After completing an eventful five-night swing through the Northeast, Lettuce members Nigel Hall (keys, vocals), Eric “Benny” Bloom (trumpet), and Ryan Zoidis (saxophones) on Monday headed to the famed Ed Sullivan Theater in New York to sit in with Louis Cato and the Late Show Band on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The episode also featured interviews with actor Don Cheadle and renowned journalist and author Malcolm Gladwell.
Zoidis, Bloom, and Hall were quick to make their presence known at the start of the episode. As the show transitioned to a commercial following host Stephen Colbert‘s opening monologue, the camera panned to the beefed-up band, which was performing a snippet of Lettuce favorite “Madison Square”. Later, Colbert called attention to the new faces on the bandstand.
“Give it up for Louis Cato and The Late Show Band!” he said. “Louis, your sound tonight is particularly fat. Tell us who you have joining you tonight, please?” A clearly excited Cato responded, “Man, we have the horn section and the lead singer/keyboardist of the legendary funk crew, Lettuce.” Watch clips from Monday’s Lett-ified episode of The Late Show below.
Lettuce, the Grammy-nominated, far-reaching funk sextet, recently released a remastered version of its 2004 live album, Live in Tokyo, in honor of its 20th anniversary. The new release’s digital format also includes two bonus tracks from the multi-night Tokyo run (alternate versions of “Flu the Coop” and “Reunion”) not included on the initial Lettuce Live in Tokyo release. Order the album on vinyl or CD and listen via major streaming services here. For a list of upcoming Lettuce tour dates, head here.
Opening Monologue, “Madison Square” (Lettuce, partial) – The Late Show with Stephen Colbert – 9/30/24
Band Introductions – The Late Show with Stephen Colbert – 9/30/24
View this post on Instagram