‘Greatest gig in the world’: What it’s like to be Billy Joel’s saxophonist for 42 years

By Joshua Encinias

Rivera (Photo by Myrna Suarez)

He performed at John Lennon’s last public show in 1975. He recorded on Foreigner’s biggest records. He was the musical director for Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band, and this year, Mark Rivera celebrates 42 years as Billy Joel’s saxophone player — the Piano Man’s longest-tenured band member.

Not too shabby for a Puerto Rican-Italian kid from the Sunset Park. When his boss wrapped up his decade-plus residency at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, Rivera had special moments during the show to highlight his virtuosity and friendship with the Piano Man, notably taking center stage for his blistering solo on “Only the Good Die Young.” 

While Rivera is known for playing soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones for Joel, his musical arsenal also includes percussion, bass, flute, guitar and keyboards, to name a few. But it all started when his uncle, the superintendent of the Red Hook Houses, placed a saxophone in his hands: Rivera was 9 when Uncle Vinny noticed his nephew had perfect pitch. He didn’t hear it while Rivera was performing in a youth choir or anything like that, though. Young Rivera was singing along to songs to episodes of “The Three Stooges.”

Five years later, Jimi Hendrix blew Rivera’s 14-year-old mind when he saw him perform at Madison Square Garden in 1968. The multi-instrumentalist was already performing in Battle of the Bands at Brooklyn Catholic schools, but Hendrix flamed the musical spark into a roaring fire for the teenager.

“Of course, I went out of my mind,” he says. “I won’t deny it, I smoked some pot and watched Hendrix on this circular stage. It was a dream, and thought someday I want to play Madison Square Garden.”

Rivera, who chronicles his rock ‘n roll life in the  2023 book “Sideman: In Pursuit of the Next Gig,” first played the Garden with Foreigner in the early 1980s. Over the last decade, he played at every one of Billy Joel’s monthly MSG gigs. When Joel wrapped up his Garden residency on Thursday, July 25, it was a “bittersweet” moment for Rivera.

“The idea of it coming to an end, it’s sad,” he says.

Brooklyn Magazine spoke with Mark Rivera in the run-up to the final show. He tells us about growing up with members of the Capone family, shares his pre-show rituals and explains why Billy Joel is “the walking American Songbook.”

On growing up in Sunset Park
Sunset Park was a great melting pot. We had every ethnicity. Kids got along and we spent a lot of time in the streets playing stickball. Everybody got along because we had no choice. It was around the time they were busing kids from Red Hook, which at the time was a really bad neighborhood. My uncle Vinny, who first put the saxophone in my hand, was the superintendent of the Red Hook projects, so I had several Black friends. We just got along. We didn’t know like “Oh, he’s Black” or “He’s this or he’s that.” My friends across the street were Israeli and I would go to seders at their house. My background is Puerto Rican and Italian, so my father would not allow us to say anything bad about anyone, because he went through enough as he was a kid.

On the Capone family 
I grew up on 41st Street and the Capones were a prominent family. I grew up with three Capone brothers and we were thick as thieves. When their mother Rosalie Capone sold her house, it was like a sign, and people in the neighborhood started selling. A bunch of Asian families moved in. They would buy local grocery stores, and once they started selling dim sum and fish sauce, we knew the tides were turning. Time changes things completely.

On his early Brooklyn gigs
I played all these Battle of the Bands at the Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School. They had the best Battle of the Bands! We actually got to open for Mountain and we got to open up for The Spencer Davis Group because we won a Battle of the Bands. My first gig was in a bowling alley, and there were a bunch of clubs in Brooklyn all along Third Avenue. I went to High School of the Performing Arts and I branched out to clubs in Manhattan like Trax, JP’s, Elaine’s, Home, Max’s Kansas City and CBGB’s. It takes years to get your craft together so that you can be accepted in Manhattan, and all you have to do was screw up one night and they kick you back to where you came from.

On Jimi Hendrix
I was born in 1953, so by 1967, you had Hendrix’s “Are You Experienced,” and The Beatles put out “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Magical Mystery Tour.” I was 14 and very impressionable. And in 1968, I saw Jimi Hendrix at Madison Square Garden. Of course, I went out of my mind. I won’t deny it, I smoked some pot and watched Hendrix on this circular stage. It was a dream, and thought someday I want to play Madison Square Garden.

On his pre-show rituals
I say some minor little prayers. I’m not a religious guy, but I’m quite spiritual like that. I try to just remember how blessed I am. You breathe and you take a moment. It’s kind of like an athlete, you go through certain steps. But the most important thing is that I try to say a little prayer for gratitude. I also kiss the guys before a show, I kiss pretty much everybody.

On Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden — it’s the place everybody wants to perform. If I was a classical musician, I’d want to play Carnegie Hall, but as a rock and roller, The Garden is it. It’s Mecca. The first time I played it was with Foreigner in 1980/’81, and then with Billy, aside from playing The Garden, you’re playing them with the quintessential New Yorker. We’ve done amazing shows. We just played Coors Field for 46,000 people. We’ve played in Rome for 500,000 people, but there’s nothing like the intensity of the 20,000 people that come to The Garden to see Billy Joel. It’s like going to see the Yankees in their dynasty. There’s no other way to put it.

On the decade-plus residency
Playing The Garden with Billy is as good as it gets but seeing the residency come to an end is bittersweet. Billy just mentioned that we would be playing some local stadiums in the area, but nothing sounds like The Garden. Our soundman Brian Ruggles and our lighting designer Steve Cohen are the best in the field, and when we play The Garden, we joke and call it The Madison Square Dinner Theatre because we’ve got this thing dialed in like we’re playing for like, 300 or 400 people in the club. So the idea of it coming to an end… it’s sad.

From left: Tony Bennett, Billy Joel and Mark Rivera (Photo by Myrna Suarez)

On Billy Joel
People have told me that his songs are like a three-minute snapshot or a Polaroid of a time in people’s lives. And frankly, as a kid coming up, I didn’t own a Billy Joel record until I was up for the gig. I was like, “What’s the big deal?” I went and saw [Joel’s bassist] Doug Stegmeyer for the audition, may he rest in peace, and he gave me three cassettes. As I’m listening and learning the parts, I’m like, “Damn, he’s a brilliant tunesmith.” His melodies and lyrics catch you. Tony Bennett said Billy is the walking American Songbook. There are other great writers, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, but for me and millions of listeners, they don’t do the same thing. I’m slightly biased, but I will say this candidly: I have the greatest gig in the world. There’s no place I’d rather be. More importantly, Billy’s one of us. He cares. The most important thing that you could say is a guy that you work with cares about you.