The Roots' new groove

LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON 12:35 a.m. weeknights, Channel 10.

SERVING UP live music along with the comedy and chatter has always been what late night TV in America is about.

But having The Roots as the house band on the new NBC "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" show is "unprecedented" in several ways, declared keyboardist James Poyser the other morning, after the Philadelphia-based group had notched its first week of hard day's nights at the 30 Rock (Rockefeller Center), New York-staged TV show.

From Doc Severinsen helming the "Tonight Show" band (supporting Johnny Carson) to Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra (for David Letterman) to the Max Weinberg Seven (for Conan O'Brien), these late night musical aggregations have always been made-for-TV affairs - groups assembled at casting calls.

By contrast, The Roots have been a living, breathing, entity for more than 20 years - a mainstay of the hip-hop scene "that makes records and sells concert tickets," said Poyser, a studio and sometime traveling "branch member" now fully engaged in the TV show version.

Also setting them apart, of course, are their deep, um, roots in progressive funk and rap and mostly African-American lineup. These are major mold breakers for a late night TV studio band, and an apt complement to the historic regime change in Washington, D.C.

Oh, and for reasons both creative and financial, The Roots are now serving a different crop of music than we're used to hearing on TV, especially with the "bumpers" or (in their parlance) "sandwiches" that get heard when a guest makes an entrance, or the show is going to or from commercials. Instead of using familiar tunes that comment on the comedy bits or celebrities, the show's producers have demanded that The Roots concoct a whole new catalog of original music stingers in a wide variety of genres from rock to reggae, ultra-cool New Orleans second-line jazz to faux game show themes, as well as stuff in their more familiar hip hop/R&B comfort zone.

Only rarely - and with special dispensation from the show's music supervisors and lawyers - are they allowed to play a known theme. (Fallon even had to come up with an original variation on "Happy Birthday" to sing to Jon Bon Jovi on Tuesday.)

While viewers might not sense these changes overtly, all that new music adds an extra layer of freshness to the show, and demonstrates the versatility of these musicians, who are already being dubbed "the greatest band in late night" by their show host and longtime fan.

Oh and one other little thing, fellas. The deal requires that The Roots hand over the copyrights to all those new songs to NBC/Universal - a strategy that will save the company beaucoup bucks in the long haul.

Clearly, it's a different world out there, with tough times calling for a new attitude.

When Roots drummer/band leader Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson first got the offer to do the Fallon show, his saxophone-tooting friend Branford Marsalis (band leader for Jay Leno in the early 1990s) warned Thompson to stay away because "you'll be neutered."

Likewise, The Roots' MC, Tariq Trotter, aka Black Thought, initially fretted about image and repercussions from friends and rivals in the hip-hop community: "Is this just going to be ammo for some other rapper to try and dis me for? Like, 'your career is so over now/you're a house band for . . . ' "

But with almost every musician's album sales in the dumper and touring prospects looking dimmer, the idea of a steady and high-profile job eventually won out. The five-nights-weekly gig pays as much as the band would make "touring 200 plus days out of the year," calculated Thompson, "and allows us to be home."

So yeah, that means they're not going New York on us - except maybe for sleepover Thursdays, when the guys are now doing a regular gig at Manhattan's Highline Ballroom.

As they've planned it out, The Roots' tour bus picks them up in Center City Philadelphia each weekday at 8:30 a.m., then drops them back off here at 9 p.m. after "your basic 12-hour day," joked Poyser. (While seen at 12:35 a.m., the show tapes from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.)

With their history as busy sidelining musicians and producers for the likes of Al Green, Erykah Badu and Common, Thompson and Poyser are still hoping to squeeze other gigs into their 24-hour clock.

"We've got Wi-Fi [Internet connectivity] on the bus, plus bunks for sleeping, which I'm really taking advantage of," said Poyser. "It seems like you need to be doing five jobs nowadays, to equal what you used to make from three."

So how would the player assess his first week in a TV show band? "Work in progress."

To this viewer, Monday and Tuesday nights' stanzas were clearly shakedown cruises for the band as well as the affable/quick-witted host (who had an especially hard time with mumbling opening night guest Robert De Niro).

While I was visually intrigued with that big old brass horn wrapped around him, Damon Bryson (aka Tuba Goodin' Junior) was inaudible the first couple of nights, strictly window dressing. And you could neither see nor hear Poyser and fellow keyboardist Kamal Gray - actually planted on a balcony above the rest of the band, and forced to take their cues from Thompson via a TV monitor.

It also was bothering me how Thompson counted off every bumper with a tap-tap-tap of his drumsticks, which almost made everything that followed sound the same.

But Trotter and the band did score very well with the former "Saturday Night Live" newscaster Fallon on his hip variation "Cool Jamming the News" - a bit you can review on www.nbc.com or YouTube and quite likely to become a recurring feature on the show.

On Wednesday night, we finally had our first sightings of and "audibles" from those previously missing players, as cameramen and audio mixers got their act together. And the band's stylistic repertoire seemed broader, sweeter and more, ahem, mainstream - with Trotter pulling back on his Black Thoughts and guitarist "Captain Kirk" Douglas flashing dexterous changes.

Then on Thursday, the band finally got its first chance to play a full number behind a featured act, rapper Ludacris. Ultimately, they hope to play behind everyone who comes on the show to sing. They don't want to be typecast as strictly a funk crew.

The Roots weren't the only talents representin' Philadelphia on Fallon's first week. Tuesday night's show also featured Upper Darby's Tina Fey, Philly Soul team owner Bon Jovi and the locally grown rapper/singer Santigold (aka Santi White). On Wednesday, the Northern Liberties-spawned indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah was featured.

"What can I say?" said Poyser. "The bottom line is, Philly is dope. End of story. Philly is dope. Period." *