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 |
- ↑ 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)