Memorable wedding receptions are based on thought and planning.
That goes for the music that is played throughout the event.
Live music is a delicious ingredient, and it can be used in many unique ways to spice up a hospitality promotion, concert or special event.
Of swinging jazz big bands music, Old Hollywood and the Rat Pack….
From Santa Barbara to Temecula and Palm Springs, Old Hollywood vintage weddings are fun!
The nostalgia loving bride who wears a vintage wedding dress is probably the same bride who will like a location in the California wine country, overlooking the ocean in La Jolla, somewhere in Malibu, glorious Santa Barbara, Newport Beach or in retro-vintage Palm Springs.
Palm Springs is synonymous with Frank Sinatra, who used to arrive for all-night card games at a local Palm Springs area restaurant, Domenick’s, dressed in his pajamas and bathrobe. A sign outside of Sinatra’s estate read: Forget the dog. Beware of the Owner.
Palm Springs is a unique area, with a lot of architectural and show business history. Ferociously hot in the summer, and freezing in the winter after the sun goes down. I love the place! Our vintage jazz, swing and big band combos fit into the scenery perfectly. And by that I don’t just mean the Rat Pack songs but all of the romantic music of the 1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s and 1950’s. The Rat Pack’s heydey was actually in the 1950’s and 1960’s, in a time that Palm Springs architecture so gorgeously reflects.
Palm Springs is one of my favorite places in the world, and the perfect setting for an Old Hollywood Wedding.
Everything old is new again!
Old Hollywood themes are popular in California!
Vintage events are so simple to create!
Vintage-inspired plans, classic menus and food stations, vintage attire, California beach destinations and outdoor venues are all part of the fun.
Elegant food stations, aperitifs, canapes — they can be as simple as devilled eggs or a pate of chopped liver on Ritz crackers, or as opulent as blini, smoked salmon and caviar — carved chateaubriand with bearnaise sauce, Waldorf salad, salmon croquettes, cherries jubilee and champagne punch are timeless and fabulous!
Have your bartender mix Manhattans and Sidecars, and use old-fashioned flowers that look as if they came straight from a cutting garden.
California beach and resort destinations are very popular as the backdrop to a nostalgic theme. When you start with a really spectacular setting, it’s easy to have an event that’s the ultimate in nostalgia.
As vintage-themed settings go, there are lots of choices, in every price range.
Don’t overlook the possibility that your family — or a friend — may have a perfect backyard for your celebration!
Since vintage traditions are all about family, friends, love and romance, you may want to consider having your event on a Sunday afternoon or early evening as an alternative to the typical Saturday night scenario. The savings can be considerable, and people are often more relaxed and ready for a good party on a Sunday!
One good vintage wedding idea is to take a cue from John and Jacqueline Kennedy’s 1953 wedding and cut the wedding cake right at your sweetheart or wedding party table.
Meyer Davis and his Orchestra played that night under a canopy on the grounds of Hammersmith Farm. The Kennedy’s first dance song? “I Married An Angel.”
Holy Batman and Robin!
No, wait — that was 1966.
I cannot believe it, but 1959 was fifty years ago, the year that Bobby Darin recorded “Mack The Knife,” The Coasters sang “Poison Ivy” and novely songs, country music, rock & roll and and love songs hit the airwaves and converged in one incredible swan song to the Golden Era of American music, not long before the Beatles showed up and the British Invasion began.
Music had already changed quite a bit by the time the Beatles hit in 1963. In 1961, at the Peppermint Lounge in NYC, Joey Dee & The Starlighters introduced the New York Jet Set crowd to learn (ugh, it pains me to think about it) a new dance (and it goes like this)… The Twist.
But I digress.
Back to 1959. Pre-Beatles, pre-Joey Dee and Chubby Checker.
Paul Anka once told me that he started his own baby boom in 1959. Nine months after the release of “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” a whole lot of babies were born.
I believe it.
