Jimmy Vivino Journey to the Top

WRITTEN BY JUSTIN DAVIDSON

Jimmy Vivino is pretty damn good at making music.

orn in Paterson, but other oddly enough when they were in elementary school, and he loved coming of age in Glen vacationing at the same resort on the it so much that when World War II Rock, where he gradu- Amalfi Coast. In fact, there’s a sign came around he was good enough ated from Glen Rock with the name of The Godfather char- to be in the Army band, which was high, Jimmy Vivino acter on Vivino’s dressing room door. stationed in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. has one of the sweet- You can catch Vivino jamming When he was discharged, however, estB gigs in the world. Since 1993, on one of his many (“too music wasn’t an option. It was back Jimmy Vivino has worked with many, but not enough”) anywhere to the family carpentry business. The O’Brien on his from Mexicali Live in Teaneck, where family lived in Paterson, then moved TV shows. In 2010, when Conan he’ll be playing with his good friend down to Point Pleasant, then back to moved to TBS, Vivino became the John Sebastian on December 10th, or Paterson for a bit, before finally set- leader of The Basic Cable Band. in Liverpool, England, the birthplace tling in Glen Rock, a costly move “It’s amazing to me,” said the of the Fab Four where his Beatles at the time that forced the family to guitarist, who was chatting with Talk tribute band has head- scrap for money. of The Town all the way from Warner lined shows during Beatles Week. Music was always around. Brothers Studios in Burbank where He’s played at Radio City Music Vivino’s father still had time to per- Conan is taped. “I love it every night Hall, ’s famed Midnight form with some of his relatives at that we play. I never feel like it can Ramble up at Helm’s cottage in Wood- Paterson’s old Plaza Ballroom, which get old.” stock, and everywhere in between. was then owned by his father’s uncle, It doesn’t, but on nights and But all of this success can be Frank Vivino. And when Jimmy weekends it’s time to hit the town — traced back to his Jersey roots. and his two older brothers were old actually make that the country. Better Jimmy’s father, Jerry, Sr., came enough, his father would take them yet, wherever Enzo the Baker’s next over from Italy when our coun- for music lessons, provided that they gig is. Yeah, that’s a nickname Conan try was in the midst of the Great were ready. gave him when the two ran into each Depression. He took up the trumpet “He would make us play the

OF XX TALK THE TOWN HOLIDAY 2011 Jimmy Vivino Journey to the Top whole lesson for him before we went—‘Oh, you’re not ready. I’m not paying for that. I’m calling up and cancelling your lesson!’” Jerry Sr.’s tough-love was ex- actly just that. He loved music, and wanted to make sure his sons never took their opportunity for granted. “He never forced us, but I knew how hard he was working, and we all knew that they were sacrific- ing a lot for us,” said Jimmy, who started off on trumpet and . It wasn’t until he was 23 that he started studying seriously. So, in turn, the boys put in the same hours with their instru- ments that their father did with the carpentry business, and that their mother did with cutting hair, or whatever she could do to earn money. The boys watched Ed Sullivan and Lawrence Welk, and knew that performing was for them. When Jimmy was nine years old, he performed a tap dancing rou- tine at the 1964 World’s Fair with his older brothers Floyd and Jerry. Home was always the best place to fine-tune their skills. “Basically our thing was we would go home and we would put on Broadway albums like Music Man and I would learn all of Robert Preston’s stuff,” Vivino said. “We would do West Side Story and we would actually act out these things. My brother Floyd would make us tape the Marx Brothers.” It was good practice for them. Floyd would later host the televi- sion program The Uncle Floyd Show. Jerry currently plays sax in the Basic Cable Band. When Jimmy arrived at , his teachers en- couraged his music ability by giving him the opportunity to write charts for the orchestra. The choir direc- tor gave him a book on composing, and Vivino learned it immediately. Continued on pg. XX

