Malone kicks brass

Tom (Bones) Malone says the Blues Brothers made famous by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi  almost never saw the light of day.

Malone, best known these days as a member of the Paul Shaffer-led CBS Orchestra on the Late Show With David Letterman, was in the Saturday Night Live band in 1978 when the two comedians pitched the idea to show creator Lorne Michaels.

“We got turned down two weeks in a row. We did Rocket 88 with the Saturday Night Live band and didn’t make the show. Then we did Hey Bartender the second week and we didn’t make the show,” said Malone on a rainy Saturday in Thunder Bay, where he arrived to play trombone as part of the Blues Brotherhood, the 10-piece tribute to the original Blues Brothers act.

“Lorne Michaels said, ‘Frankly, I don’t see anything funny about the Blues Brothers.’ Then the third week suddenly we just jumped in. The show was short. John and Danny said, ‘Come on, Lorne, the Blues Brothers.’ He had nothing else to put in there for the three minutes, so he gave us a shot.”

It turned out to be one of the best changes of heart in television (and movie) history, said Malone, who wrote the musical chart for that first sketch, and continued writing for the band after it took off around the world, feature film in tow. 

“We got letters and phone calls, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

Malone, 64, has worked with the likes of Woody Herman, Frank Zappa and Blood Sweat and Tears.  But the Blues Brothers have always held a place near and dear to his heart, and he keeps track of the many tributes out there paying respect to the original.

The Blues Brotherhood was just a little bit better than the rest, he said.

“I actually met these guys on Facebook,” Malone said. “I saw some videos and stuff of theirs and thought they were really good. I said, ‘I’d really love to play with you guys.’ So Jake (Elwood, played by Paul Miller) said, ‘Really?’ We hooked up a gig and we’ve been playing together ever since.”

That was a year-and-a-half-ago, and Malone has the utmost respect for his new band-mates.

“They really do it right, the two guys who do Jake and Elwood are actually better than the real Jake and Elwood. And the guys are serious about playing the music right and they’re wonderful guys. We just hit it off,” he said.

Malone, a good friend of Shaffer’s, is no stranger to Thunder Bay. He was here in 2004 for Blues Festival and most recently in 2007, when he played with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra.

Like Chicago and Sinatra, the city is his kind of town – and has been since the first day he arrived.

“Phil Horde, who is Paul Shaffer’s friend from high school, took me around and introduced me to everybody in town in a matter of hours. We’re quite good friends now. He’s my Thunder Bay connection. I have lots of nice friends here. It’s such a wonderful town, nice people. This is my fifth trip now to Thunder Bay.”

The Blues Brotherhood gigs are nice, but Malone has no intentions of giving up his day job battling on the front lines of the late-night TV talk-show wars.

Although Letterman has been on the air for almost three decades, Malone said he doesn’t see him stopping anytime soon.

“I think we’ll go as long as Dave’s health holds up. He’s not the type of guy who can just come home and sit around the house very long. He might sit around the house for a week or two and then he’s ready to work.”

But when Letterman does hang up his mic, Malone knows just what he wants to do.

“I want to play with more symphonies,” he said.

And will that include a return appearance at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium?

“I certainly hope so.”