I was just starting high school that year, a tennis playing, big-band singing New York City girl in Connecticut.
I was memorizing lyrics like crazy! It wasn’t enough to know all the material from the Swing Era anymore, or early Elvis, jive, rockabilly and C&W-influenced swing like the music Bill Haley and the Comets had taken mainstream in 1954.
Or the songs from the mid-1950’s “crooner period.”
The hit songs of 1959 blasted out of radio stations all over America, one station to a town. They simply called it all “music” back then. The fragmenting of radio formats had not yet begun.
Bobby Darin! The Coasters! Paul Anka! Dion, Elvis and Della Reese!
Never again in the history of music would there be such a wild and wonderfully divergent batch of music on a Top 100 list as there was in 1959:
Paul Anka – (All Of A Sudden) My Heart Sings – 02-59 – ABC Paramount
Paul Anka – It’s Time To Cry – 12-59 – ABC Paramount
Paul Anka – Lonely Boy – 06-59 – ABC Paramount
Paul Anka – Put Your Head On My Shoulder – 09-59 – ABC Paramount
Annette – Tall Paul – 02-59 – Disneyland
Ray Anthony – Peter Gunn – 02-59 – Capitol
Frankie Avalon – Venus – 03-59 – Chancellor
Frankie Avalon – Bobby Sox To Stockings – 06-59 – Chancellor
Frankie Avalon – A Boy Without A Girl – 07-59 – Chancellor
Frankie Avalon – Just Ask Your Heart – 09-59 – Chancellor
Frankie Avalon – Why – 12-59 – Chancellor
Lavern Baker – I Cried A Tear – 02-59 – Atlantic
Chris Barber’s Jazz Band – Petite Fleur (Little Flower) – 02-59 – Laurie
The Bell Notes – I’ve Had It – 03-59 – Time
Brook Benton -It’s Just A Matter Of Time – 03-59 – Mercury
Brook Benton – Endlessly – 05-59 – Mercury
Brook Benton – So Many Ways – 11-59 – Mercury
The Browns – Scarlet Ribbons – 12-59 – RCA
The Browns – The Three Bells – 08-59 – RCA
Edward Byrnes & Connie Stevens – Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb) – 05-59 – Warner
Freddy Cannon – Tallahassee Lassie – 05-59 – Swan
Freddy Cannon – Way Down Yonder In New Orleans – 12-59 – Swan
Ray Charles – What’d I Say (Pt. 1) – 08-59 – Atlantic
The Chipmunks – Alvin’s Harmonica – 03-59 – Liberty
The Coasters – Charlie Brown – 02-59 – Atco
The Coasters – Along Came John – 06-59 – Atco
The Coasters – Poison Ivy – 09-59 – Atco
Dave ‘Baby’ Cortez – The Happy Organ – 04-59 – Clock
The Crests – 16 Candles – 01-59 – Coed
Bobby Darin – Dream Lover – 05-59 – Atco
Bobby Darin – Mack The Knife – 09-59 – Atco
Tommy Dee – Three Stars – 05-59 – Crest
Dion & The Belmonts – A Teenager In Love – 05-59 – Laurie
Martin Denny – Quiet Village – 05-59 – Liberty
Carl Dobkins Jr. – My Heart Is An Open Book – 07-59 – Decca
Fats Domino – I’m Ready – 05-59 – Liberty
Fats Domino – Be My Guest – 11-59 – Imperial
Fats Domino – I Want To Walk You Home – 08-59 – Imperial
The Drifters – There Goes My Baby – 07-59 – Atlantic
Duane Eddy – Forty Miles Of Bad Road – 07-59 – Jamie
Tommy Edwards – Please Mr. Sun – 03-59 – MGM
Paul Evans & The Curls – Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat – 11-59 – Guaranteed
The Everly Brothers – Take A Message To Mary – 05-59 – Cadence
The Everly Brothers – (‘Til) I Kissed You – 09-59 – Cadence
Fabian – Turn Me Loose – 04-59 – Chancellor
Fabian – Hound Dog Man – 12-59 – Chancellor
Fabian – Tiger – 07-59 – Chancellor
The Fiestas – So Fine – 06-59 – Old Town
