Lenny Pickett: Saxophonist

Lenny Pickett is an American saxophonist, composer, arranger, and musical director, based in New York. He joined the Saturday Night Live band as tenor sax soloist in 1985 and was promoted to Musical Director in 1995, a position he has held ever since. Before his long residency at 30 Rock, Pickett spent years in the horn section of Tower of Power, the influential Bay Area funk band, before becoming a sought-after session saxophonist and arranger for artists including David Bowie, Talking Heads, and Laurie Anderson.

Pickett's connection to Bowie stretches across two distinct periods of his career. He served as a saxophonist on Bowie's 1983 Serious Moonlight Tour, contributing woodwinds and tenor saxophone to the horn sections that shaped the live sound of the Let's Dance era. Later, in 2002, he provided baritone and tenor saxophone on Heathen, playing on tracks including "The Rays."

This interview, in 2 parts, was conducted at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York. The building that has been home to Saturday Night Live since its debut in 1975, and it’s where Pickett has worked as part of the house band for four decades.