Best Ever Albums

Re: Why Have I Never Heard of Night Music?

PurpleHazel — Mon, 1 Jun 2020 03:27:59 GMT

Author: PurpleHazel

Posted: 06/01/2020 07:27

Leonard Cohen and Sonny Rollins... with the house band (with Robben Ford!):

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Re: Why Have I Never Heard of Night Music?

PurpleHazel — Mon, 1 Jun 2020 03:24:12 GMT

Author: PurpleHazel

Posted: 06/01/2020 07:24

Elliott Sharp playing one of his pieces with the house band:

Link

Awesome.

Re: Why Have I Never Heard of Night Music?

PurpleHazel — Mon, 1 Jun 2020 03:19:53 GMT

Author: PurpleHazel

Posted: 06/01/2020 07:19

John Zorn playing one of his cutup pieces with David Sanborn and the house band:

Link

Re: Why Have I Never Heard of Night Music?

PurpleHazel — Mon, 1 Jun 2020 03:02:35 GMT

Author: PurpleHazel

Posted: 06/01/2020 07:02

Tha1ChiefRocka wrote:

Holy shit! This show is awesome.

Yes! I'm old enough to have watched most of the episodes when they first aired. Originally called "Sunday Night."

Some of the strangest moments I remember:

Leonard Cohen and Sonny Rollins playing together. (Ken Nordine and Was Not Was also appeared.)

John Zorn performing one of his cutup compositions with the house band: David Sanborn, Marcus Miller (e. bassist - Miles Davis; studio musician), Hiram Bullock (original Late Night with Letterman guitarist) and Omar Hakim (drummer - Sting & Weather Report; studio musician).

Elliott Sharp performing one of his pieces with the house band.

Bootsy Collins playing with Carla Bley. (Allen Toussaint also appeared.)

I was most into the jazz artists, because Zorn, Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, Bill Frisell, Charlie Haden, the Lounge Lizards and the World Saxophone Quartet never would've gotten to perform on broadcast TV otherwise, but a cool variety of artists from most genres.

Don't remember Pere Ubu being on, but I probably saw them. Remember The Residents and Diamanda Galas, but not as much as I'd like.

Miles Davis performed.
Lou Reed and John Cale performed; that year when Songs for Drella came out was the first time they'd played together since the 70s.

Looking at Wikipedia, I'm chuckling at some of the lineups. Al Green, Sun Ra and The Pixies (this was around the time Doolittle came out so I barely had even heard of them yet). Stevie Ray Vaughan, Pharaoh Sanders and Van Dyke Parks. Elliott Sharp, LL Cool J and Jean Luc Ponty. Was going to mention The Residents and Conway Twitty, but Tha1ChiefRocka beat me to it.

Hal Willner (sketch music producer for Saturday Night Live) was the main person responsible for the eclectic booking. He died from COVID in April, only age 64.

EDIT: Lorne Michaels was the executive producer.

Recorded some of the episodes on VHS. Unfortunately I used EP mode so I could fit more episodes onto a single tape. Crime these were never released on DVD.

Re: Why Have I Never Heard of Night Music?

Tha1ChiefRocka — Mon, 1 Jun 2020 02:36:15 GMT

Author: Tha1ChiefRocka

Posted: 06/01/2020 06:36

OK, what the fuck. Conway Twitty and The Residents played together on this show. What I would have given to have been a fly on the wall.

Link

Why Have I Never Heard of Night Music?

Tha1ChiefRocka — Mon, 1 Jun 2020 01:45:06 GMT

Author: Tha1ChiefRocka

Posted: 06/01/2020 05:45

Holy shit! This show is awesome.

Link