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Continued from pg. XX “You know, it had all the practical writing arrangements of all the orches- A Quick Thought tra instruments, so I applied that just to paper,” said Vivino. “It seemed to me to with Jimmy Vivino make a lot of sense.” At around the same time, Vivino start- ...Home ed going to see live shows. When he was about 13, Vivino went to the Fillmore East Rock and Roll...Home for what was supposed to be a show head- lined by . He was in for a surprise. Tomorrow Never Knows...John’s finest hour “So I went to the Fillmore, and Al didn’t show up, and I still bust his chops While My Guitar...Eric Clapton and George share the love to this day,” said Vivino, who has become very good buddies with Kooper. She Said She Said...No Paul on bass There were many shows in store for Vivino after that, and many were right in Conan’s Hair...Red version of Jack Lord’s, Really Jersey. “Shows at the Fox Theater in My First...Girlfriend is now in Minneapolis. Her name is Marlene. Hackensack. Stevie Wonder at the Capi- tol Theater in Passaic with the Paul YesterdaY...Beautiful string chart by George Martin Butterfield Band. Half a house, you know, not even a full house,” said Vivino. Things We Say Today...Dude It all had a huge impact on Jimmy, his bandmate Jerry and their friend Frank I hope to still be working WHEN I’m 64... Pagano, the drummer at whose basement they would practice. Performing Somewhere near you this week ... They got a horn band together, and Rehearsing Every day started playing gigs around town, the ... two big ones being at The Canteen at the Derek Jeter...Derek Trucks — better Central School, and The Block Dance, held on Saturday nights at the Glen Rock NYC...Second home ambulance parking lot. Before they started playing in town, L.A....Third home they would admire the acts playing before them. Paterson...Lou Costello (Everybody’s grandfather claims to “The atmosphere was to aspire to be have gone to school with Lou Costello) as good as these older guys,” Vivino ex- plained. “We weren’t thinking about ‘Oh, Family...Nothing is more important, including extended family I want to play like Hendrix,’ or ‘I want to play like Clapton.’” Kids These Days...Know a lot more than we give them credit for Soon Vivino and his groups proved themselves to the older guys and were ad- Happiness...Is a warm guitar opted into the local music fraternity. As Vivino got older, he started playing gigs I’ve got a feeling...It was pretty cold on that roof all over, and eventually started playing in Rockland County. When I get home...Watch the Yankees on MLB Jimmy enrolled in Montclair State, on my computer but he decided he didn’t want to be a music teacher, and quit after a semester. Imagine...The most important musical statement ever Jerry was just wrapping up a program at the Manhattan School of Music. By the

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time 1973 rolled around, Vivino was never had to do anything but music.” onto the stage. already making good money doing In the years leading up to the Vivino recalled the event: “So we what he loved. beginning of his television career in start playing, and they start singing in “We’re sitting in lounges seven 1993, Vivino got to work on some re- the pit, and they’re slowly coming up, nights a week, playing music every ally cool shows. He started recording and by the time they hit the put, the night. Five sets a night, and this is the music with people as well. audience is going crazy, man!” best training you can have for the rest At one point, Dion was going Then there was the time he of your life,” Vivino noted. “This was to do a doo-wop show at Radio City worked with in my college.” Music Hall, and Vivino was going to Detroit. Vivino’s connections led him Eventually Vivino broke into be in . As an Italian kid grow- to meet a producer named Joe Gallen, the scene by play- ing up, Vivino had heard Dion’s mu- who was later influential in creating ing pop music like Kool and the sic his whole life. Dion hadn’t done a MTV Unplugged. He was presented Gang. Down at the shore, Vivino show in years. This was special. The with the opportunity of a lifetime: to met the likes of band started playing “That’s My De- be a part of a show called Deja View, and , from South- sire,” and slowly but surely, Dion and which would feature James Brown, side Johnny and the Asbury Dukes. The Belmonts came up from the pit , Wilson Pickett, Joe Through them, he would meet many of the members of what would later become the 7, and then the Basic Cable Band. Punk started to get big in the late ’70s and early ’80s. It wasn’t for him, but he decided to really commit to guitar. It was a good choice. In time, Jimmy started work- ing with one of his idols, Al Kooper, as well as . From then on it was off to the races. One gig would lead to an- other, and his musical connections and skills increased exponentially. In the early ’80s, Vivino started writing charts for a musical about Ellie Greenwich’s life called Leader of the Pack at The Bottom Line, a famous Greenwich Village club at the time. The show would go on to have a short run on Broadway; this was an exciting time for Vivino, who now calls this busy period his “grad- uate school.” He started working with and , who have worked with David Letterman for years. They told him just to play as much as he could. Never turn down a gig. Always play. Do anything and everything. “I’m working weddings in be- tween. I’m doing everything I can to stay in music,” Vivino noted. “And I

