How many times have we wanted to express an emotion or feeling but were at a loss for words?
Music reaches the deepest places in our hearts.
Vintage music, especially, can evoke a childhood memories and a simpler and better time.
Corporate event entertainment is sometimes all about glitzy tribute bands and noisy floor shows that make you wish you’d brought your ear plugs.
It can also be about really entertaining people…giving people themselves as a gift.
It’s a lovely formula for throwing a party that’s really a party!
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
Frank Sinatra, the ultimate entertainer who turned large amphitheaters into intimate settings, would not be amused by today’s trend toward viral media. YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, eek! Handy for looking things up, but a royal pain in the ass when it comes to handcrafted live music.
“I’m not sure if I want you to play the Michael Buble version or the Sinatra version,” a client will say — and off we go on an internet surfing safari to find “just the right version.”
So now YouTube is our music director.
Nelson Riddle wouldn’t have liked this either.
The whole beauty of what Dean Martin, Frank Snatra and the rest of the Rat pack did was based on pure spontaneity. One merely has to watch a few of Dean Martin Show re-runs to figure that out.
Dean liked spontaneity so much that he refused to rehearse, preferring to show up in time for the taping and be surprised himself at the antics of his guest stars.
That was back in the days when people who entertained other people actually had some talent.
A group of composers were sitting around planning a tribute to one of their peers.
“Call Judy Chamberlain,” someone said. “She’s the only one who sings the songs right.”
Words…and music, the way the composers wrote them. Swinging jazz.
These things do not often go hand in hand.
But they should.
Miles Davis could not have recorded his groundbraking albums in the 1960’s if he hadn’t known where the music came from and who wrote it and why.
Louis Armstrong was a master of authenticity. So were Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerals, Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Fred Astaire.
Many were dancers, and could sing tricky phrases filled with emotion while never missing even the hair of the a click of a beat within the meter. They were vitrual “time” machines.
It’s called “swinging.”
Real bands play music you can dance to. That doesn’t mean cardboard-rigid phrasing, which is what we hear with a lot of today’s big bands. Oh, the bands are playing nicely enough. But they are READING from a book on a music stand in front of them! Count Basie and Duke Ellington they ain’t. Most of them just don’t swing.
Authenticity. Staying true to the words and melody that the composers wrote. Swinging like mad,… Read the full story »
Vintage music is a glamorous, stylish backdrop for sophisticated weddings and events.
Especially when it’s updated, delicious modern vintage LIVE music, played with originality and improvisational showmanship by a live band that specializes in weddings and events …and plays an enormous repertoire taht spans every style and decade of vintage music.
Why vintage?
Because almost all music worth playing — for a great LIVE band, that is — is vintage now.
Retro, contemporary, hip and modern, vintage music transcends cultures and generations.
What exactly is vintage music?
Basically, it’s the timeless “pop” music that was written during the Twentieth Century.
Vintage styles include dixieland, ragtime, Roaring Twenties, Deco, ballroom, early and big band swing, mid-century moderne, Sinatra Rat Pack, rock & roll, doo-wop, Motown, R&B, classic country and the Golden Age of Hollywood, including Old Hollywood and “contemporary” Hollywood. Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, James Bond, Cole Porter, Broadway and the Beach Boys. The Eagles, Aretha Franklin, Nat King Cole…it’s all in there. And much, much more…..
It’s music you can REALLY dance to. Words and feelings you can understand.
I love it when people gather around the stage and call out requests.
Even people who don’t speak English know the words to “Fly Me To The Moon.”… Read the full story »
At the high end of sophistication, nobody wants to have their conversation drowned out by a band that thinks it’s the main event…at a rock concert! Live wedding entertainment should mean a live band…too often anymore, the term is being used to connote that somebody hired a DJ!
And while that’s better than an ipod, because somebody is actually giving some thought to the music while it’s happening, there is nothing more musical than a live band.
It’s the folly of an empty ballroom, in which the guests are trying to make themselves very small by DISAPPEARING. They’re hiding on the patio or in the hallway outside the ballroom…calling the concierge to bring them EARPLUGS. The band is playing dance music, but nobody’s dancing. What could these people be thinking?
This is not entertainment! It’s ego. Even during dinner, some of these musicians are narcissistic enough to get carried away. From start to finish, a live band should never be so loud that guests at a wedding cannot talk…or hear themselves think.
That doesn’t mean the music should disappear, either. Live music with what we call “presence” is dependent upon excellent sound, and most wedding bands and DJ’s… Read the full story »
The Guests Danced Before They Sat Down For Dinner!