Miss Toni Fisher – The Big Hurt – 12-59 – Signet
The Flamingos – I Only Have Eyes For You – 07-59 -End
The Fleetwoods – Come Softly To Me – 03-59 – Dolphin
The Fleetwoods – Mr. Blue – 09-59 – Dolton
Ernie Fields – In The Mood – 11-59 – Rendezvous
Frankie Ford – Sea Cruise – 04-59 – Ace
Connie Francis – Lipstick On Your Collar – 05-59 – MGM
Connie Francis – Frankie – 06-59 – MGM
Connie Francis – Among My Souvenirs – 12-59 – MGM
Frank Pourcel’s French Fiddles – Only You – 05-59 – Capitol
Wilbert Harrison – Kansas City – 05-59 – Fury
Homer & Jethro – The Battle Of Kookamonga – 10-59 – RCA
Johnny Horton – The Battle Of New Orleans – 05-59 – Columbia
The Impalas – Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home) – 04-59 – Cub
The Islanders – The Enchanted Sea – 11-59 – Mayflower
Stonewall Jackson – Waterloo – 07-59 – Columbia
Jan & Dean – Baby Talk – 09-59 – Dore
Johnny & The Hurricanes – Red River Rock – 09-59 – Warwick
The Kingston Trio – Tijuana Jail – 04-59 – Capitol
The Kingston Trio – M.T.A. – 07-59 – Capitol
Steve Lawrence – Pretty Blue Eyes – 12-59 – ABC Paramount
Kathy Linden – Goodbye, Jimmy, Goodbye – 05-59 – Felsted
Wink Martindale – Deck Of Cards – 10-59 – Dot
Johnny Mathis – Misty – 11-59 – Columbia
Mitch Miller – The Children’s Marching Song – 02-59 – Columbia
Guy Mitchell – Heartaches By The Number – 11-59 – Columbia
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir – Battle Hymn Of The Republic – 10-59 – Columbia
Ricky Nelson – Never Be Anyone Else But You – 03-59 – Imperial
Ricky Nelson – It’s Late – 03-59 – Imperial
Ricky Nelson – Just A Little Too Much – 07-59 – Imperial
Ricky Nelson – Sweeter Than You – 08-59 – Imperial
Sandy Nelson – Teen Beat – 09-59 – Original Sound
The Nutty Squirrels – Uh! Oh! Part 2 – 12-59 – Hanover
Reg Owen – Manhattan Spiritual – 01-59 – Palette
Bill Parsons – All American Boy – 01-59 – Fraternity
Phil Phillips With The Twilights – Sea Of Love – 08-59 – Mercury
The Platters – Enchanted – 05-59 – Mercury
Elvis Presley – A Fool Such As I – 04-59 – RCA
Elvis Presley – I Need Your Love Tonight – 04-59 – RCA
Elvis Presley – Big Hunk O’ Love – 07-59 – RCA
Elvis Presley – My Wish Came True – 08-59 – RCA
Lloyd Price – Stagger Lee – 01-59 – ABC Paramount
Lloyd Price – Personality – 06-59 – ABC Paramount
Lloyd Price – I’m Gonna Get Married – 08-59 – ABC Paramount
Della Reese – Don’t You Know – 10-59 – RCA
Marty Robbins – El Paso – 12-59 – Columbia
Ivo Robic – Morgen – 09-59 – Laurie
The Rock-A-Teens – Woo Hoo – 12-59 – Roulette 4192
Bobby Rydell – Kissin’ Time – 09-59 – Cameo
Bobby Rydell – We Got Love – 11-59 – Cameo
Santo & Johnny – Sleep Walk – 08-59 – Canadian American
Jack Scott – Goodbye Baby – 01-59 – Carlton
Neil Sedaka – Oh! Carol – 11-59 – RCA
Skip & Flip – It Was I – 08-59 – Brent
The Skyliners – Since I Don’t Have You – 04-59 – Calico
Cyril Stapleton – The Children’s Marching Song (Nick Nack Paddy Wack) – 02-59 – London
Dodie Stevens – Pink Shoe Laces – 03-59 – Crystalette
Travis & Bob – Tell Him No – 04-59 – Sandy
Sammy Turner – Lavender-Blue – 07-59 – Big Top
Conway Twitty – Danny Boy – 11-59 – MGM
Ritchie Valens – Donna – 01-59 – Del-Fi
Sarah Vaughan – Broken-Hearted Melody – 09-59 – Mercury
The Virtues – Guitar Boogie Shuffle – 04-59 – Hunt
Jerry Wallace – Primrose Lane – 10-59 – Challenge
