See what it was like behind the scenes on Saturday Night Live for National Party Band Leaders Jason Freeman (Perfect Ten Band) and Jerry Freeman (Big Swing) in Jason’s blog post below. These guys are the best of the best and it is an honor for me to be involved with such talented performers. -Dennis
Last October I played a once-in-a-lifetime gig with Janelle Monáe on Saturday Night Live in New York City. After writing and recording horns for three songs on Janelle’s recently released album, Q.U.E.E.N., it was nice to get the call to perform the music live with her and, of all places,..SNL!
Our horn section, Hornz Unlimited which includes me (trumpet/flugelhorn), my brother Jerry Freeman (trumpet/flugelhorn), Chris Burns (trombone) and Darian Emory (tenor sax) were flown in to New York the Thursday before our live performance for a studio rehearsal on the SNL set at 30 Rockefeller Plaza at NBC studios. Once the band got checked in and received our artist badges, we were led to our green room where we discussed the music with Janelle’s musical director, Terrance Brown.
While being led to the set for rehearsal, it finally hit me just how cool this experience was! It was incredible to see all the framed headshots hung neatly on the hallway walls of former SNL cast members, hosts and musical acts that have performed on the show since 1975. There were pictures of Bill Murray, John Belushi, Eddie Murphy, Gilda Radner along with musicians like Paul Simon, Outkast, Nirvana, Mick Jagger and many more.
As soon as you walk into the studio you face the bandstand where SNL’s world famous band performs. To the left was the guest artist stage where we were performing. After getting mic’d up and doing a sound check we started the rehearsal and you could sense from the very first note that Janelle, the band and background vocalists were focused on giving 1000% effort to make the performance a success.
On Saturday, we arrived back to NBC studios for a sound check at 5:00 p.m. From the green room’s monitors we could see the cast members and guest stars rehearsing their sketches. Edward Norton was the guest host and Alec Baldwin and Miley Cyrus also made appearances. After sound check, we ate dinner and from a huge wall of monitors I noticed that the cast and guest stars were rehearsing the show again in full wardrobe, but this time with the SNL band on set. Later was the full taped dress rehearsal of the show with a live studio audience. This is when it struck me…this show hasn’t been legendary by accident. Every actor and actress, including the guest stars, was dedicated to rehearsing the entire day looking to perfect their roles and make them funnier and funnier with each take.
At 11:30 p.m., we were dressed and ready in white with black derby hats. Janelle’s entire camp formed a circle and held hands as she led us all in a prayer thanking God for blessing us with our individual gifts that brought us there that day. While being directed to the stage, which was meticulously designed in all white, you could feel the energy of the live studio audience as we got closer and closer to the set doors. I noticed celebrities backstage…even saw Steven Spielberg just hanging out.
We performed two songs that night, “Dance Apocalyptic” and “Electric Lady.” Janelle Monáe was absolutely on fire with her performance and we all fed off of her nonstop energy. It was truly an amazing and unforgettable experience performing on Saturday Night Live. If you have never seen Janelle Monáe perform, you can check out both performances here: http://bit.ly/1ai5zRH
