Jazzberries

Top London jazz band (trio, quartet, 6-piece & 8-piece) -- formed in 1997. -- LOADS of parties, weddings & events: national winner of the "BEST LIVE MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT" in the 2013 Wedding Industry Awards. -- Live broadcasts & record play on BBC Radio 3 & Radio 4. -- "Proper" jazz gigs (e.g.London's Pizza Express Jazz Club Soho) & UK/international tours (including Wellington Festival NZ). We love playing jazz & don’t care whether it’s a concert as Ronnie Scott’s, background music at a drinks party or swing jazz & salsa for a wedding: for us it’s all just about making good music. We supply all our own instruments and small PA system (for up to 50,100 or 150 guests) as standard and can arrange larger PA (the biggest we’ve done is for 2,000 people in a woodland!) and the hire of an upright or grand piano if desired (or simply use our our stage piano at no charge). We also have a small LED floor light array, and can provide a full lighting rig, staging & dancefloor at cost if you wish. We perform in a variety of levels of formality, anything from a vintage swing look, to full Dinner Jackets & Black Bow Ties…and are happy to be less formal when appropriate. We have about a dozen different combinations with-&-without singer or drums…some people are worried about volume levels, others want a full-on sound. NB we often play background music as a trio or quartet with our drummer using subtle swishy brushes with just a single snare drum & hi-hats: this creates a foot-tapping jazz sound but doesn’t overpower conversation. We have 4 contrasting singers to choose from: 2 male, 2 female. One of the guys has a Louis Prima “King of the Jungle” approach, the other is a smooth-voiced Rat Pack crooner (with our Nat King Cole Trio tribute). One of our female singers covers the vintage jazz (Charlestons & Wartime era etc) & Parisian swing (Piaf) repertoire plus Post-Modern Jukebox favourites. Our other female collier sings 1950s onwards — including Nina Simone & Ella Fitzgerald songs plus more modern jazz (& a little soul, RnB, latin & funk). It’s always best to have a chat with us on the phone to make sure we understand exactly the kind of thing you are after, whether it is a background trip of sax, guitar & double bass, or a full-on “small big band” with our 8-piece with sax, trumpet, latin percussion & 2 singers plus rhythm section. As a general guide we recommend our 8- or 6-piece swing band for dancing, and for background a quartet is ideal (but a trio works too if space / budget is really tight.) The Jazzberries have over 60 videos up online so — if the relevant one isn’t visible on Encore — please arrange a “Callback” hone call via Encore and we will point you at the right demo for you to feel confident to book The Jazzberries :-) Best wishes, Jonny Gee (band-leader/double bassist)