Orchestra

The World’s Most Dangerous Band

From: New York
Since: 1982–present
Releases: 2

About

Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band is an American musical ensemble led by Paul Shaffer. It was David Letterman's house band for 33 years.

The band formed in 1982 to serve as house band for NBC's Late Night with David Letterman. When Letterman moved to CBS and began hosting the Late Show with David Letterman in 1993, the band added a horn section and second guitarist, renaming itself (due to an intellectual property dispute with NBC) the CBS Orchestra, a name that lasted until Letterman left the Late Show in 2015. After a two-year hiatus, in 2017, the band was revived by Shaffer using its original name and released an album titled Paul Shaffer & The World's Most Dangerous Band, followed by a tour.

From Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Members

Felicia Collins now
Frank Greene now
Aaron Heick now
Tom “Bones” Malone now
Hiram Bullock 1982–1984 · former electric guitar
Steve Jordan 1982–1986 · former
Will Lee 1982–1993 · former
Paul Shaffer 1982–1993 · former
Sid McGinnis 1984–1993 · former electric guitar
Anton Fig 1986–1993 · former drums (drum set), percussion

Discography

Albums 2

Links

Reference

Also known as

CBS Orchestra

Identifiers

MusicBrainz: 067dadd8-4a97-4331-b322-81e0912059ea

Data from MusicBrainz, saved 7 Nov 2026. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, covers from the Cover Art Archive and Apple Music.