I recently had a terrific time collaborating on a first dance with a dance instructor and a lovely couple whose wedding took place in late December in Arizona. There wasn’t a lot of time for dance lessons, but when the dancers are fast learners it makes things easier. We texted, e-mailed, sent carrier pidgeons back and forth and I timed the timed the sequence with the dance instructor over the phone, merging two distinct tempos.
Some weddings have a life of their own; this one was on fire! The bride and groom joined guests on the dance floor were on the dance floor seconds after they were announced — to the stirring strains of the Air Force Theme Song — dancing to “Cheek To Cheek” long before it was time for their official first dance.
Now THAT’s a wedding!
And it never slowed down from there.
Filled with heart and soul, lots of personality and and love, the lovely winter wedding was a thriller that united two very special families on an amazing night in a ballroom envisioned and designed by the father of the bride.
But being something of an “original,” the standards we play are not at all in the “cover band” category.
To us, happiness is no longer having to apologize for not being a “Top 40” band. Evidently, a lot of people don’t want to hear that music anymore from a live band.
So we are thrilled when our clients say things like:
“I don’t want to be like other brides.”
“Please don’t play the same songs everyone plays at weddings.”
“DO NOT play that awful 1980’s crap.”
“If we hear ‘Celebrate’ one more time at a wedding, we’re going to SCREAM.”
“We don’t care as much about dancing as we do having an elegant party with great food and good conversation.”
“We just want our guests to have a good time.”
“We want our wedding music to reflect our personalities.”
“Help! We have no idea what we want…but we know we want it to be good.”
“We think music can carry the day.”
“Please make everything you play really your own.”
“We hired your swing band because it’s NOT a cover band.”
Clearly, something is changing out there.
People who have the taste level and desire to utilize live music for their wedding, special event… Read the full story »
We’re saving the planet, one Cole Porter tune at a time…..
Everybody loves glamorous modern vintage retro Old Hollywood music.
For weddings, parties and events there is nothing more engaging, romantic, fun and exciting that the music of the mid-Twentieth Century. Liike the furniture, clothing and movies that came out of those years, mid-century moderne music is a hot item!
No music has ever captured the heart, soul and imagination of the world like the standards, ballroom, novelties, Rat Pack, Jet Set, Old Hollywood and vintage swing music of the Roaring Twenties 1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s, 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s.
Mid-century is the “sweet spot” of all of tht music. Some of it was first recorded in the ’20’s and ’30’s, then re-visited in the 1950’s and 1960’s. It’s fabulous music, and perfect music for weddings and events because it speaks to EVERYONE!
It’s turning up everywhere: in re-mixes you hear at the mall — and on the records of Rod Stewart, Sting, Michael Buble and others.
The records are great. But imagine the thrill of hearing — and dancing to — this kind of music performed live!
Live music for a wedding or event is pretty exciting when it captures the timeless, universal appeal of… Read the full story »
One of the nicest things about the magnificent styles of vintage Twentieth Century music — including retro, deco, mid-century moderne, early swing, big band swing, Old Hollywood and the Great American Songbook is that it’s perfect music for the most memorable wedding and events.
Even when the song is over, the melody lingers on.
We like that!
Dear Judy, thank you for being such a beautiful part of our wedding. Andrew and I fell in love with your timeless voice from the first time we heard it, and we had a great time over the last year getting to know you and working with you to plan our special day! We’ll never forget the way you sang the Everly Brothers’ “Let It Be Me! All the best, Jennifer and Andrew Hung
There’s nothing as memorable as a GORGEOUS wedding with vintage live music. These are the events that live on in memory long after everyone has forgotten how many sequins there were on the tablecloths, or what was on the buffet table — or at the candy stations.
“If we could re-live one night over and over again for the rest of our lives, if would be the night of our daughter’s wedding.”… Read the full story »
Live music, with a terrific band playing to an exuberant crowd of party and wedding guests; what fun!
What makes for a great plan utilizing live music at weddings and events?
To me, the repertoire’s the thing.
There is nothing that’s as much fun at a wedding or party than the special INTERACTIVE relationship between brides and grooms, wedding and party guests and a live band — especially a live band with an enormous repertoire.
And how boring that music would be if it were all just swing, or a steady diet of big band dance music from the 1940’s. The music of the 1950’s 1960’s and 1970’s is SO HOT! Our eclectic jazz-pop-swing repertoire has become very contemporary in it’s retro moderne vintageness. We know thousands of songs — our enormous repertoire is actually legendary — and not everything we play is an “obvious choice.” It’s this uniqueness that’s part of the excitement of having live music at a wedding or an event.
Songs like Destination Moon, Song Of The Jet and Hotel California are fun, mood-provoking, sleek and cerebral, flirty and deep, light and elegant. We love the kind of live music that thrills and delights wedding and party guests. By… Read the full story »
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