Tubas on late-night talk shows

Steve Oberheu · Post by **Steve Oberheu** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 1:41 am

So I just finished watching Conan O'Brien (and reading TubaJoe's post about his feature on Bravo!) and found myself wondering...how many times have tubas been featured (as the musical guest, not as a practical joke!) on late night talk shows?

Off the top of my head...I know that Roger Bobo appeared twice on Late Night with Johnny Carson. I actually saw a tape of the first show where he played Carnival of Venice and brought down the house...even got invited to the couch to talk with Johnny a bit. I remember Johnny's line; "I know that was good, because I was looking at the band members who all had their mouths open."

I can think of one other one I saw a tape of that I think was Gary Buttery talking about playing tuba and whalesongs. Then he sat in with the band at some point. And wasn't Gravity featured on some TV shows?

Are there any other times a tuba has been featured as a guest artist? Has anyone in recent memory tried to get a spot as a guest (or know someone who has)? Conan seems to book a lot of obscure musical acts. I think if the right act came along (something good, edgy, unique), they might get the gig. Anyone up for the challenge?

oldbandnerd · Post by **oldbandnerd** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:02 am

I rember back in the late 70's when Saturday Night Live was still new and actually funnny they had a tuba choir featured as musical guest . If I remember correctly the band had a tuba player as a regular member and this was his group .

BVD Press · Post by **BVD Press** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:11 am

Gary Buttery was on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1979:

http://www.tubanews.com/profile34.html

Some neat clips, but I am not sure where one might find them now??

Hank74 · Post by **Hank74** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:34 am

I do remember on Leno about five to six years ago that they celebrated International Tuba Day on the first Friday in May. The regular trombone player in the band played the tuba near the end of that show. I've been watching since on that day to see if they would bring that up again.

Hank74

Z-Tuba Dude · Post by **Z-Tuba Dude** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:46 am

oldbandnerd wrote:I rember back in the late 70's when Saturday Night Live was still new and actually funnny they had a tuba choir featured as musical guest . If I remember correctly the band had a tuba player as a regular member and this was his group .

That was Howard Johnson (of "Gravity" fame). He also played bari sax with the SNL band.

kegmcnabb · Post by **kegmcnabb** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 10:13 am

Z-Tuba Dude wrote:
oldbandnerd wrote:I rember back in the late 70's when Saturday Night Live was still new and actually funnny they had a tuba choir featured as musical guest . If I remember correctly the band had a tuba player as a regular member and this was his group .
That was Howard Johnson (of "Gravity" fame). He also played bari sax with the SNL band.

He was also the SNL band leader! Yeah! Should we submit this to the tuba/conductor thread?

Jeffrey Hicks · Post by **Jeffrey Hicks** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 10:13 am

I remember watching Carson, and seeing someone named Joe something or other playing tuba and discussing it with Fred Marzan. Fred knew who it was.I want to say his last name began with an H. Joe ??? was backing up a guy playing banjo. I could be having a seriously senior moment here about the guys name.

kegmcnabb · Post by **kegmcnabb** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 10:25 am

Jeffrey Hicks wrote:I remember watching Carson, and seeing someone named Joe something or other playing tuba and discussing it with Fred Marzan. Fred knew who it was.I want to say his last name began with an H. Joe ??? was backing up a guy playing banjo. I could be having a seriously senior moment here about the guys name.

H. Joe = Howard Johnson?

?

Z-Tuba Dude · Post by **Z-Tuba Dude** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 1:57 pm

Jeffrey Hicks wrote:

I remember watching Carson, and seeing someone named Joe something or other playing tuba and discussing it with Fred Marzan. Fred knew who it was.I want to say his last name began with an H. Joe ??? was backing up a guy playing banjo. I could be having a seriously senior moment here about the guys name.

I don't know the guy's name, but could he have been backing up Leon Redbone?

kegmcnabb · Post by **kegmcnabb** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 3:52 pm

Z-Tuba Dude wrote:I don't know the guy's name, but could he have been backing up Leon Redbone?

Yep...I'm pretty sure that would have been Howard Johnson.

Chuck Jackson · Post by **Chuck Jackson** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 5:50 pm

Actually, Howard Johnson never played with Leon Redbone. His steady tuba player was John Dorn from the Philly area. John works at Villanova now and was a frequenter of this board. He is a monster player who was happy to be in the background. Jim Self also did some work with Leon Redbone, including the GREAT opening tuba licks to "I Want To Be Seduced". Chances are if it was Leon Redbone it was John Dorn playing tuba

UDELBR · Post by **UDELBR** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 3:19 am

Hank74 wrote:I do remember on Leno about five to six years ago that they celebrated International Tuba Day on the first Friday in May. The regular trombone player in the band played the tuba near the end of that show.

That'd be Matt Finders, who's quite an impressive jazz tubaist in his own right.

Mitch · Post by **Mitch** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 8:26 am

I've got a tape of the Bobo performances. As I recall, the first performance is complete, the second, about 90%. I'd started searching for it early this summer when a thread about this came up. Then... I found it! Then... I moved.

So I know I've got it. The search begins anew...

tubeast · Post by **tubeast** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:50 am

About twelve years ago there was a Roger Bobo feature on "Arte", a French-German TV-program with culture being their main concern.
It was a two-part feature: first a one-hour-or-so report on a weekend-masterclass in Italy, featuring interviews with Bobo and some participants, Bobo practising, as well as group and 1o1-lessons. The second part was the recording session of "Liberation of Sysiphus" by John Stevens, conducted by the composer. Very neat and well usable as an educational tape.
I have one VHS-copy that is pretty worn-out.

Z-Tuba Dude · Post by **Z-Tuba Dude** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 8:41 am

tubeast wrote:About twelve years ago there was a Roger Bobo feature on "Arte", a French-German TV-program with culture being their main concern.
It was a two-part feature: first a one-hour-or-so report on a weekend-masterclass in Italy, featuring interviews with Bobo and some participants, Bobo practising, as well as group and 1o1-lessons. The second part was the recording session of "Liberation of Sysiphus" by John Stevens, conducted by the composer. Very neat and well usable as an educational tape.
I have one VHS-copy that is pretty worn-out.

I am sure I know the answer, but here goes.......Is the tape commercially available?

Jeff Miller · Post by **Jeff Miller** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:16 pm

Jeffrey Hicks wrote:I remember watching Carson, and seeing someone named Joe something or other playing tuba and discussing it with Fred Marzan. Fred knew who it was.I want to say his last name began with an H. Joe ??? was backing up a guy playing banjo. I could be having a seriously senior moment here about the guys name.

If it was Howard Johnson backing up a banjo player, it's more likely to have been Taj Mahal, although I don't know if they ever did a tv spot. Taj used to do a tuba/banjo version of "Cakewalk into Town", available on The Real Thing.

Jeffrey Hicks · Post by **Jeffrey Hicks** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:00 am

I know for a fact it was not Howard Johnson. This man was of caucasian background...plus I am pretty sure the man in question was playing some type of Alex or similar....

TubeNet

Tubas on late-night talk shows

Tubas on late-night talk shows

Leno

Re: Leno

Bobo performance on Carson