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Choosing a Jazz Band for Your Party
By J Williams

In many years of arranging jazz bands for all sorts of events I am struck by the similarity of how the request is made by most of our clients.

It goes something like this: "We are looking for a jazz band to play at our wedding / book launch / family fun day / sixtieth birthday/ store opening etc."…"oh yes, we say, what style of jazz band ?"…"Er, not quite sure. What styles have you got?"

It was because of this exchange I felt this article would be helpful in choosing the right kind of jazz band for your party, celebration or event.

Rather than go through a history of the development of jazz from the purists angle it would be easier to list a number of types of event and match them up to styles of jazz band with a short description of the jazz band most likely to suit the occasion. Lets start with the wedding.

You are most likely to want a jazz band at your wedding at two points in the days proceedings.

The reception. You and your partner have just left the church and your guests are nearly back at the place you have chosen for the celebrations. What better way than to have them met by a jazz band.

As champagne and Pimms is handed out the band just adds a perfect happy backdrop to the moment. There are two main types of jazz band that can suit the moment:

A Dixieland band or a swing band.

Dixieland Jazz. This is jazz from the early twenties. The musicians will happily dress up in stripy blazers or waistcoats and play lovely old jaunty tunes from that era such as “When the Saints Come Marching In” “The Charleston” “Bill Bailey Won’t You Please Come Home” and “Five Foot Two Eyes Of Blue”. The instrumentation is usually banjo, sousaphone (a tuba that you can wear) and a frontline instrument or two such as trumpet, sax or trombone. The band is mobile and acoustic and can move around the site entertaining guests in different locations. Artists associated with the genre include Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke and Fats Waller.