Editing Max Weinberg (section)

==''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''==
[[Image:Max-Weinberg7.jpg|right|thumb|257px|alt=Several men are playing instruments, including trumpet, saxophone, trombone, and guitar, behind bandstands; at a higher elevation to the right of them is another man behind a drum kit and looking over at the band members; the bass drum is labeled "The Max Weinberg 7"; behind all of them is a paster sculpture wall and a series of vertical curtains, some translucent with a painted cityscape behind them|Weinberg leads [[The Max Weinberg 7]] during a taping of ''[[Late Night with Conan O'Brien]]'' done on the road in Chicago in 2006.]]
In July 1993, Weinberg had a chance sidewalk meeting outside the [[Carnegie Deli]] with newly selected [[Late Night with Conan O'Brien|''Late Night'']] host [[Conan O'Brien]], where Weinberg spoke about his ideas for music on the show. O'Brien promised Weinberg an audition.<ref name="mdm-int"/> Within a few days, Weinberg put together [[the Max Weinberg 7]], recruiting musicians he had worked with during his career, including on the Killer Joe project, starting with guitarist and arranger [[Jimmy Vivino]].<ref name="mdm-int"/> Weinberg decided a muscular, drums-driven [[jump blues]] vibe, partly derived from the Killer Joe sound, is what he would use as a starting point for the group's sound.<ref name="nyt112893"/><ref name="mdm-int"/> At the early August audition, the outfit impressed O'Brien with their ability to play not just rock but also rhythm and blues, soul, jazz, pop, and big band swing;<ref name="santelli-brk"/> Weinberg was so anxious to land the job that he threw up afterward.<ref name="mdm-int"/> After a final meeting with executive producer [[Lorne Michaels]], they were hired as the house band.<ref name="mdm-int"/> The band performed on the show every night since its premiere on September 13, 1993.<ref name="max-site-bio"/> O'Brien later said of the Weinberg choice, "The energy and enthusiasm of his music coincided with the show I wanted to do. Plus, his tan offset my ghostly complexion."<ref name="nyt112893"/> Weinberg held the title of music director on the show,<ref name="nyt021894"/> while Vivino did most of the arranging.<ref name="nyt112893"/> Of his career rebound, Weinberg said simply: "I grabbed the brass ring twice."<ref name="kansan-smarsh"/>

In the early phases of the show, Weinberg was involved in occasional comedy bits, but mostly focused on his musical responsibilities, including the selection of walk-on music for guests.<ref name="nyt112893">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/28/arts/television-leaping-from-e-street-to-late-night.html | title=Leaping From E Street to 'Late Night' | author=Keepnews, Peter | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date= November 28, 1993}}</ref> The band got a 30-second featured spot each night after O'Brien's opening monologue.<ref name="nyt021894">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/18/arts/critic-s-notebook-surveying-the-talk-show-tunescape.html | title=Critic's Notebook: Surveying the Talk-Show Tunescape | author=Pareles, Jon | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=February 18, 1994 | author-link=Jon Pareles}}</ref> O'Brien often received poor notices during the early years of ''Late Night'', and [[Jon Pareles]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' pronounced the Max Weinberg 7 as the "saving grace" of the show.<ref name="nyt021894"/> Weinberg established an image by dressing in high-quality suits and a tie; he said, "I like us to look sharp and play sharp,"<ref name="nyt062900"/> and "I don't want to look like the audience, I want to look different."<ref name="nyt012801"/> Weinberg became a television celebrity, and his visibility and stature grew from ''Late Night'' and established an image for him beyond Springsteen.<ref name="santelli-brk"/> Indeed, much of the show's young fan base, and some of the staff on the show itself, were unaware of Weinberg's past role in the E Street Band.<ref name="ap071795"/>

In 1994, [[Rhino Records]] released ''Max Weinberg Presents: Let There Be Drums'', a three-volume set of CDs that highlighted drumming that Weinberg admired on songs from the 1950s through the 1970s.<ref name="benarde-239">Benarde, ''Stars of David'', p. 239.</ref> Recaps in 1998 of the first five years of ''Late Night'' concluded that the band had been an important element in the show surviving, with Weinberg's personality providing a foil to O'Brien's<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/06/arts/television-in-five-years-a-nobody-becomes-somebody.html | title=In Five Years, a Nobody Becomes Somebody | author=Carter, Bill | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=September 6, 1998 }}</ref> and with "the Max Weinberg 7 [leaving] television viewers wishing they were in the studio to hear more."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/arts/television-review-coming-on-topical-comical-and-relevant.html | title=Coming on Topical, Comical and Relevant | author=James, Caryn | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=September 16, 1998}}</ref> Their sound also fit into the [[swing revival]] going on during the late 1990s.<ref name="nyt012801"/>

