I brought this up before, but does anybody remember the show, "Sunday Night" (Later called Night Music), hosted by David Sanborn and Jools Holland airing on NBC from '89 to '91?, They also did two After- New Years shows for ABC, in '99 and 2000) Sanborn's house band included Marcus Miller, Hiram Bullock, Omar Hakim and Phillipe Saisse. Each week they would have several musical guests on that would perform both separately and grouped together in interesting combinations...


You could tune in on any late night, and see James Taylor jamming with Milton Nascimento, Take 6 jammin' with George Duke, D'angelo and Eric Clapton with Cassandra Wilson, Todd Rundgren and Taj Mahal with Pat Metheny and Christian Barclay, Donald Fagen and Earl Klugh accompanying Patti Austin, Bootsy Collins and Sanborn jamming with Carla Bley, Curtis Mayfield and Taylor Dayne jamming with David Lindley, John Sebastien and NRBQ going for it, Clapton and Robert Cray together, and so on....
Guests also included Miles Davis, Sun Ra, Sonic Youth, Branford Marsalis, Isaac Hayes, Sting, Al Green, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Boz Scaggs, Harry Connick, Jr., Was Not Was, Stanley Turrentine, Gangstarr, Warren Zevon, Carlos Santana, Wayne Shorter, Joe Sample, Cowboy Junkies, Paul Simon, Dizzy Gillespie, Jewel, Al Jarreau, Djavan, Abbey Lincoln, Aaron Neville, Philip Bailey, Jean Luc Ponty, Ambitious Lovers, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Marianne Faithfull, David Peaston, Bill Frisell etc., etc...

Of course good things never last, and the show never got good ratings , on NBC or ABC and was cancelled both times...(BET jazz showed reruns a few years ago)...

It would be so great to still have a show like this, though, actually showcasing MUSICIANS for a change, interacting with each other...Can You imagine: Meshell Ndegeocello and D'angelo jammin with Lewis Taylor, Van Hunt and John Mayer tradin' licks with The Roots , Qtip/Kamaal and Raphael Saadiq jammin with Erykah Baadu, Mint Condition and Jamiriquai, Soulive and Dionne Ferris with Dave Matthews, Beck....ah well...I can dream, can't I?.....







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[Edited 5/10/05 12:46pm]

David Sanborn I would liked to have seen the show. Thanks for posting these great pix, Paligap!

The Pixies were on that show in 1989 . They performed Monkey Gone to Heavan & Tame

PhilG said:

That's right! I keep forgetting....




...

Great live music series concept.
(which is probably why it didn't survive)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Excerpt from a David Sanborn interview...

DI: You produced one of the finest television variety shows, Night Music. How did that come about?

DS: I'd been doing a syndicated radio show. My manager and I had been talking about trying to do a TV show. There was a series of shows back in the '50s, where they'd get a bunch of musicians together and they'd jam. You know, Lester Young, Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins -- people would sit around and jam. You could see them sitting around and talking, and people would get up and play. You could see the cameras going around. I loved that informality of that; it was very non-proscenium oriented. We thought, "Wouldn't it be great to update that idea?" We gradually started developing this idea for a show, where people would come on and not do their latest hit; have a lot of collaboration. We had a lot of people from different genres come on and show how music connects up. I'm one of those people that wants to bring a lot of disparate elements together. Then we got Lorne Michaels involved as a producer on the show, and he got us Michelob as a sponsor. That was really how we were able to bring that off for a couple of years.

DI: Which performances from the show stick in your mind?

DS: Sonny Rollins, Was Not Was, and Leonard Cohen was a great one. Oh god, there were so many of them -- having Phil Woods on there; having Hank Crawford on there, who was my idol.

DI: You also showed classic film clips on the program?

DS: We showed old film clips of Louis Jordan, Thelonious Monk stuff, old footage of Mingus, and a lot of stuff from European TV. We'd show these clips of these great old jazz musicians. Then we'd have people on like the Pixies. Sonic Youth's first television appearance was on the show. We had Sun Ra and Al Green together -- that was a trip. We had a group called The Residents -- kind of "German Dada-Expressionist-Cabinet of Doctor Calagari." (laughs) They did "Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear" as a primal scream number. We had them and Conway Twitty. That was a trip. That's the one that blew the sponsors out.

DI: You guys were ahead of your time.

DS: We pushed the envelope.

DI: Didn't you use a performance from the show on your Inside CD?

DS: Yeah, Sting. When Sting was on the show, we did a version of "Ain't No Sunshine" -- the Bill Withers tune. Bill Frisell was on that, and Hank Roberts on cello. What was interesting about that show, was I got a chance to play with people that I had been playing with a lot -- Bill Frisell, Joey Baron and people like that. After I did that show, I decided to make an album that reflected where I was at that moment. I did an album called Another Hand that had Charlie Haden and Bill Frisell and Terry Adams on it. Jack DeJohnette, Syd Straw, people like that. My friends.

http://www.digitalintervi...born.shtml

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From a message board archive (dated 2003-August) regarding the Night Music series being released on DVD...

Hello,

I had the great pleasure of meeting David Sanborn
yesterday, and I asked him about the possibilty of his
Night Music TV programs being released on DVD.

He said that the ownership of the episodes belongs
jointly to himself, Lorne Michaels and a third party.
Sanborn loved Night Music, would love to see it issued
on DVD, and has approached Lorne Michaels with the
idea. Apparently Lorne feels that he never really
re-couped his investment in the series and, in
essence, is still owed money, and this has been a
major roadblock in getting Night Music re-released.
David said that he doubts that Lorne could have lost
much on the venture, and that it's unfortunate that
this is what's preventing a lot of great music from
being heard and seen.

