“Let’s show them what a great band I’ve hired,” said the mother of the bride a week before the wedding.
I want you to come out of the box with a BIG sound!
We did. Before dinner.
Talk about packing the dance floor…this one was levitating five feet off the ground. Did these people want to dance? Hell, yes…and it was my call to make that happen even though the salads were barely down at place settings.
Every wedding…every event…has a life of its own.
As an Entertainment Director who must be sensitive to every nuance, every minute mood shift…I have to be sure my bands play appropriate music for that mood. And moods can change from one split second to the next.
Fortunately, I have very flexible bands and musicians. They are accustomed to changing tempos in the middle of a song, changing the song in the middle of the song and all manner of hilarious stunts I’ve pulled on them over the years.
Other musicians — the ones who aren’t talented enough to play in our bands — ask them: How can you work for that crazy woman?
At least they’re never bored!
Bottom line: we move faster, and with more skill than a DJ.
The wedding reception, a magnificent affair of abundant proportion and beauty — which followed a very personalized, romantic ceremony and lively cocktail hour, both with lots of live music — was just getting under way. In an unusual move for pre-dinner entertainment, my band was playing dance music. Wild dance music, I might add.
It was way too early to be doing such a thing — before the entrees had even been served — but many of the guests had traveled internationally, some had already been at the location for three days being feted, primped and pampered nonstop. They probably hadn’t slept much in nearly a week. The ceremony had been intense and the speeches…..well, let’s just say that they were ready to PARTY.
“Now look what you’ve done,” said the wedding coordinator, pointing to the dance floor. Every single person in the room was crowded onto that dance floor. My wailing horn and rhythm sections were tearing it up on pulsating renditions of “Shout” and “Stand By Me” and nobody was showing any sign of wanting to go back to their tables to consume the entrees, which were starting to arrive.
Dallas, Texas wedding bands, jazz bands, swing bands….in a town near you…
Modern vintage jazz, traditional and western swing, retro-glam live music for couture weddings and events in California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and the USA
JUDY CHAMBERLAIN
MODERN VINTAGE MUSIC
Beverly Hills, CA
714 319-9242
Dallas, TX
817 251-4809
All the cool tunes of the Twentieth Century!
“Organic, eclectic…spontaneous! Jazz singer Judy Chamberlain solidly affirms the music’s far-reaching, continuing vitality.” Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times
“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.” The International Review of Music
Singer/bandleader Judy Chamberlain specializes in live music for celebrity weddings and events in California, Arizona, Texas and beyond. She can be reached at 714 319-9242
From soul and funk to Motown, jazz, swing, rock & roll and big band sounds, there’s nothing like live music. Live music is a magical thing.
It’s best played with feeling.
If you’re hiring a live band for a wedding or special event, you may want to keep in mind that live bands really are different from DJ’s. DJ’s can push buttons, and they can keep a big stream of loud, wild music going on for hours. Your guests will probably leave, of course.
If you’ve hired a really great band, let them be a great band!
Don’t run over to the bandstand while they’re playing dinner music and scream “hit it” the second the busboys start clearing the entree plates.
Let them read the room, manage the flow and pacing of keeping your guests alert, happy and having a good time.
Do, by all means, give the band a list of songs you like.
And then allow them to use their skill and knowledge to create some magic for you.
You can always listen to a steady stream of your favorite music on an iPod. In the car. At the beach. At home.
Thinking of having live music for your wedding or event?
A jazz wedding, perhaps…or a vintage “Mad Men” party with Mid-Century overtones of Audrey Hepburn, Gene Kelly, James Bond and cinema noir movies…Camelot, rock & roll and 1950’s Broadway musicals?
Good for you!
Mid-Century is the BEST! It’s perfect generation-spanning music for weddings and events. It’s from that amazing time when swing, jazz, blues crossed over into pop, rockabilly and good old fashioned rock & roll and includes the music of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Peggy Lee and Patti Page… and so much more.
Camelot…the 1950’s and 1960’s. This amazing music is at the very heart of what people of all ages and cultures relate to, are moved by and will remember hearing at your wedding or event for generations to come…even if they’ve never heard some of the songs before.
Why not have a bonanza of really TERRIFIC live music for your event, not just the same old songs you’ve heard a thousand times.
(Hopefully, by now, you’re as sick of “Butterfly Kisses” and “Celebration” as we are.)
