If you watched this week’s new Saturday Night Live with triple-threat Sabrina Carpenter, you may have noticed a familiar face in her backing band. As he prepares for his first tour with Trey Anastasio Band next month, saxophonist Kenneth Whalum supported Carpenter in her performances of “Manchild” and “Nobody’s Son”.
Whalum literally stepped into the spotlight on Carpenter’s first song, “Manchild”, walking into the frame as the pop star sang and danced from her bed in modest yet characteristically salacious (read: pants-less) wardrobe. Whalum provided much more than comic relief and a possible stand-in for the titular manchild, juicing up the radio-friendly bridge and chorus and even joining Carpenter in some choreographed dance moves (which we hope to see on Trey tour).
When Carpenter returned for her second song, “Nobody’s Son”, Whalum was there again, donning a gi (and a black belt) in the background as a karate bout took place in the foreground (as opposed to the drummer and keyboardist, who were merely silhouettes behind the set’s shoji screens). While the brief, made-for-tv appearances were much more Short n’ Sweet than any TAB show (sorry, couldn’t resist), the Sabrina Carpenter performances highlighted the range Whalum will bring to the Phish guitarist’s soulful side project.
Carpenter is far from the first big-name artist with whom Kenneth Whalum has worked. The two-time Grammy-winning saxophonist and arranger from Memphis has credits with Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Mac Miller, Maroon 5, Ludacris, Robert Glasper, and Erykah Badu, including playing in the band for the latter’s acclaimed 2018 Tiny Desk Concert. He was also a member of D’Angelo‘s Black Messiah-era backing band, The Vanguard.
In addition to that resume as a sideman, Whalum has two alt-soul solo albums to his name and last year collaborated with Pastor Tim Timberlake and keyboardist Greg Cox on Moving Moments, Vol. 1, providing instrumentation for Timberlake’s spoken-word sermons. Since his last solo album, Broken Land 2, dropped in 2021, Whalum has followed it with a stream of singles, releasing one each year since the album.
Next month’s 12-date outing will mark the first full Trey Anastasio Band tour the passing of saxophonist James Casey two years ago. Casey joined TAB in 2012 and toured with the band for the next decade until revealing a colon cancer diagnosis, which he ultimately died of on August 28th, 2023 at the age of 40. Following Casey’s death, Anastasio toured with a stripped-down lineup billed as “Classic TAB,” featuring drummer Russ Lawton and keyboardist Ray Paczkowski, plus bassist Dezron Douglas, who replaced longtime Trey bassist Tony Markellis after his death in 2021.
Watch new Trey Anastasio Band saxophonist Kenneth Whalum perform with Sabrina Carpenter on Saturday Night Live. TAB will kick off its fall tour with two nights at Denver’s Mission Ballroom on November 14th and 15th. The tour will culminate with three sold-out shows at New York’s Beacon Theatre, celebrating five years since Trey’s Beacon Jams streaming series and the birth of The Divided Sky Foundation. Learn more about that run here and find tickets for the tour here or on Trey’s website. Carpenter will resume her Short n’ Sweet tour on October 23rd and 24th in Pittsburgh, followed by multi-night stands in New York City, Nashville, Toronto, and finally Los Angeles. Find tickets here.
Sabrina Carpenter — “Manchild” — Saturday Night Live
Sabrina Carpenter — “Nobody’s Son” — Saturday Night Live
