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, Best gigs in the world. Since 1993, on one of his many guitars (“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 Conan O’Brien on his late night 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 the Fab Faux 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, Levon Helm’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 piano. It wasn’t until he was 23 that he started studying guitar 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 Glen Rock High School, 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 OF TALK THE TOWN HOLIDAY 2011 XX Jimmy Vivino Journey to the Top 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- New Jersey...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 Al Kooper. 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 Blues 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 OF XX TALK THE TOWN HOLIDAY 2011 Jimmy Vivino Journey to the Top 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 James Brown in my college.” Music Hall, and Vivino was going to Detroit. Vivino’s connections led him Eventually Vivino broke into be in the band. As an Italian kid grow- to meet a producer named Joe Gallen, the Jersey shore 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.