Jimmy Kimmel and saxophonist Cleto Escobedo were friends growing up in Las Vegas and had known each other since they were nine. When Kimmel got his own talk show in 2003, he immediately recruited his friend to be the bandleader for his house band.
"The fact that we got to work together every day was a dream none of us thought would come true," Kimmel writes on Instagram.
Escobedo got his own record deal in the early 1990s through a spot in Paula Abdul's band and he also toured with stars such as Luis Miguel and Marc Anthony.
