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The Late Show with David Letterman January 29, 2008
On January 29th, 2008, Matt and his NY-based Trio (bass player Dave Robaire and drummer Joe Saylor) was the featured musical act on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” As you might imagine, this was exceptionally exciting for all the musicians! They chose to perform Matt’s composition, “El Fuego.” Matt actually wrote the song several years ago and recorded it on his 2003 album, “Chasing Your Tail.” But it is a really upbeat and fun song. The Trio re-recorded it for their new “Hot Ticket: Live in Boston” CD. Obviously, the song sounds completely different now that Matt has matured in his musical abilities. And Matt has really taken an interest in Latin music. It seemed like a good, upbeat choice from the new CD to perform on the “Letterman.” The Trio had only 3 minutes-3:15 minutes to perform a jazz tune. As you know, jazz songs are usually MUCH longer in length. Matt wanted to perform an upbeat song, but having to fit it into such a short amount of time was difficult. “El Fuego” is a 7 minute song on the CD. Essentially, the band had to cut it in half to fit the allotted time. It was easier for them to perform “Curacao” on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.” On that show the band had 4 ½ minutes to perform. That extra minute made a lot of difference in the band’s ability to sculpt the song. It was actually a very long day for the Trio, although it was an even LONGER day for the folks who produce the Letterman show. The show does not tape on Fridays, so every Monday they tape TWO shows…Monday’s show and Friday’s show. On this particular Monday, January 28th, however, the producers filmed Monday’s show and Tuesday’s show. We think it had something to do with the fact that it was SWEEPS week. Anyway, they taped Monday’s show from 5:00-6:00 and Tuesday’s show (on which Matt appeared) from 7:00-8:00 PM. Lisa Feldmann and her husband Gerhard (from Bösendorfer New York) had to arrive at the studio at 7 AM Monday morning! They delivered the beautiful Bösendorfer piano and got it ready and tuned. Joe needed to arrive at 8 AM to set up his drums. Dave arrived at around 9 to set up his bass. And Matt and I arrived at around 11. Sound check ran from 12-1. During this time the band performed their selected song a few times to make sure the song fit the allotted time. The camera crew also became familiar with the song so they could anticipate camera angles for the live performance. The band discovered during sound check that the temperature in the studio was about as cold as it was outside. They were freezing, and did the entire sound check in their winter jackets. All the camera people said the studio was always that cold and sometimes even COLDER. They, too, were all bundled up.
After sound check, however, the producers invited Matt to check out David Letterman’s desk and Paul Shaffer’s performance area. Matt sat at the desk and I sat in the interview seat and Matt pretended to interview me. It was fun. Then he checked out all the equipment at Paul Shaffer’s spot, admiring all the keyboards and electronics surrounding him.
The sound engineers called the band upstairs to the sound studio to listen to the playback of their sound check run through to make sure everyone was happy with the levels, etc. It was really cool to see the massive mixing boards and to listen to the playback of the sound check. The guys were pleased. Then the band had the afternoon off, with plans to return to the studio around 6:00 PM. That was when everyone really started getting excited. We were given two green rooms. It was cool to see stickers from previous bands stuck to the mirror there. We had thrown away our name tags, so we couldn’t add The Matt Savage Trio to the collection. Maybe next time… The guests on the show were Bill Cosby and Lake Bell. We never saw Bill Cosby backstage, as he was in his room preparing for his appearance. Lake, however, was in the room just down the hall. After she was done in makeup, she came down and said hello to Matt. I must say that Matt had a BIG smile on his face! Lake is very nice and VERY beautiful. I took a photo of Matt posing with Lake. Joe handed me his camera and had me take a photo of him with her too. Lake was very nice to give some time to the guys. It certainly made THEIR evening brighter!
We all watched what was going on live on stage from the green room. Bill Cosby finished his appearance and Lake was shuttled down to make her appearance. As she neared the end of her interview, the Trio was rushed down to get in place. And David Letterman introduced the band and held up their new CD, Hot Ticket: Live in Boston.
As mentioned earlier, the studio is kept at frigid temperatures. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is a bit of an obstacle for a musician. The bass strings were cold. A bass is not meant to be played when cold. The strings are very, very stiff and difficult to press. The piano was also cold. It is also a string-based instrument. And to top it all off, the GUYS were cold. They had no time to warm up before performing. But if you are a musician you take whatever comes your way and just DEAL with it. The guys went on stage and played their hearts out. The adrenaline was pumping and they were psyched. They all had SUCH a fantastic time, although they said the song was over REALLY quickly!
David Letterman came over to congratulate the guys after their performance, obviously pleased. He had a big smile on his face. He walked over towards Matt and exclaimed, “Way to go!” He gestured towards Joe and said, “How about THIS guy?”, then gestured towards Dave and said, “How about THIS guy?” He continued walking over to Matt and said, “Nice to meet you!” The filming ended and everyone scattered. Truly! The studio emptied out in NO time. After the crew had put in a 12-14 hour day filming TWO shows, everyone just made a beeline to go home. Matt saw a few of Paul Shaffer’s band members as they were leaving, and they made a point of congratulating Matt and saying he was REALLY great. Nice people!!! We met the incredible Will Lee, bassist for the orchestra, Anton Fig, the drummer, Sid McGinnis, guitarist, Felicia Michele Collins, guitarist, Tom ‘Bones” Malone, Bruce Kapler, and Alan Chez….all in passing and all with quick greetings and handshakes as everyone bolted for the door. It was a whirlwind day but a thrilling one. Matt, Joe and Dave all were so honored and excited to have been part of such a fantastic experience and hope to one day perform again on the show. We all thank ALL the people who made it possible for the band to appear and who worked so hard to make us comfortable and our experience a wonderfully memorable one.
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