When the guitarist G.E. Smith hosted the Portraits series featuring Paul Shaffer and Louis Cato at Guild Hall in East Hampton Village last month, Mr. Cato had learned just two days earlier that “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” for which he serves as bandleader, had been canceled.
“Louis was pretty shook up,” Mr. Smith, an Amagansett resident who for a decade was the bandleader on “Saturday Night Live,” remembered last week. “Paul and I, who were both on TV shows and got the news at some point that we weren’t going to be on those shows anymore, were able to talk about it. He’s going to be fine — he’s so talented, one of the most talented people I’ve ever played with.”
Indeed, the audience was spellbound by Mr. Cato’s guitar, vocal, and songwriting prowess as he jammed with Mr. Smith, Mr. Shaffer, and a rhythm section of Andy Hess and Shawn Pelton.
With Labor Day and summer’s unofficial end looming, Mr. Smith will lead one more Portraits program on Saturday night, this one with a broader cross section of guests. Jimmy Vivino, a guitarist who for many years led the house band for Conan O’Brien’s late-night programs, will join Mr. Smith along with the Grammy-nominated vocalist and songwriter Joan Osborne, who performed songs by Bob Dylan at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett on Aug. 7, and the drummers Simon Kirke, of the seminal British rock-and-roll bands Free and Bad Company, and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
While not all of the artists are veterans of late-night television, their connections nonetheless run deep. G.E. Smith “has always been a hero,” Mr. Vivino said last week. “It was really spectacular walking into Rockefeller Center,” where “Saturday Night Live” is filmed before an audience and where as a youth he could visit the set of “The Tonight Show” thanks to a friend’s father being its associate producer. “It was a natural setting when I got there again many years later, going to that same studio that Johnny [Carson] was in at that time, and the same one [David] Letterman was in, and two floors up was ‘Saturday Night Live.’ ”
He has performed with Mr. Kirke, Mr. Vivino said, and “G.E. and I did a gig with Joan in Florida and had a ball with her. When Chad came on, I said ‘Chad and Simon!’ I’m going to have my back to the audience,” he joked.
“I’ve known G.E. for quite a few years,” Mr. Kirke, who lives in Montauk, said last week. He and his family emigrated to the United States in 1997. “I guess my experience preceded me, because I got a call soon afterward: Would I like to get together? We jammed and we got on very, very well. He was a huge fan of Free, my first band. We just clicked, and over the years we did several shows together. I just find him a wonderful player, a wonderful raconteur, and a great blues-ologist. He can play anything — jazz, rock, blues, the whole gamut. When he mentioned that Joan was going to be on the bill, that really piqued my interest. She’s got a wonderful voice, and I’m looking forward very much to playing alongside her.”
“Me and Jimmy are huge fans of Free, which of course is what Bad Company grew out of,” Mr. Smith confirmed. “Free was a really great rock-and-roll guitar band, but they had great songs — the ones that last in our memories are great songs.”
“I’ve known Jimmy since the late ‘80s,” Ms. Osborne said the other day. “He was one of the most prominent guitar slingers on the scene when I was just starting out, putting my own band together and starting to play clubs. He’s somebody we all respected and admired.”
Ms. Osborne’s album “Relish,” featuring the hits “One of Us” and “Right Hand Man,” was released 30 years ago. She recently re-recorded the album with three jazz musicians, Christian McBride, Mark Ribot, and Nate Smith, and it is due to be released late this year or early in 2026. “One of the things we are going to be doing” on Saturday, she said, “is a reworked version of ‘Man in Long Black Coat,’ ” by Mr. Dylan, “because that song was included on ‘Relish.’ ”
Songs from her “Dylanology,” an album of Mr. Dylan’s songs that was recorded live and issued in April, and her “Songs of Bob Dylan” album from 2017 may also be featured, she said. “Because this is with Jimmy and G.E., we’re going to be passing them back and forth. Probably some soul, and I’m sure we’ll do some of my songs people know me for, so a nice mix of things.”
“I’ve always had a love affair with Tamla/Motown and Stax,” Mr. Kirke said of the American record labels known for their rosters of legendary Black artists. “One of the great Stax duets was ‘Private Number’ with William Clay and Judy Bell. I suggested doing it with Joan. With Chad on drums — who I love, he’s one of the great drummers of all time — I think it’s going to be a fantastic evening.”
“I’ve never played with Simon Kirke before,” Ms. Osborne said. “It will be an interesting thing. I like the way this community of musicians out on the East End of Long Island at this time of year is so open to people dropping by,” she said. “It’s very loose, very fun. I think that’s going to be the vibe of the night, and I’m looking forward to that.”
“The song is the most important thing, having a conversation onstage,” Mr. Vivino observed. He and Mr. Smith are “not going to try to dazzle anybody with our chops. It’s not a guitar battle. We have four other people up there with us, so you get to see a conversation between the whole group. We don’t know what to expect, either — this is the maiden voyage of this congregation. You’re going to see a real jam. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The Portraits series is produced by Taylor Barton-Smith. “When I launched Portraits in 2015,” she told The Star, “my true intention was to bring artists from all arenas to explore their creative paths and share intimate stories and in-depth excavation on their craft.”
“With the grace of everyone from the Avett Brothers, Roger Waters, Trevor Hall, Paula Cole, Carter Burwell, Dawes, Sarah Jarosz, Richard and Teddy Thompson, Billy Squier, and more, we have heard how each artist secured their status of supreme connection and deliverance from the highest source of expertise,” she said. “I hope the community has appreciated G.E.’s stellar musicianship and hosting and that I have given immense pleasure to those who attended. I have learned everything I know from my fellow artists and am eternally grateful to those that challenge convention.”
Saturday’s program is sold out. Those who would like to be added to the standby list have been asked to send an email to [email protected] including their name, the name of the program, the number of tickets requested, and their phone number.
