The band plays a wide variety of American popular music, 1900-l961, with unrelenting rhythm, high spirits, good taste, and pleasure in making the audience respond. We are perform at parties, weddings, dances, receptions and concerts, in many different band formats and sizes. We customize our program to fit the occasion, start off softly, experiment to find out what the guests respond to, and solicit requests. Whatever the mix of music types and genres you request, we play in the appropriate styles and tempos, at reasonable sound volume levels.
You may select a particular style as the main fare--Big Band Swing, Swing jazz, Society two-beat, Ballroom dancing, Easy listening, Standards, Lounge; add a combination of special categories--e.g. Jewish, Italian, classic 50's Rock 'n' Roll, Sinatra, Gershwin, Dixieland; or leave it up to us, in which case we mix the styles, tempos and dance types up for maximum variety and audience response.
The musicians used for the different formats and specialized styles are not necessarily the same, although most of our colleagues play in several of the bands. Most musicians specialize in certain kinds of music, while some read arrangements much better than others. Therefore, you must assume that you need to choose which format, and which main tune categories you want, before we can assign our colleagues, so we can send you the right musicians for your event.
Piano (prefer a real piano for the traditional sound, but we do have an excellant electric piano, when a real piano is not available, if space is at a premium, or if a lot of blues or modern rhythm tunes are to be played)
Bass (The upright bass--or "electric upright"--is preferred for the traditional sound, but electric bass is preferred if a lot of modern rhythm music is to be included, or if the band space is small.)
Trumpet, Trombone (The classic "big band" sound features the brass, but even for traditional dance and dinner music, the harmony of brass and reeds adds a quantum leap in the basic pleasure provided by the music)
Guitar (Three different sounds: 1.the rhythm of the accoustic guitar as heard on the Billie Holiday-Teddy Wilson, Fats Waller and other classic swing records; 2. the amplified jazz sound of Charlie Christian and the Benny Goodman Sextet; 3. the electric sound of post 1950s blues and pop music, required for the "oldies" repertoire, except 50s rock'n'roll)
Male Vocalist
Female Vocalist (At wedding receptions, since the rest of the band is playing, it is very convenient to have her available as contact between the coordinator and the band.)
Master of Ceremonies (Usually our lead sax player acts as MC, but sometimes more is needed...)
The variety of possible instrument combinations is endless. Tell us about your event, and we will help you select the format that is most effective for the occasion. The following are the most popular:
Trios:
Some of our colleagues play more than one instrument, and if we have sufficient notice to sign up the required musicians, a banjo, tuba, clarinet trio might play for cocktails or to welcome guests as they come in, then switch to combo instruments, perhaps with more musicians, for dinner and dancing.
For occasions when an even larger band is appropriate:
Revised 11/1/08. Copyright 2008 by David W. Littlefield