Optimizing the magic of live music played well and with a lot of variety…can help you have an event that your… Read the full story »
We also love to eat, so finding fabulous places to eat in unlikely locales is always a fun adventure. And find them we do!
Who would ever have guessed, for instance, guess that one of the best New England lobster roll sandwiches in America was on the menu at a truck stop in Quartzite, AZ — in the middle of the Mojave desert!
People who hire a great live band for a concert, hospitality industry promotion, corporate event, wedding or party will usually remember the music long afer the food is forgotten.
Musicians, though…we remember the food we find on great road trips!
Singer/bandleader Judy Chamberlain specializes in live music for celebrity weddings and events in California, Arizona, Texas and beyond. She can be reached at 714 319-9242
If you’re looking for authentically glamorous, meaningful music for your Old Hollywood wedding, costumes and imitations aren’t nearly as much fun as what would have been happening back in the days when it was really happening.
Forget zoot suits and tribute bands…live music for weddings in the 1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s and 1950’s was created in the moment by musicians who knew the difference beteween a tango and a rhumba. They were the real deal.
You can actually have that “real deal” kind of live music for your wedding; you just have to know where to look.
Retro, swing, rockabilly and good old fashioned Twentieth Century music that touches the hearts and souls of all who hear it…is actually available. We call it “the good stuff.”
It’s the best music in the world, and you can have it at your wedding!
Singer/bandleader Judy Chamberlain specializes in live music for celebrity weddings and events in California, Arizona, Texas and beyond. She can be reached at 714 319-9242
Here’s an interesting fact: the rock & roll, R&B, Motown, soul, funk and groove hits of the 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s were liberally peppered with the solo and improvisational work of jazz musicians.
That’s jazz flautist/saxaphonist Bud Shank, for instance (recording under a pseudonym) on the amazing 33-second flute solo on “California Dreamin’,” which was improvised in a studio in 1965. My dear friend Papa John Phillips and his producer, Lou Adler, often used jazz musicians as musical metaphors on their masterfully produced Mamas and the Papas’ albums.
Shank also performed the flute solo on the Association’s 1967 hit, “Windy,” and appeared on other popular tunes recorded by the likes Joni Mitchell and Boz Scaggs.
So do you want to hire a jazz band to play wedding music at your wedding? And dance music for your wedding reception?
Of course you do.
Admittedly, nobody should trust the music for one of the most important days/nights of their life to a bunch of young jazzers reading from “fake books.” Unfortunately, that’s a lot of what’s out there advertising itself to play the music for your once-in-a-lifetime wedding.
Incorporating live music into the fabric of an event is a delicate and delicious task.
Live music is a beautiful thing. Because it isn’t “canned,” it can move from moment to moment to express joy, sorrow, romance, love, pathos and excitement. It’s about memories, old and newly created.
Destination weddings, grand or intimate weddings, glamorous or simple, big or small…mean gathering people together who may not have seen each other in a long time. Sometimes, it is the last time an entire family will be together on such a happy occasion, with three or four generations in attendance.
These are beautiful occasions, and they deserve all the talent, knowledge and intelligence that personalized live music can bring to the party…wherever that party may be.
Singer/bandleader Judy Chamberlain specializes in live music for celebrity weddings and events in California, Arizona, Texas and beyond. She can be reached at 714 319-9242
More and more, party planners and corporate party committees are re- discovering the beauty of live music, and realizing that it doesn’t take an enormous band to play wonderful standards for people who apprecaite good music.
Thanks to the ever fabulous recordings of Frank Sinatra, Bette Midler, Bobby Darin, Michael Buble and others, the standards have not been forgotten.
Small combo bands, making music the old-fashioned way…and creating a panoply of emotions that take you on a trip …inside yourself.
It’s a beautiful thing.
Singer/bandleader Judy Chamberlain specializes in live music for celebrity weddings and events in California, Arizona, Texas and beyond. She can be reached at 714 319-9242
Jazz Singer Vocalist Bandleader Orchestra Swing Band Musicians Duos Trios Quartets Weddings Receptions Ceremony Music Private Parties Corporate Events Cole Porter George Gershwin Duke Ellington Richard Rodgers Lorenz Hart Frank Sinatra Broadway Old Hollywood Roaring ’20’s West Coast Jazz Great American Songbook Vintage Saloon Songs Hotels Restaurants Clubs Dallas Ft. Worth Los Angeles Malibu Santa Barbara Palm Springs La Jolla USA
972 261-8025