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Cocker and Robert Palmer. Vivino with Clarence once, now they’re go- The rest is history, and Vivino would be writing charts. He was the ing to get him to do the show. It’s says it’s gone by awfully fast. musical director. great. He’s just comfortable to do “This is the best bunch of guys, But why Detroit? Well, Aretha it because I’m there and we just be- and I hope to work with them for the wouldn’t fly. come great friends.” rest of my life,” said Vivino. “And One night, Vivino was rehears- Jimmy and Jerry were in a we’re all brothers.” ing the band, when James Brown band with and Max There have been countless side walked in. Weinberg called Killer Joe. They projects for Vivino and the others in “He’s got a scarf around his neck. finished up an album, and then between. Of course there’s the Fab He’s got dark sunglasses. His hair is Clarence wanted Vivino to come out Faux, which started with Vivino done up. He’s wearing a green suit. He to California to be a part of his band. and Will Lee, the bass player from looks so cool, and he’s got his hands Meanwhile, Jimmy is working with Letterman who was living in the same folded in front of him,” said Vivino. legendary Broadway musical pro- building as Vivino in New York. That “He’s just looking, looking around, ducer Marc Shaiman on music for started in 1998, and it has introduced and surprisingly the band stops play- Sister Act, starring Whoopi Goldberg. Vivino to even more musicians. ing and I’m still talking. I’m a little He’s running back and forth, “We just want it to be people white kid up here; I don’t know that coast to coast. Things are crazy, but having that sonic experience when I’m not supposed to still be talking.” in the music industry, that’s good. they come to see us, and that’s all we Then one of the band members While at Clarence’s house in strive for,” said Vivino. told Jimmy that Mr. Brown would Sausalito, California, Vivino gets a Vivino’s opportunity to do what like a word. call from Weinberg. He had tracked he loves has provided him with end- They shook hands. “He leans him down. By this time, it’s 1993. TV less joy — plus, Conan’s a great guy over to me, and in this Miles Davis had come a calling. to work with. “He is just one of the kind of voice, he says, ‘How come Weinberg bumped into Conan most creative, smartest, funniest guys. you got two drummers playin?’” O’Brien on the street in New York, I’m blessed to have worked with him Jimmy wasn’t aware of how and they got to talking about music for this long, and hope to keep work- Brown used his drummers; he for his upcoming show, Late Night. ing with him for a long time,” said thought he always used two. They needed to put a band together Vivino. “When he laughs now on this “He says, ‘No, one gets tired, as soon as possible. Weinberg told show, you may notice he’s really, re- the other one picks up.’ He says, ‘Go the music director at Late Night that it ally, really having a good time.” ahead, you can use them both but was all set; they just needed to audi- And so are Vivino and his band they don’t play my music like that.’ tion. They agreed not to tell Clarence, members. Lesson learned.” as he would have stolen the show. “I wish this on as many people as Through various other gigs, he’s “If anybody found out Clarence possible — to love going to work ev- meeting the members of the E Street wanted to do this gig, nobody would ery day, and to be thankful that even Band and Southside Johnny and the have a chance. We both agreed on after doing this for so long, there’s Asbury Dukes who will later become that. Clarence would have been the still a place, and more to learn. The part of The Max Weinberg 7, and perfect band leader for a TV show.” education of music doesn’t just end, later the Basic Cable Band. Quickly the Max Weinberg 7 and I believe it’s probably that way Though he was never a part of came together. It was Weinberg on with everything.” the Conan shows, drums, the Vivino brothers on gui- This Bergen cat just never stops did come close. Jimmy got to meet tar and sax, on bass, learning. Clarence when they needed a sax Mark Pender on trumpet, Richie “La player for Brenda Lee in a TV special Bamba” Rosenberg on trombone, called Legendary Ladies of Rock and and on keys. Needless to Jimmy Vivino will be performing Roll. Clarence was never a reader, so say, they killed the audition. James with John Sebastian at Jimmy took him through everything. Wormworth often subbed on drums, Mexicali Live in Teaneck, The Big Man was a quick learner. when Weinberg would tour with December 10 at 8PM. “The nicest teddy bear of a Bruce. Currently he’s the full-time person I ever met in my life,” said drummer for the Basic Cable Band, For tickets go to MexicaliLive.com. Vivino. “So I had gone through it since Weinberg left.

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