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The musical director is the principal arranger of music for Saturday Night Live. At different times, the musical director has conducted the Saturday Night Live Band; at other times, another person was credited as live band conductor.

List of musical directors and conductors[]

Seasons Musical Director Live Band Conductor
1-5 Howard Shore Howard Johnson
6 Kenny Vance David Spinozza
7-10 Tom Malone Leroy "Leon" Pendarvis
11   Leroy Pendarvis
12-16 Cheryl Hardwick and G.E. Smith Leroy Pendarvis
17-20 Cheryl Hardwick and G.E. Smith G.E. Smith
21-25 Cheryl Hardwick and Lenny Pickett Leroy Pendarvis
26-27 Lenny Pickett Leroy Pendarvis
28-32 Lenny Pickett and Leroy Pendarvis[Note 1] Leroy Pendarvis
32-36 Lenny Pickett, Leroy Pendarvis, and Katreese Barnes[1] Leroy Pendarvis
37-present Lenny Pickett, Leroy Pendarvis, and Eli Brueggemann[2] Leroy Pendarvis
  1. Katreese Barnes was credited as "Assistant Musical Director" during this period

Others in the music department[]

Aside from the musicians in the band, others have held positions revolving around the show's music:

  • Hal Willner - Musical Producer/Music Coordinator (1980-2020; worked there until his death in 2020)
    • During season 11 (in which no one was credited as musical director), Willner was credited as "Music Coordinator" and original SNL musical director Howard Shore was credited as "Musical Producer"
  • Lew Del Gatto - Musical Arranger (1975-79, 1995-2005)
  • John Zonars - Musical Supervisor (1994-2005, plus occasional episodes in other years)

References[]

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