Sunday Night/Night Music

I stumbled across vids of this INREDIBLE tv program this week - never heard of it before.

Sunday Night, later named Michelob Presents Night Music, is a late-night television show which aired for two seasons between 1988 and 1990 as a showcase for jazz and eclectic musical artists. It was hosted by Jools Holland and David Sanborn, and featured Marcus Miller as musical director. Guests included acts such as Sonny Rollins, Shinehead, Sister Carol, Sonic Youth, Richard Thompson, Jo-El Sonnier, Joe Sample, Slim Gaillard, Elliott Sharp, Pere Ubu, Pharoah Sanders, and many others. In addition, vintage clips of jazz legends like Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck, and Billie Holiday were also featured. The show also featured a house band of Omar Hakim (drums), Marcus Miller (bass), Philippe Saisse (keys), David Sanborn (sax), Hiram Bullock (guitar), and Jools Holland (piano). The show often allowed its guests ample time to explain the origins of their sound, meaning of songs, etc. It also provided a national audience for lesser-known acts (such as Arto Lindsay's band, Ambitious Lovers). Hal Willner was the music coordinator, responsible for the interesting musical mix-and-matching that took place on the show.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Night_%28American_TV_program%29

just look at that list of episodes and which bands/artists they feature. there are some really incredible mixes of music here. john zorn and aaron neville? carlos santana, lyle lovett and wayne shorter? stevie ray vaughn, pharoah sanders and van dyke parks? phillip glass and pere ubu? LL cool J, jean-luc ponty and ray manzerek? dr john, mavis staples and jeff healy? the pixies, sun ra and al green? conway twitty, the residents and the kronos quartet? weir/wasserman and bongwater?

some seriously insane stuff there, and many of the episodes can be found on youtube - there are hours of gold here. really worth checking out.

so far the one with dr john, mavis staples and jeff healy is a favorite - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zshh-vBfVmE