If you find yourself toe-tapping this summer as you watch TV, it may be because the airwaves are being filled with so much live music. No longer relegated to “The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno” and “The Late Show With David Letterman,” the live band is energizing a growing list of prime time shows, including “Dancing With The Stars,” “The Singing Bee,” “Don’t Forget The Lyrics” and “America’s Got Talent.”
Producers love having in-house bands because they amp up the response of the studio audience. Consider “America’s Got Talent.” Now in its second season, “Talent” started out this summer with a five-piece band. As the show shot to the top of the ratings, producers added three singers. As the weeks went by, five horns and five percussion players were added to the mix, bringing the total to 15. And just last week, according to “Talent” music director Rickey Minor, the producers ordered up four string players and will add even more musicians for the finale on August 21. “We may have as many as 30 players,” says Minor, who does the hiring.
Minor believes that the demand for live music is long overdue for hundreds of struggling musicians. “I hear from musicians all over the world,” says Minor. “They feel that there’s now hope for live music and for musicians, period. When shows are using a lot of library music (in the form of piped-in recordings), that’s good for the publishing companies that own the rights, but it doesn’t do anything for the musicians who are trying to make a living.”
Harold Wheeler, musical director for “Dancing With The Stars,” oversees sixteen musicians and three singers. “We’re embracing live TV,” he says. And why not? The job allows musicians to stretch, playing everything from disco to standards. “We’ve done a tally,” says Wheeler, who has been in charge all four seasons. “Since season one, we have played 411 songs.”
And who do they have to thank for all this? The gold standard, “American Idol.”
“It’s become the benchmark,” says Minor, who is also “Idol’s” bandleader. “We have 22 players on that show. So once you hear that, you want to hear it that big all the time.”