Regards,

Paul Audino
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

theAudience said:

see this is another example --there's loads of stuff like this just sittin' in the vaults collecting dust...

Actually, the two New Years shows they did for ABC in '99 and 2000 (featuring D'angelo, Eric Clapton , Cassandra Wilson, Isaac Hayes, Gangstarr and Jewel) were released in Japan about 5 years ago, but I don't know if they've been discontinued...


...

I remember this series! It used to come on after the Sunday sports extra show here in Chicago. I think it was way too avant garde for you typical TV audience at that time. Another thing that hurt the show was the fact that most of the NBC affiliates at that time chose not to show the program, since Sunday late nights were basically a programming wasteland for those stations. It's hard for most of these TV stations to make money during that particular time of the week, since most people go to bed early to begin the work week. I know in my hometown just west of Chicago, they generally show religious programs and infomericals after 10:30 pm on Sunday nights.

As for the proggram itself, it was awesome. The artists themselves generally came to play with their heroes and wanted to do improvisational music or just jam out. I remember David Sanborn saying one time at the beginning of one of the programs that if you were tuning in to see you favorite hits being performed, then you came to the wrong place. It reminded me of the early days of Soundstage and Austin City Limits.

728huey said:

Xactly, even in markets where it did air, like New York and DC, it started out at 12:00 midnight slot on Sunday night, and later got pushed back to 1 am , then 2 am, or later...it got pretty ridiculous...how much of a viewing audience is up at 2:30am on a Sunday Night?

But yeah, that show Was pushing the envelope, and they probably knew it wasn't going to last. In fact, on the very first episode, co-host Jools Holland remarked, "Set Your VCR's Folks!"....

I managed to to record a good number of the broadcasts , but I sure wish Lorne Michaels would reconsider, and let 'em be released on DVD...






...
[Edited 5/10/05 20:41pm]

paligap said:

I don't remember the show, but a DVD set would be such an easy cash-grab for Lorne. It would all fit in one set too.

I remember the Bootsy performance
w/ his rap group Pretty Fatt.....

The interview was hilarious.....

Boots talking about his days with James Brown
and giving Catfish some of his milk shake that had acid
in it.....,...

funkpill said:

I remember That!! Sanborn finally said , "Ok, let's just say that you've played with a wide variety of people in...let's say...a wide variety of Circumstances! "



...

That was a great show---i managed to tape most of the great ones--santana, clapton, harry, staples

I also remember an episode where Sanborn, Marcus Miller, and the rest of the band decided to play Kool and The Gang's "Funky Stuff" using Toy instruments!




...

paligap said:

Wicked

CinisterCee said:

...With dance steps included. That shit was hilarious!

This was a GREAT show! I really wish there were DVDs of this show. I have a tape somewhere w/ Bootsy as a guest and another with the Chili Peppers. Another great show was with Rufus Thomas. The old clips of folks like Louis Armstrong, Jimi Hendrix, and John Coltrane were fabulous also. This show really had a deep respect for music.

SPYZFAN1 said:

It was a bad ass show and was ahead of its time. I really hated when it went off the air. I never missed an episode. I am glad that its going on DVD.

MsLegs said:

Sorry, Legs, I don't think anyone said it will be on DVD?

CinisterCee said:

Yes, they said it supposed to be released on DVD.

theAudience said:

paligap said:

CinisterCee said:

I stand corrected.

MsLegs said:

yep!!! That' the one Ms. Legs!!!!

Then they did a groove called "Healing Power"....

One of my favorites was the Stevie Ray Vaughan appearance. At the end of that show, there was an all-star performance of a song (don't remember the title) with Maria Mckee on lead vocals and SVR playing lead guitar.

Also, the Eric Clapton performance - that was around the time the first Batman movie came out. Check out EC's outfit - he's always stylish

That was a great show, though I liked it even better when Jools Holland left. There was just something unlikable about his persona...

PALI!!! i swear, this show had just crossed my mind earlier this week!!

How about that theme song? Them dudes use to always rock that shit!!

Btw, if it wasn't for this show it probably would've been another decade before i dug into any Sun Ra. To this day, Ra's performance still creeps into my concious periodically. Oh that and when Bootsy was on there!! that was hella tight!!

sinisterpentatonic said:

Just wanted to add my two cents about this show. It was/is one of my favorites! I think it was later (or was it earlier) called "Sunday Night." I stayed up many a Sunday night no matter how late they decided to put it on in DC! In any case, as many of you have said, there were musicians that you were unlikely to see anywhere else, at least on television. I had the foresight to tape at least some clips from it that I hope to put on dvd before they rot away! It would be wonderful if they would release it on dvd. I know nothing that has come close, in terms of quality! Did anyone mention Etta James or Nona Hendryx? They seem to stand out in my mind along with many of the others mentioned. Thanks, paligap, for the cool pictures.

NewPowerSista said:

I'm glad that you mentioned the episodes w/my girls Nona and Etta b/c those were some of my favorites. Damn,you will never see a show like that on that ever on the air again.

Glad to see that so many orgers were catching the show!! Back then, I felt like I was the only one in my area watching, !! everyone would go, "What's it called?... no, I haven't seen it"...but again, how many people were watching TV at 1 and 2am on a Sunday Night?




...

paligap said:

Create it (a good music program where real musicians actually play), and they will watch.



A friend of mine lent me a tape of a similar show from Japan where they had cool combinations of musicians.

Here's a shot from one of the shows...



...that featured Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Roland Kirk, Jack Bruce, Buddy Miles and either Stevie Winwood or Brian Auger on B3. I think i'll ask to borrow it again and make note of other combinations.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm