When I was a kid I had a two-disc LP comprised of the audio of ‘Tonight Show’ segments. The Johnny Carson album was a big flop for some reason–Carson liked to joke about it–and I can’t remember quite why we had it since neither I nor my parents watched Carson. (I was too young–my bedtime was around 9–and my parents were passed out). One of the segments on the record was the above 1974 moment in which Johnny gives Doc Severinsen and the NBC Orchestra the floor to perform an entire song on the show–usually you just heard the band coming in and out after commercial breaks, or accompanying a singer. The banter beforehand is excellent –it’s a three-way between Johnny, Doc and Ed–and the song is a very 70s big band arrangement of ‘Ode To Billy Joe’ that kicks hard. Below is another performance from the Tonight Show Band from the opposite side of the musical spectrum–a swinging rrangement of Cole Porter’s ‘Begin The Beguine’. The band was made up of LA’s top studio musicians, many of whom were talented jazz artists in their own right. Severinsen, by the way, is still alive–he’s 97 and lives in Tennessee for some bizarre reason. And as an added bonus, in the above clip you get to see Johnny smoking a cigarette…