Question for Boomer

Hi Bill,

I was reading an interview with drummer Bobby Sanabria on the site All about Jazz and he stated that he used to watch the Tonite Show a lot with drummer Ed Shaughnessy [as I did too]. He also said that you substituted for him and he remembers seeing that show.

My question is : Did that actually happen, and if so how was that experience ? And how many times did you sub there? was there any rehearsal , or were you just shown the charts, and go ?. Thanks, TED

I know I did sub for somebody on that show but I don't remember who....... I think Bill Cosby was the host. Or this could have been at another time when I was working on the show with Herbie Hancock.........I really don't remember much about the studio days in NYC anymore. After a while everything runs together. I used to sub mainly for Grady Tate, Bobby Thomas or Mickey Roker I kind of recall doing something for Ed but it's real vague now.

Thanks for that Boomer. Maybe one day I can track down that show so we can all check it out. Peace, TED

Didn't Billy have a gig with Saturday Night Live for a stint?!

Yes, Don, I believe he played in the band for four shows. Peace, TED

I was a lot closer to SNL than to the Tonight Show (different coasts altogether now), but it wouldn't surprise me that "run throughs w/charts" might have been the only rehearsal available, given production and time constraints for television.

Yeah Ted, it'd be great to see Billy on these nightly shows. I'm sure they are archived somewhere.