ARP + SNL: A piece of history revisted via an upcoming, much anticipated film and our ARP Pro Soloist!

From d’ARP

This has been a secret that I’ve been waiting to release, and now it’s here! Back in February I received an email from a representative from SONY Pictures asking if I knew where they could rent an ARP Pro Soloist for their upcoming film Saturday Night due to be released soon. The movie, originally called SNL 1975, is about the first Saturday Night Live episode, and how it all came together. They wanted an authentic instrument to use when they depicted the late, great Billy Preston playing none other than the ARP Pro Soloist  and singing “Nothing from Nothing”.

First, how cool is that? The first musical act on SNL featured an ARP and amazing ARP artist upfront and center!

Second, yes, we had a wonderful ARP Pro Soloist coming to us from California. It was being tuned-up by the amazingly talented Alsún Ní Chasaide of SyntheticDreamscapes  after a heavy-duty stint at NAMM during which people such as Stevie Wonder, Lamar Michell, Patrick Moraz and Dave Kerzner gave it a spin!

After some finagling, we had it sent to Georgia where the filming took place and to my astonishment, this particular instrument was about to gain even MORE infamy… none other than the Grammy Award winning Jon Batiste was portraying Billy Preston! Talk about one instrument taking on powerful vibes!

The film is scheduled for a premier on Oct 11. We can’t wait!!! Meanwhile, our second favorite Pro Soloist (our first is my dad’s, of course) will be out in the public again in the next year. We believe the magic that musicians bring to the instruments is contagious, so catch the vibe and stay tuned!

Read about the film on Vanity Fair, and check out the trailer below (ARP shows about 1:17 / 2:17) and the original video of Billy Preston on Vimeo.

Alvin Taylor with Billy Preston on first SNL, Oct 1975. from Richard Fox on Vimeo.