Monday, December 14, 2009

Rat Pack Fun, Vintage Live Music

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 the Great American Songbook, ballroom dance music in songs sung with feeling, especially for you.

At the high end, Los Angeles wedding entertainment of the vintage variety means live, organic and in-the-moment…it’s the hallmark of this music, the depth of it — that is being performed especially for YOU, the way it used to be when Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and Stan Kenton were household names.

A large part of the appeal of vintage music is that it has the capability of connecting with your soul in a very personal way.

Records are nice. But they don’t really convey the personal elements that live music does,

“Canned” performances from bands and singers who are imitating someone aren’t very exciting, either. You might as well be listening to karaoke.

Anyone who has ever heard Tony Bennett in concert knows what I mean.

At a recent holiday party in the living room of a fabulous pool house in California, we cleared a space next to the fireplace and everyone gathered around us as we performed the music of Cole Porter, Rogers and Hart, Irving Berlin — and Brenda Russell, Barry Manilow…pure 20th Century. It really was like a scene from a movie. Nobody wanted to leave, especially us.

We don’t sing along with tracks or imitate Frank Sinatra — or anyone else. We just play the music the way we’ve always played it, with passion and feeling.

There’s nothing cookie-cutter about what we do. That just doesn’t work well with modern vintage hip live swinging timeless retro Old Hollywood music. We never play anything the same way once, anyway.

In celebration of having played the Great American Songbook it since it was popular the FIRST time around — at least quite a bit of it — we make it look easy. And for us, it is. We’re not turning pages in a book. Our performances are directed toward giving you…yourself. Does that make sense? It’s the way things used to be done, the way music — REAL music — should be played. We’ve been performing this music all our lives.

For glamorous parties and events, there is simply nothing finer.

“Singer/bandleader Judy Chamberlain has mastered the art of mesmerizing both the audience and her own band.” All Music Guide