Dinah Washington – What A Difference A Day Makes – 08-59 – Mercury
Thomas Wayne – Tragedy – 03-59 – Fernwood
Andy Williams – Hawaiian Wedding Song – 02-59 – Cadence
Andy Williams – Lonely Street – 10-59 – Cadence
Jackie Wilson – Lonely Teardrops – 01-59 – Brunswick
Recently, one of our bands played for the ceremony, cocktails and reception at a very well-planned wedding — envisioned and orchestrated in great detail by the groom.
I can’t take any credit for its success, except for conceptualizing and orchestrating the strategic plan for a killer continuous music presentation of the bride and groom’s favorite vintage music, played in three locations by various people who just happen to be the finest musicians in the world.
The bride and groom barely stopped to eat, although everything that was served at the many food stations in the triple ballroom was absolutely extraordinary. They were too busy dancing.
“Look for us on the dance floor,” they had told the guests — and they meant it!
Resorts like this one usually demand that events be overseen by a real, live, certified professional wedding coordinator — which the groom is not.
“No dice,” said the groom. “I’m planning my own wedding, and that’s that.”
Clipboard in hand, he had walked the site with me on a sunny afternoon some weeks before the wedding.
“I’d like to put the harpist over there,” I had told him, pointing to a distant spot on the lawn below us where the curvature of the property aligned perfectly with broad blue-green waves of surf-dotted ocean. “We’ll need a power drop so she can be amplified.”
“Done,” he said.
“And the jazz trio over there, just inside the walkway,” I suggested.
“Perfect,” he said. “That’s just where I had them already.”
In the ballroom, we were met by the catering manager, who helped us measure the area where we would put the stage and helped me decide how to best utilize the space.
“Perfect,” said the groom.
Soon, I had received a floor plan, seating chart, timeline, song list and detailed instructions.
The big day arrived, and the weather was crystal clear, with a gorgeous bride and a handsome — and totally relaxed — groom.
As the processional began, the harpist played the bride’s selections — “It Had To Be You” and “For Me and My Gal” — on her antique Aeolian harp with a gold crown finial.
The lovely vintage wedding ceremony music wafted up the lawn, past the guests and the jazz trio waiting for their arrival at the cocktail area.
In the ballroom, the stage was perfectly configured to comfortably accommodate twelve superb musicians.
Following the cocktail hour, the guests entered the ballroom to a vintage medley that included one of the groom’s favorites, “On The Sunny Side Of The Street.”
Other songs on the list included:
Just In Time
Time After Time
As Time Goes By
Soon
I’ve Got A Crush On You
While We’re Young
Our Love Is Here To Stay
Isn’t It Romantic
Where Or When
Skylark
The couple particularly liked songs that dealt with time and the passing of time. Accomplished ballroom dancers, they wowed the crowd with their foxtrot steps and even waltzed together several times during the evening.
Because they were having such a good time, everyone else had a good time, too.
Great wedding planning and a great band really do make a difference!