In 2000, O'Brien sidekick [[Andy Richter]] left the show, and Weinberg became the "[[second banana]]".<ref name="rs022309"/><ref name="nyt062500">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/25/arts/television-radio-richter-leaves-and-sidekickery-goes-with-him.html | title=Richter Leaves, And Sidekickery Goes With Him | author=Barron, James | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=June 25, 2000}}</ref> Weinberg continued to present an obvious visual foil: as O'Brien said, "If you looked at this guy you would never know he was the drummer in a huge rock 'n' roll band. You would say he was the guy who did the band's accounting. But Max is the authoritative, buttoned-down adult in the midst of all this madness."<ref name="nyt012801"/> Weinberg reveled in O'Brien's youthful audience: "To be 49 and appreciated by 14-year-olds again? What a thrill!"<ref name="nyt062900"/> Weinberg engaged in stare-downs with O'Brien and gave scripted screeds about newsmakers.<ref name="nola-prof"/> Additionally, Weinberg was comically presented as a twisted character with sexual fetishes and homicidal tendencies in comedy bits. When O'Brien was host of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' on March 10, 2001, his monologue featured a visit from the ''SNL'' studio to the ''Late Night'' studio (only a few floors apart in the same building, [[30 Rockefeller Plaza]]), where O'Brien discovers Weinberg engaged in sexual intercourse on his desk with a woman played by Max's real-life wife, Becky. Weinberg says of his comic persona: "[I]t's playing against type. I've been happily married for nearly 30 years, with two wonderful children. It's not what I portray on the show, and that's funny."<ref name="nola-prof">{{cite news | url=http://blog.nola.com/davewalker/2009/02/audio_cut_for_max_sunday_story.html | title=Percussionist Max Weinberg, performing tonight during the Super Bowl with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band | author=Walker, Dave | newspaper=[[The Times-Picayune]] | location=New Orleans | date=February 1, 2009 | access-date=September 5, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207192104/http://blog.nola.com/davewalker/2009/02/audio_cut_for_max_sunday_story.html | archive-date=February 7, 2009 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Weinberg continued his one-man college shows, now titled ''E Street to Late Night: Dreams Found, Lost, and Found Again''.<ref name="kansan-smarsh">{{cite news | title=Born to drum: Weinberg endures | author=Smarsh, Sarah | newspaper=[[University Daily Kansan]] | date=March 2001}}</ref>

Weinberg returned to the E Street Band briefly when Springsteen re-grouped the band in early 1995 to record a few new songs for the ''[[Greatest Hits (Bruce Springsteen album)|Greatest Hits]]'' release.<ref name="santelli-95">Santelli, ''Greetings from E Street'', p. 82.</ref> The regrouping was only temporary and the band returned to inactivity.<ref name="santelli-95"/> Also in 1995, Weinberg drummed on two of [[Johnnie Johnson (musician)|Johnnie Johnson]]'s songs: "I'm Mad" and "She Called Me Out of My Name," on Johnson's 1995 album ''Johnnie Be Back''. Weinberg spent two years building an {{convert|8900|sqft|m2|sigfig=2|adj=on}} house in [[Middletown Township, New Jersey]], that they moved into in 1999; he picked up many of the furnishings for it from locations around the world during subsequent tours.<ref name="wsj041108"/><ref>DeMasters, Karen. [https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60B11F83C5B0C7B8EDDA80894D9404482 "MUSIC; For Springsteen, Bar Mitzvahs and Conan, This Drummer Sets the Beat"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', January 28, 2001. Retrieved May 10, 2007. "I actually played at bar mitzvahs after the band broke up and was glad to do it," Mr. Weinberg said in a recent interview in his home in a tony section of Middletown Township."</ref>

The Max Weinberg 7 released a self-titled album in 2000 on [[Hip-O Records]];<ref name="nyt012801"/> Weinberg said he waited until then because "I wanted to change my style of playing and hone my style before I committed to a record."<ref name="ld102300">{{cite news|url=http://livedaily.citysearch.com/news/2048.html |title=Max Weinberg pushes E Street Band to the background |author1=Bob Grossweiner |author2=Jane Cohen |name-list-style=amp |publisher=[[Live Daily]] |date=October 23, 2000 |access-date=September 6, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030513065015/http://www.livedaily.citysearch.com/news/2048.html |archive-date=May 13, 2003 }}</ref> He was especially proud that the band had successfully backed [[Tony Bennett]] during a late 1990s appearance on ''Late Night'': "Two years ago if you'd asked me if I could play with Tony Bennett, I would have said absolutely not. I'm not in his league. But we played with him the other night, and it was wonderful. We swung."<ref name="schleier"/>