Swing Jazz. Names of musicians associated with this style of jazz band are Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and Count Basie. The music is mainly from the late thirties and early forties and is very melodic. Ella Fitzgerald started her career at this time in Harlem and had great success with the Chick Webb band. The jazz band will probably play lots of tunes from Broadway Shows from the time such as “Funny Valentine” “It Had To Be You” “Making Whoopee” “ It Don`t Mean A Thing If It Ain`t Got That Swing”. This jazz band can be acoustic but will probably include an electric piano, which the musicians will supply along with a speaker. They will need a power supply and logistics of this must be taken into consideration when choosing the jazz band. Are your guests near a power supply, is the reception indoors or outdoors, how does the weather forecast look? Finally, how big should the jazz band be? For both styles a trio or quartet will be fine.

After the Wedding Breakfast. Your guests have sat through a gargantuan meal, fine wines and various speeches including a slightly embarrassing one from the best man! They are ready to stretch their legs, use the loos, have a cigarette and carry on chatting to old friends who they may have not seen for some time. They are not yet ready to dance. Your jazz band should know this and should be playing suitable accessible tunes in an unobtrusive way. You don`t want a modern jazz band at this point. Known variously as Be-Bop, Modern Jazz, West Coast and played by such artists as John Coltrane, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, this is music for the concert hall or jazz club. You want sophisticated smoky tunes, maybe with some vocals such as “Let there be love” “The Girl From Ipanema” “My Baby Just Cares For Me”. Artists associated with this kind of jazz include Stan Getz, Billie Holiday and Nat King Cole. Maybe also think about some Rat Pack tunes that the likes of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin performed.

Music for dancing. If you are set on having a jazz band for the dancing ask your jazz band how many styles of jazz and swing can they perform. A jazz band that plays swing tune after swing tune all night is going to lose the attention of your guests. Variety is the key. I would suggest a mix of Latin, Jump Jive, swing, old style Rhythm and Blues and even Funky jazz bordering on Soul. Not many jazz bands can handle this variety. Ask at the point of booking what the jazz band proposes to play at this point. Do they have a suitable vocalist/vocalists? Can they play segue (one song after another) to keep guests on the floor.