Jerry Vivino Tomorrow Night!
Much has been made in this space about the Paterson Vivino Brothers Jimmy and “Uncle” Floyd. Their brother Jerry Vivino, though, plays a mighty sax. He appears in The Jersey Sound documentary and tomorrow night will be blowing long and strong in Bethel, Connecticut, at La Zingara with his quintet. (Click here for further information and ticketing.)
He toured nationally with The Four Seasons in ’78 and ’79. Tiring of the road, he quit and found himself a go-to sax guy for the likes of Joan Rivers, Rodney Dangerfield, Tony Bennett and Ray Charles. After established residency in numerous Broadway pit orchestras, he was asked by “Mighty” Max Weinberg to audition for the Late Night With Conan O’Brien band. It just so happened, though, that Jerry and Jimmy were playing in Donald Fagen’s side project, The New York Nights. Plus, they were thinking about taking up Fagen’s request of joining Steely Dan on tour. They wound up joining The Max Weinberg 7 instead for the Conan show.
Who else has Jerry played with? Bruce, James Taylor, Paul Shaffer, Al Kooper, Dion, James Brown, Phoebe Snow, Dr. John plus Wynton and Branford Marsalis have all benefitted from his clarinet and tenor sax, influenced by John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, Sonny Rollins and Dexter Gordon.
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