Elegant Style on Any Budget…Weddings With Flair…
Here in California, many folks are looking to the past in planning low-keyed events with warmth, as simple as an afternoon in a garden.
The popularity of vintage music for these events may mean that everything old really is new again!
And less is more.
The important aspects of a great celebration, the same ones that were in favor “back in the day,” are popular again.
Back then, people rented a hall, hired a band and served finger food, fruit or champagne punch and iced petit fours to their close friends and family.
Simple flowers, family scrapbooks, drawings and pictures set out on display and live music are all lovely old-fashioned elements of style.
Take plenty of black and white pictures!
Many California brides opt for a specacular outdoor setting for their ceremony, then move indoors for the reception — or not!
In a Malibu garden overlooking the clouds above the Pacific Ocean, on a beach in Santa Barbara or La Jolla, at a winery in Temecula or on the grounds of a vintage Pasadena or Palm Springs estate, lovely outdoor weddings often utilize the elegant element of live music.
It’s music from the movies, jazz, swing, big band, Sinatra and the irresistable standards of the Great American Song Book.
This is happy, romantic music that transcends generations and cultures, puts everyone in a wonderful mood and sets the scene for great wedding pictures!
Years later, those pictures will conjure up memories of emotions, and so will hearing a snippet of the music that was played that day or night.
(But probably not what the food tasted like.)
Food is nice. We like food.
Wine and martinis are nice, too.
But the best memories of all come from music. And the Great American Songbook’s timeless appeal will still be around when your grandchildren are looking at your wedding pictures.
That’s why we call this music “standards.”
How many musicians does it take to play great jazz, swing and big band music?
As Jimmy Durante used to say, “everybody wants to get into the act.”
But that doesn’t make them good.
Experience, skill …and musical taste… mean a lot.
Our trios, quartets and bands play “the good stuff,” the vintage music of the jazz age, WWII big band, glorious Old Hollywood retro and deco, ballroom, standards and elegant jazz along with hard-driving R&B, Motown, vintage “doo-wop” oldies, grooving rock, funk and soul and classic R&B. There’s plenty of music from old Fred Astaire movies and the musical extravaganzas of the 1930’s, 1940’s and 1950’s along with Broadway show tunes, hip blues and country classics.
And we get rave reviews in the press for all of the above!
The score of “South Pacific” and The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” in the same set? It’s child’s play for us.
Nobody is reading from a “fake book” or imitating Michael Buble imitating Frank Sinatra or Bobby Darin.
Just a few good people, an enormous repertoire…and a lot of talent.
We know what to play, and when to play it.
If you want “big,” we can give you big with the best of them.
It’s just not always necessary.
We enjoy the challenge of playing music not everyone else plays, and are unusually adept at performing the big band repertoire with a small group. It’s a trick I learned from Frank Sinatra.
Because he could hear every bad note a musician played from across the room or around the corner and had very high standards, Sinatra used only the very best musicans in Los Angeles, which really means the best musicians in the world. And the smaller the performance group was, the better the musicians had to be.
That’s what we do.
I’ve been collecting handknitted sweaters, velvet evening coats and unique musicians for years. I don’t need a lot of them, and the best will always do.
We’re lean, mean and mobile, and you can dance to everything we play.
Or not.
It’s fun to simply sit and listen to our repertoire, which is seemingly endless.
We take requests directly from the dance floor. We do it all the time, because we can.
At a recent upscale elegant anniversary party in Palm Springs, someone asked us to play “So Rare,” an obscure old chestnut from the swing era.
We knew it, and played it immediately. It’s a good thing we didn’t need to rely on a “fake book,” because that’s not a song that would be found in a book anywhere anymore.
And then we swung into Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman,” followed by “I Will Survive.”
We don’t like to stop for more than a second or two between songs, if that.
At another recent wedding in Temecula, we worked primarily from a list of both family’s favorite songs. They were great music lovers and knew exactly what they wanted: lots of partying and dancing.
