ("
Paint It Black
"Paint It Black" is a song recorded in 1966 by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. A product of the songwriting partnership of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it is a raga rock song with Indian, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European in ...
" during
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
).
The band's song "R.C.4" featured in the film ''
Bewitched'' (2005).
Members of the band performed with
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
The E Street Band is an American rock band, and has been musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing caree ...
at
Super Bowl XLIII
Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champions Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...
.
Max Weinberg and ''The Tonight Show'' Band
When O'Brien relocated to Los Angeles to become host of ''The Tonight Show'', The Max Weinberg 7 relocated with him, and added an eighth member, James Wormworth, on percussion.
Jimmy Vivino and Weinberg reworked the ''Late Night'' theme into a "less manic" ''The Tonight Show'' theme.
The backdrop used for the bandstand depicts the
Empire State Building and the
Chrysler Building
The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...
set within a Los Angeles skyline, in recognition of the ''Late Night'' roots.
As part of his preparation for the move, Weinberg consulted with
Doc Severinsen, the ''Tonight Show'' band leader during the
Johnny Carson days.
As was the case on ''Late Night'', Weinberg temporarily left the ''Tonight Show'' on occasion to tour with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Jimmy Vivino took over as bandleader in this instance, and Wormworth moved over to drums. Ronnie Gutierrez was also brought in to cover for Wormworth on percussion. In the open, announcer
Andy Richter
Paul Andrew Richter (born October 28, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and talk show announcer. He is best known as the sidekick for Conan O'Brien on each of O'Brien's talk shows: ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Late Night'' and ' ...
referred to the group as "The Tonight Show Band", and the graphic was changed to acknowledge Weinberg's absence.
Also, as a result, a skit was born that whenever Weinberg appears on his last show before leaving, O'Brien would note that Weinberg deserves a 'proper send-off' and the band would start playing, as suddenly his pedestal would begin to drive itself outside the studio with Weinberg still playing. The pod would then move into the streets of Los Angeles where usually something absurd would happen such as Weinberg being pulled over or hit by a speeding truck.
The band left ''The Tonight Show'' along with O'Brien after O'Brien's last show as host, which aired January 22, 2010.
The Legally Prohibited Band
In April 2010, Conan O'Brien began his
The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour. While the rest of the group was part of the tour under the moniker The Legally Prohibited Band, Weinberg was not, though he did appear at the tour's New York stop. Weinberg later revealed that he had undergone complex open
heart valve repair surgery two weeks after the conclusion of ''The Tonight Show'' and had taken three months to recover from it.
Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band
It was initially unknown whether Weinberg would be joining O'Brien when
his new late night show on
TBS began in November 2010. Most or all of the rest of the band were expected to follow O'Brien, alongside his other non-musical staff and crew, to the TBS program. By September 2010, it was clear that Weinberg would not be part of the show, now named ''
Conan''.
Jimmy Vivino was now the leader of the band, with Wormworth full-time on drums, and the band was firmly ensconced in Los Angeles as a base.
Upon announcing Weinberg's split from O'Brien in September 2010, O'Brien said, "Max has been a huge part of my life for the past 17 years and he is an incredible band leader and musician."
Weinberg said, "my association with Conan, his staff, and crew has been a deeply rewarding experience for me. And, making music with Jimmy Vivino, Mark Pender, La Bamba, Scott Healy, Mike Merritt, and percussionist James Wormworth enabled me to become a better musician and bandleader. I thank them for their first-rate work on the bandstand. I wish Conan and his show the best and I do look forward to dropping by."
Both looked forward to Weinberg occasionally stopping by to sit in on the new show.
Weinberg said his health was better than ever but that the "life-changing experience emotionally and spiritually" of the surgery and a desire to remain in New Jersey with his family had played a chief role in his departure from the band and O'Brien.
On October 19, 2010, it was announced that the new band name for the ''
Conan'' show would be Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band.
Weinberg made a cameo appearance in a monologue bit on the October 28, 2014 episode of ''Conan'', briefly "filling in" on drums for regular drummer Wormworth, who had "gone missing" in the middle of the episode.
Max Weinberg Returns To CONAN - CONAN on TBS
/ref>
On October 4, 2018, with the announcement of the show’s switch to a half-hour format, it was announced that The Basic Cable Band would no longer appear regularly on the program. Members did reunite for four special episodes at San Diego Comic-Con
San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is ...
in July 2019, and for the show's final eight episodes (as Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Four) in June 2021.
Discography
Albums
*''The Max Weinberg 7'' ( Hip-O Records, 2000)
Members
Final lineup:
* Jimmy Vivino – bandleader, musical director, guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
, arrangements, vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
*Scott Healy
Scott Healy is an American pianist, keyboardist and composer best known as the keyboardist for Conan O'Brien. He was the keyboard player for the Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band on '' Conan'' on TBS. His association with O'Brien dates back t ...
– keyboards, occasional guitar
* Mike Merritt – bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
* Mark Pender – trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
, acoustic guitar, vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
* Richie "LaBamba" Rosenberg – trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...
, percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
, vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
*Jerry Vivino
Jerry Vivino (born January 8, 1954 in Paterson, New Jersey) is an American musician.
Biography
He was a member of the Basic Cable Band, the house band for the TBS late night program '' Conan''. He was also a member of The Tonight Show Band, ...
– saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
s, flute, clarinet
* James Wormworth – drums, percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
Past members:
* Max Weinberg – drums, bandleader
*Ronnie Gutierrez – fill-in percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
References
{{Authority control
Musical groups from New York (state)
Musical groups established in 1993
Musical groups disestablished in 2018
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
The Tonight Show Band members
1993 establishments in New York City
2018 disestablishments in California
Radio and television house bands