Biography

Jimmy Vivino, Music Director and leader of the house band for Conan O'Brien's show on TBS, brought together his "Black Italians" band for a memorable two night concert recording session at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, NY. Featuring Catherine Russell (vocals), Felix Cabrera (harmonica, vocals), Danny Louis (keyboards, trombone, vocals), Mike Merritt (bass), James Wormworth (drums), Mike Jacobson (congas, percussion), Fred Walcott (timbales, percussion), and Jimmy on guitar, vocals and piano, The Black Italians were originally formed twenty years ago around a residency at the legendary Downtime Music Bar on W. 30th Street in New York City. Vivino, Merritt and Wormworth, who had been serving as the band for the legendary pianist Johnnie Johnson, started attracting local and national touring musicians to their shows eager to participate in impromptu jams of what Vivino describes as "Third World blues with New Orleans swagger." Vivino jokingly dubbed the communal group of musicians of various ethnicities "The Black Italians," which he says was really "about being soulful cats." The aggregation lasted about two years, until Vivino became too busy with his television gig.

On November 30, 2012, the reunited Black Italians hosted a public rehearsal followed by a live recorded concert the next night at Levon Helm's beautiful barn studio in Woodstock NY. The group had performed together only sporadically in the last several years, but one would never have guessed that once the lights came on and they hit the stage. Interspersing Jimmy's original songs with covers of tunes by the likes of Bob Dylan, James Brown, Traffic and Johnny Winter, the Black Italians immediately fell into a soulful, joyous groove, enlivening the audience. A night of truly inspired music making was capped off by "Song For Levon," written by Jimmy for the occasion, and a rousing version of The Band's "Shape I'm In."

"13 Live" captures a truly unique musical collaboration, sure to garner a lot of attention from fans of Jimmy's work on the Conan show.