Jimmy Vivino & Friends

Opening Night Celebration

Jimmy Vivino (Jimmy V) is best known as the leader of The Basic Cable Band (the house band for TBS’ “Conan”) and, as a member of the house bands for “The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien” and “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” on NBC.

Vivino is a guitarist, keyboard player, singer, producer and music director.

Born and bred in New Jersey, he has been a performing musician all his life, and has toured and recorded as a soloist. He has produced, led bands, played, arranged and recorded for Phoebe Snow, Laura Nyro, Bob Weir, Keith Richards, Elvis Costello, Levon Helm and many others.

He plays with The Prisoners of Second Avenue, Rumble & Twang, The Fab Faux (Beatles tribute band) and others. His album, “Jimmy Vivino and The Black Italians,” was released in 2013, and Jimmy Vivino and Friends’ “The Extended Play Sessions” are available on YouTube.

Many consider Guitar legend Arlen Roth to be one of the most influential musicians in the world. In addition to his masterful performances on guitar, slide guitar, lap steel and dobro, he has been a pioneer in music education.

Roth’s “Hot Licks Video” has helped guitarists worldwide, along with his online lessons and blogs for Gibson.com, and he has published 11 books on guitar playing.

Born in the Bronx in 1952, Roth got his start playing weekends in Woodstock, N.Y., and he and his band Steel put on the First annual Woodstock Reunion Concert in 1970 in Bethel, N.Y.

He has released 18 albums since his debut, “Guitarist,” in 1978, most recently “Super Soul Session with Jerry Jemmott” this year. Roth has toured and recorded with Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, John Prine, Levon Helm, Ry Cooder, Janis Ian, The Bee Gees and many others.

Boston-born Bruce Katz is a six-time BMA nominee for the Pinetop Perkins Award for his Hammond B3 and piano playing.

In 2019, he won a BMA for Acoustic Blues Album of the Year for “Journeys to the Heart of the Blues,” and was nominated again in 2020 for his “Solo Ride.”

Katz was a member of Gregg Allman’s band from 2007 to 2013; he also has toured with the Allman Brothers Band and was a member of Jamoe’s Jasssz Band, Butch Trucks’ Freight Train Band and Les Brers.

He has released 11 albums as a leader, most recently “Connections” (1923), and has recorded on more than 75 records with John Hammond, Delbert McClinton and many others.

Katz is a Berklee grad and taught on the faculty there for 14 years; he also holds a master’s degree in jazz performance from the New England Conservatory. He mixes blues with American Roots music, jazz and improv rock.