As soon as we finished the first dance, father/daughter dance and mother/son dance – and the bride’s parents top request, “Get Here,” songs like “Shout” and James Brown’s “I Feel Good” launched a dance floor rush long before dinner service had ended.
Sometimes I feel like we’re putting on a rock concert!
Our members have played on vintage soul, funk, rock and disco albums with Gloria Gaynor, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, The Temptations, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Beck, Justin Timberlake, Paul McCartney and so many more.
We play, we sing.
And none of us are imitating Michael Buble imitating Frank Sinatra or Bobby Darin.
The esteemed jazz critic Don Heckman calls the stuff we play “irresistable music.”
It’s intelligent, sophisticated, charming and exciting music, familiar and well-loved and also from a very deep place in a time when live music was generally better than it is today. We enjoy keeping the tradition alive.
Most of all, it’s not about us. It’s tailored to fit the mood and the moment, then take the audience, guests, bride and groom, family and friends on a fabulous journey.
We call it “the good stuff.”
Our small combo virtuoso ensembles are living proof that having a bunch of superfluous musicians onstage doesn’t sound as good as a tight handful of the world’s best.
Sometimes, less really is more.
…and the food on the road’s not bad….
From Palm Springs and San Diego to Phoenix, Tucson, Scottsdale, Dallas and Palm Beach, we enjoy entertaining people who appreciate good music.
We’re constantly expanding our horizons …and our song list!
Recent additions include:
Beyond The Blue Horizon
Dancing Queen
Fernando
I Walk The Line
Maybe I’m Amazed
One Fine Day
Only The Lonely
Pretty Woman
Shangri La
Take A Chance On Me
Thank You For The Music
Time In A Bottle
Why Don’t You Do Right
You’re The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me
From ABBA to Jim Croce, Carol King, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, The Beatles and….Peggy Lee!
OK, so we’re not exactly normal. But we never promised to be.
The ABBA tunes were suggested by my husband, which is proof that as much as I think I can read minds, I probably can’t.
Esteemed jazz critic Don Heckman had this to say yesterday in The International Review Of Music:
Live: Judy Chamberlain and Bill Cunliffe
January 11, 2009
By Don Heckman
The International Review of Music
Judy Chamberlain is a singer who’s always a pleasure to hear. In part, because her astonishing repertoire makes every performance a fascinating journey through a century of song. But even more so because she brings such care, authenticity and musicality to everything she touches.
Her appearance at Spazio in Sherman Oaks Saturday night was further enhanced by the presence of a sterling back up ensemble – pianist Bill Cunliffe, bassist Tony Dumas and drummer Devin Kelly. Despite the fact that Chamberlain was, as always, utterly spontaneous about her choice of songs, the trio – guided by Cunliffe’s deep understanding of the subtleties of vocal accompaniment – found the right framework for every tune.
Which was a considerable accomplishment, since the program ranged in all directions: classics such as “Summertime,” “Lover” and “September Song” (done with its scene-setting verse); the very different jazz-oriented grooves of “Why Don’t You Do Right?” and “Night in Tunisia”; off-beat items such as Don McLean’s “And I Love You So” and Quincy Jones’ “Who Needs Forever?” Chamberlain’s interpretations combined an empathic respect for lyrics and story telling reminiscent of Mabel Mercer and Peggy Lee with her own conversational approach to phrasing and occasional twists of melodic paraphrase. She also made it clear, from the first number, that the evening’s framework – with Cunliffe present as a guest artist – would be a jazz setting. Solo spots were open for the instrumentalists in virtually every tune……
Sitting through two sets overflowing with irresistible songs…..it’s rooms such as these – with the vital presence of performers such as Chamberlain and Cunliffe – that are the in-the-trenches areas where jazz lives and thrives, even in today’s uncertain economy.
Thank you all, for the ideas and the inspiration.
Thank you for the music.