Category Archives: Suzanne Somers TV Show at Universal Studios and Live Performances
Suzanne Somers and Glenn Zottola Live in Concert
Suzanne Somers “But Beautiful” on TV Show with Glenn Zottola.
Suzanne Somers Intro Of Glenn Zottola
Glenn Zottola – Suzanne Somers TV Show “Georgia”
Glenn Zottola – Suzanne Somers TV Show “Open Trumpet”
Glenn Zottola – Suzanne Somers TV Show “Trumpet Groove”
Glenn Zottola – Suzanne Somers TV Show “When You Wish Upon A Star “
Glenn Zottola – Suzanne Somers TV Show “Stardust”
Glenn Zottola – Suzanne Somers TV Show “7 Steps To Heaven”
Glenn Zottola and Robben Ford On Suzanne Somers TV Show.
This is the live act Suzanne and I had. Suzanne is a great entertainer and what as joy it was making music with her.
Dave Koz and Glenn Zottola Jamming On TV
I had a great time on the Suzanne Somers TV show at Universal Studios especially when musicians like Dave Koz showed up to jam. Rarely does a jazz musician get a chance to do that for 10s of millions of people every day which is quite a luxury. Suzanne truly loved the energy and music as you can see here. I felt I had the best band on TV at the time. Doug Walter on piano, Kirk Smith on bass and David Libman on drums and they could play anything I would throw at them in any musical genre. Pretty amazing guys and a real pleasure to work with ! Â Glenn
Suzanne Somers and Glenn Zottola “Sing, Sing, Sing”
It’s obvious watching this Video the fun that Suzanne and I had and she was definetly a great foil on stage. But beyond that on the inside there are 3 elements here for me that are why i got into music and this comes from early Louis Armstrong who was my first inspiration and mentor beside my dad. Louie combined not only being a great and powerful jazz trumpet player (the greatest of all time) but also an entertainer and bandleader with a real element of “showbusiness” as is obvious in his famous 1934 footage of “Dinah” in Denmark something worth checking out on you tube. For me Suzanne and the TV show gave me that type of platform that the straight jazz world didn’t and i had a ball ! Glenn
Suzanne Somers and Glenn Zottola “But Beautiful” – Short Version
In my career I have had several what you might call “foils” to create with. These are artists where i had a tremendous rapport right from the start and it was just easy to make music together. In the Jazz world Benny Goodman was one of those artists who I spent 2 years with side by side on stage. Bob Wilber the great soprano player was another and we were together several years and recording many albums. Suzanne Somers was a very special artist and we had a rapport or “simpatico” that was very special from the first moment as is very obvious from this clip. This song one of my favorite standards “But Beautiful” is the one that started that musical relationship with Suzanne that lasted for 9 years and definitely was a high point to an illustrious career for me. This clip is from our live show on a video titled Suzanne Somers Live at Club Indigo featuring Glenn Zottola available on Amazon.
Suzanne Somers and Glenn Zottola Closer
I got a nice response from my “But Beautiful” post and i am looking at more from our show. Basically I improvised this entire show without one piece of music and Suzanne’s instructions where “just do your Glenn thing” . She was a really great lady and having grown up in a very abusive situation had a message to deliver. We truly had a ball and in 7 years not one disagreement. For a jazz player this kind of quality presentation was a joy and it was so pleasurable.
Suzanne Somers and Glenn Zottola “But Beautiful” Full Version
I was talking to a friend telling him about my 7 years with Suzanne Somers which was wonderful. I have played with a lot of great singers starting with sharing the bill with Dinah Washington when i was 13 years old at Atlantic City Jazz Festival and later Sinatra , Tony Bennet , Mel Torme , Ella , Peggy Lee , Joe Williams and Maxinne Sullivan. I actually love working with singers (some jazz players don’t) as they tell stories and that is what I try to do on my horn. Suzanne is known as an actress first but she loved jazz and was a natural. We had a special rapport or “simpatico” as her husband called it and never “collided” musically. I played this track for my buddy Chick Corea and he said something I never thought about before “your comping for her”. Pianists do that all the time (the good ones) but it is a lost art for horn players knowing how to fill the holes. The old greats like Lester Young with Billie Holiday and Ben Webster and Getz with Astrud and Joao Gilberto knew how to do it. This is the track in full that Chick commented on. Amazing as of all the things I have done in my career I am very proud of the “aesthetics” on this one.
The “Martin” TV Show
The “Martin” Show was taping right next to us at Universal Studios. I was asked to go over to Tisha and Tichina’ s dressing room (the 2 main characters on the show) as they were coming on our show and wanted to sing a song. I spent only about 20 minutes with them going over what they wanted to do to get an idea on an arrangement. I really loved working with the various celebrities and helping to give them a chance to do their thing. Also on our show I had to do such a wide range of music styles that I got a chance to draw off my entire experience as a musician and bandleader. Glenn
Kenny Rogers Jam and Glenn Zottola
Kenny Rogers came on the show with David Foster who had just produced his new album of beautiful standards. During one of the commercial breaks Kenny picked up the bass and swung his butt off on a blues ala Ray Brown ! Afterwards I went up to him and said “Man I have to apologize and confess, I have never been a big country music fan but wow you sound great”. He told me he started out singing and playing bass in a group like the Hi Lo’s. You never know ! Glenn
Hector Elizondo, Suzanne Somers and Glenn Zottola
Another Celebrity with hidden talents! Â Turns out Hector was an old be bopper from NY. Â It was always amazing to me how Suzanne could adapt to any situation! Â Check out this King Pleasure / James Moody classic “Moody’s Mood for Love”. Â Glenn
TV Show Pilot End Of Show
This is another clip from the pilot. As you can see we really had fun from the start and Suzanne was the driving force behind that as you can see ! Glenn
Marilyn McCoo
Playing for some of these acts is like being part of musical Royalty. Whether it is Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall, Frank Sinatra or Marilyn McCoo and the Fifth Dimension, it really is thrilling to have been a part of this musical history in my career. Glenn
Suzanne Somers and Glenn Zottola on the “Vibe” TV show
Suzanne loved this song and we are about the same age (although I would say she looks better than me) and we both talked about hearing Eydie Gorme sing this on the Tonight Show growing up years ago. I truly love playing behind singers and for sure Suzanne and I had a very special rapport or “sympatico” as her husband called it. Music and a song are timeless. Glenn
Opening for the Suzanne Somers TV Show Pilot
This was our pilot for the TV show at Universal Studios. Glenn
Glenn Zottola and Suzanne Somers on Arsenio Hall
Ben Vereen and Glenn Zottola “The Joint Is Jumpin”
Ben is amazing what a talent ! I worked his act years ago and when he came on the show we had only about 40 minutes to work out a number and I did it without any music. He had previously gotten hit by a car walking on Pacific Coast Highway at night and the doctors said he would not walk again let alone dance. I guess he proved them wrong !!
Check it out !
Glenn
Patti Austin and Glenn Zottola
Patti Austin was a wonderful guest and i am a big fan ! It also amazes me how Suzanne is so relaxed and comfortable in any setting. Glenn
Nel Carter and Glenn Zottola
I found many celebrities have talents the general public is not aware of because they have moved on to other things. Nell Carter is a great blues singer as this video shows. What a ball ! Glenn
Glenn Zottola 