The Golden Age of Late Night Came Alive at Myron’s
Jazz Vegas Orchestra: The Golden Age of Late Night · Myron’s at The Smith Center · September 29, 2026
There are nights at Myron’s that you know going in will be special. And then there are nights that surprise you. September 29th was both.
The Jazz Vegas Orchestra sold out the room for the third consecutive show at Myron’s, this time with a concept that nobody else in Las Vegas would have the nerve or the vision to attempt.
Performing the original scores from the Tonight Show Band, the music of Doc Severinsen and Johnny Carson, the big band jazz that defined American late night television for a generation. Not a tribute act. Not a recreation. The actual music, from the actual scores, performed by 19 of the finest jazz musicians in the American West.
It worked. It more than worked. It transported.
Curated by Gary Cordell, Brought to Life by the JVO
The Golden Age of Late Night was produced and curated by JOI Co-Founder Gary Cordell, who obtained the original Tonight Show Band scores for the occasion. For anyone who grew up watching Doc Severinsen and his band swing into commercial breaks while Johnny Carson straightened his tie and smirked at the camera, hearing those charts played live by a world-class big band in an intimate 240-seat room was something close to time travel.
The Jazz Vegas Orchestra plays this music the way it was meant to be played. Not as a novelty. Not as nostalgia bait. As jazz. As the real, living, swinging art form that Doc Severinsen spent his career proving it was, night after night, in front of millions of Americans who may not have known they were watching some of the finest big band music ever committed to television. The room felt it. Every note.
Nate Tannenbaum, Local Anchor And The Perfect Late Night Host
If the Jazz Vegas Orchestra was the band, Nathan Tannenbaum of Channel 8 News was Johnny.
Emceeing the evening with his signature blend of humor, sincerity, and impeccable timing, Nate brought the late night format to life in a way that made the whole concept click. He did not just introduce songs. He inhabited the role, guiding the audience through the evening with the kind of warmth and wit that made you forget for a moment that you weren't watching television in 1978.
It was a performance within a performance, and it was exactly right.
Clint Holmes and Naomi Mauro. Musical Guests Who Delivered
Every great JVO show at Myron’s has a moment that nobody saw coming. September 29th had two of them, and they arrived together.
Las Vegas entertainment legend Clint Holmes took the stage as a featured guest, performing solo before joining forces with vocalist Naomi Mauro for a duet that stopped the room. Holmes is one of the local favorites who has called Myron’s home since the very beginning and his presence on that stage felt entirely right for an evening built around the golden age of American entertainment.
Naomi Mauro, who Las Vegas audiences will recognize from her appearance at Jazz Underneath the Stars earlier this year, brought her voice to a room that was already fully alive and made it more so. Together, the two of them delivered one of the genuine highlight moments of the JOI season so far.
Pete Barbutti. A Tonight Show Legend On Stage at Myron's
If there was one moment that made the room understand exactly what the Golden Age of Late Night meant, it was the moment Pete Barbutti walked on stage.
Pete Barbutti has lived in Las Vegas since 1960. He is 91 years old, still performing, still sharp, and still one of the funniest people in any room he walks into. He's also, without question, a decorated Tonight Show veteran making 38 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson from 1971 through 1992, more than almost any comedian in the show’s history.
When Pete stepped onto the Myron’s stage, something shifted in the room. The talent on stage who have performed with some of the biggest names in entertainment were star-struck. The audience leaned forward. And Pete, being Pete, felt every bit of it and used it perfectly.
He shared stories from the Tonight Show. Real stories, from someone who was actually there, sitting across from Johnny Carson, performing on that bandstand for all of those years. The audience laughed. The audience got nostalgic. And for a few minutes, the golden age of late night television did not feel like history. It felt like today.
Pete Barbutti is a comedian and musician who has woven his musicianship into his comedy throughout his entire career and his presence on that stage was not a cameo, it was a connection. A living, breathing link between the music the Jazz Vegas Orchestra was playing and the era that music came from.
The Surprise of the Evening. The Myron Martin of Myron's
And then there was the moment nobody expected.
Myron Martin, President and CEO of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts and the man known as the “keeper of the vision” for the cultural complex, was in the room and on stage. The intimate 240-seat cabaret space that bears his name, the room he helped conceive and bring to life as part of the $470 million project he has been a part of since its very conception, was sold out for a JOI show that he was part of.
There is something quietly profound about that. Martin has said that The Smith Center touches the community more broadly and deeply than any other building in Nevada. On September 29th, in a sold-out room named in his honor, JOI proved exactly why that statement is true.
A Sold-Out Room and a Mission That Works
Every ticket sold at Myron’s goes directly toward the programs that make JOI what it is. Music education for 10,000 students. Donated instruments and lessons for students who could not otherwise afford them. The Saturday night jam sessions at Lucino’s Pizza where a shy teenager discovers for the first time that they can play.
Three sold-out shows at Myron’s. A growing monthly residency at Notoriety. A summer camp, and Jammin’ With JOI every Saturday. Nearly 10,000 Las Vegas students reached annually through world-class programs.
The Golden Age of Late Night was a great show. It was also a reminder that JOI is building something that will outlast any single performance.
Kenny Rampton, Gary Cordell, Donny Thompson, and the dedicated JOI board have created an organization that is approaching its 10th anniversary in March 2027 with more momentum than at any point in its history. The best is still ahead including a raffle to win tickets to see Wynton Marsalis.
What's Next For JOI:
Jazz Vegas Orchestra at Notoriety. First Wednesday of Every Month
The monthly Fremont Street residency continues. Next show Wednesday, November 4th. $25 tickets. The best big band value in Las Vegas.
Jazz Vegas Orchestra: A Musical Salute to Veterans
📅 Saturday, November 14 · 6:00 PM
📍 Starbright Theatre, Sun City Summerlin
Jazz Vegas Orchestra: The Nutcracker Suite
The final JVO show of the 2026 season at Myron’s. Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s iconic The Nutcracker Suite performed live with holiday classics and guest artists. The perfect way to close the year. Tickets on Sale now.
Support the Mission. JOI of Giving Fall Campaign
The JOI of Giving Fall Campaign is still open. For $25 per raffle ticket or five for $100, you have a chance to win a trip for two to Mesa, Arizona on February 27, 2027 for one of Wynton Marsalis’s final performances with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, including round-trip airfare, hotel, front-row seats, and a backstage meet and greet with Wynton Marsalis escorted by Kenny Rampton.
Every ticket is a tax-deductible donation. The campaign closes at the conclusion of the Veterans concert on November 14th. Buy your raffle tickets today.
About Jazz Outreach Initiative
Jazz Outreach Initiative is a Las Vegas nonprofit connecting the language of music to the language of life through education, outreach, and performances. Founded by Kenny Rampton and built by Kenny Rampton, Gary Cordell, Donny Thompson, and a dedicated board, JOI serves students, families, and communities across Southern Nevada. Platinum-rated by Candid/GuideStar, among the top 0.69% of nonprofits in the country.
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