Jimmy Kimmel honors his friend Cleto Escobedo after the band leader’s death

Jimmy Kimmel He broke down in tears as he honored his late friend and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Band leader Cleto Escobedo III during Tuesday night’s show, just hours after his shocking death was announced.

Check out the heartfelt tribute — late night TV host I remembered Cleto Not only as an impressive musician who has been a staple of the show for over two decades, but as one of his closest friends.

Jimmy remembers meeting Cleto and spontaneously clicking with him after his parents moved their family from Brooklyn, New York to Las Vegas, Nevada when he was a child. He said they were like brothers, essentially inseparable – and claimed he once slept at Cleto’s house “33 nights in a row”.

Cleto has been the leader of Cleto and the Cletones for nearly 23 years, although he has been quietly absent from the show in recent months after falling ill. mother, Cleto Escobedo IIa member of the band, plays tenor and alto saxophone.

Jimmy said Cleto’s father influenced him to become a musician, after he gave up his career to raise his family.

He raved… “I’ve often said the best thing about doing this show is getting the chance to let Cleto Senior pick up where he left off in 1966 and become a musician again with his son.”

The late musician once said he chose an instrument because of his father, and praised him for the sacrifices he made as a father, noting in the 2021 film… “I play the sax because he played the sax when I was a kid… When I started going to school, he stopped playing just so he could come home with me and got a job as a waiter at the Tsar’s Palace and worked there for 30 years.”

Cleito’s mother SylviaHe was in the audience during the 20-minute monologue.

Jamie announced the death of his talented friend on Instagram on Tuesday. Although the show is still on, he told the audience that the broadcast on Wednesday and Thursday will be cancelled.

It is not clear how Cleito died.

He was 59 years old.