Paul Shaffer & The World's Most Dangerous Band Rock The Ridgefield Playhouse!


by John A. Wilcox



I've been a fan of David Letterman since he did a morning show on NBC. A man who soon became synonymous with Letterman was keyboardist Paul Shaffer. I always associated Shaffer from his years on Saturday Night Live as well as an unforgettable role in the film This Is Spinal Tap. Before long, Shaffer & the band christened themselves Paul Shaffer & The World's Most Dangerous Band. I spoke to the band's arranger & trombonist Tom "Bones" Malone: The band had that name going back to NBC before I was even in the band. They had a 4 piece band. At NBC they called it The World's Most Dangerous Band. When Dave jumped ship and went to CBS, NBC said they would sue him if he used the name The World's Most Dangerous Band. They claimed it was their intellectual property. So they just called it the CBS Orchestra.



Joining Shaffer and Malone are drummer Anton Fig, guitarists Felicia Collins & Sid McGinnis, bassist Will Lee and horn players Aaron Heick & Frank Greene. They were the CBS Orchestra and now in 2017 they are Paul Shaffer & The World's Most Dangerous Band. In 2016, the band reunited after Letterman rode off into the sunset in 2015. It was time to make an album! Malone relates: So we made this album at Electric Lady Studios in New York. That was Jimi Hendrix's studio in the Village. I arranged it for Paul. I was Paul's arranger at Letterman for 22 years. So Paul's manager calls up NBC to see what we have to pay to use the name The World's Most Dangerous Band. It's all young lawyers that don't remember anything about it. Weren't even there when the other thing happened. They were like "Oh, sure, no problem! Go ahead and use it!" It's a catchy title.



1 self-titled album on Sire Records under their belt, Paul Shaffer & The World's Most Dangerous Band are on the road. The show is packed with hits from all eras of rock & pop. Malone once more: Felicia Collins will be doing a Michael Jackson medley as well as Some Kind Of Wonderful. We'll be doing a James Brown medley. There's a little bit of everything in there. All kinds of music! Joining the band as a special guest will be Valerie Simpson. Malone: Ashford and Simpson wrote a lot of huge hits for Motown. They were staff writers for Motown and they wrote a lot of my favorite songs. Solid, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, I'm Every Woman - on and on and on - just great songs. She wrote I Don't Need No Doctor for Ray Charles in 1968. All of which you'll hear live on stage at the Ridgefield Playhouse! A fantastic concert for rockers from 9 to 92! Join us all and party the night away!!

Paul Shaffer & The World's Most Dangerous Band
Saturday, May 6, 8 PM
The Ridgefield Playhouse
80 East Ridge
Ridgefield, CT 06877
203-438-5795
www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org

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