Review Centre: Jazz Bands

"Excellent professional! From the first moment we spoke he made us feel confident, apart from that Babis is also an excellent musician and person!!! Thank you Babi, you made our wedding even more special and beautiful!!! I highly recommend him!!! Thank you very much Babi!!!"

Reply by Babis Prodromidis dj/Saxophone/Clarinet
Σ ευχαριστώ Μιχάλη

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Played two sets of excellent Jazz. Was enjoyed by all those in attendance. Would highly recommend to anyone. Superb. Thanks Chris and Sue. "

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Hi all! Thank you so much for an amazing performance on Saturday, we had such a blast and you were amazing!!! 🥰🥰🥰"

Reply by MoonDance Band
Thank you! We had a blast too

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Absolutely fantastic! Very professional, exactly complemented the Great Gatsby vibe and good fun. Very talented musicians and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend. They had us all up dancing early doors! "

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"An organizer extraordinaire! The crew of tech wizards, photographers, and more turned my event into a jaw-dropping spectacle. Bossa Nova and Coldplay were simply unexpected! Flawless. "

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"From the very beginning, Luigi brought so much energy to our wedding. He was professional, easy to work with, and genuinely cared about making the night special. He’s not only a great DJ but also an amazing saxophonist and the combination created such a fun atmosphere throughout the night One of my favourite moments was when we caught each other’s eye during the party and, without me even having to explain much, he knew exactly what to play. Suddenly, Italian Eurovision hits were blasting through the speakers, and it was perfect. It felt like one of those spontaneous moments that you couldn’t plan, but that end up becoming one of your favourite memories of the whole day."

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Drumpet Disco Show at our wedding was just out of this world! Noam's trumpet skills and Ben's drumming brought something so unique to the dance floor. Their fusion of EDM and funk had everyone grooving non-stop. Best wedding decision ever! Chloe & Ryan"

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Our wedding was absolutely beautiful, and the music was romantic and elegant — the perfect soundtrack for our cocktail hour. Thank you so much, Romina, for making it so special!”"

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Deze ijzersterke band bracht sfeervolle nummers die het publiek echt wisten te raken. Vlotte samenwerking. Superfijn dat ze ook onze verzoeknummers speelden. We hebben ervan genoten! "

Reply by Jazz/popband
Fijn dat je er zo van genoten hebt!

Rating: 9 / 10 Share this review:

"Not knowing what to expect I was ready for anything on a warm September night in Edinburgh. This was a Sunday night too and the setting was complete in the nightclub atmosphere that is the Dirty Martini lounge. This band can swing, bass and drums groove sweetly while sax and piano trade solos making this a full sound like there are more on stage. Tony Delicata on vocals blends his Italian roots with Volare, On An Evening In Roma and O Solo Mio as we were escorted to warm Italy with cool sounds and cocktails to suit. The second half opened with I Wish I Knew, an instrumental from the days when Cinema was a TV series before Tony returned with more signature arrangements. By now the audience were itching to dance and with peaks like Mack The Knife and (Theme From) New York New York they were at one with the band. The closing title song was a creative masterstroke and a deserved ovation followed. "

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Beautiful Music! My wife and I played tourists in Kingston today and dinned and shopped at some of our favourite spots and also discovered some new ones. While enjoying our gelato by the Kingston tourism building, we had the pleasure of listening to Euro Café Duo perform. Let me tell you that I wish I could stay there all day long and listen to Ted and Andrea play... they are magnificent and extremely talented musicians. If you have an upcoming event, reach out to them and let your senses be marinated by their beautiful music!! "

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"I found it so easy to book The Crotchet Club for my wedding reception. The email correspondence was very quick and easy and they took all my wishes and requests on board. I wanted some upbeat jazz to create an atmosphere for my wedding reception, and this is exactly what the trio did. They played beautifully! I didn't have to worry about any logistics once I had given them all of the info and they liaised directly with my DJ to ensure they were making use of the space and equipment at the party. I would absolutely book them again for a future party - they are very talented and great value!"

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Frankie and Pete were absolutely brilliant. They were such lovely people to have around on the day (very sweet and accommodating), and their music was really wonderful - just what we were hoping for. They are an incredibly talented pair and we would like to highly recommend them to others. Our guests thought they were fantastic too. All best wishes, Claire and Phil (10 / 10)"

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Thoroughly enjoyed We thoroughly enjoyed this trio. The music was fantastic, and so was their presence. Even people from other organizations were drawn to the music to enjoy it. Interaction with the musicians was very pleasant. Everything was possible and easy. Excellent job—keep it up! "

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"There have been many jazz musicians – saxophonists John Coltrane and George Brooks to name a couple – who have been intrigued by the melodic and rhythmic complexities of Hindustani classical music. Saxophonist Rainer Pusch, how!ever, belongs to the rare breed of Western musicians who have been influenced by Carnatic music. The Carnatic connection came later, but jazz caught Pusch’s interest at an early age. As a 12-year-old learning the tenor sax, a “very bad teacher” scared him into quitting lessons and starting to jam with friends. “At the age of 14 I got into jazz,” he told us. “I heard the first album by [American free jazz saxophonist] Pharaoh Sanders and this album [Pharaoh’s First] kicked me in.” Pusch got completely hooked after his brother smuggled him into The Cave, a jazz club in Heidelberg. “They had jam sessions every Tuesday,” he said. “It was 1968, the time of free jazz, underground music and the hippie era. Heidelberg was the headquarters of the US army in Europe, and there were a lot of army clubs, where I found my first steady work.” Playing for Americans every Friday and Saturday was an ideal start. It was a stroke of luck that Pusch met his “first jazz guru”, saxophonist Pony Poindexter. “Pony Poindexter’s wife worked for the army and they were living in Mannheim at the time,” Pusch said. “Pony had already subbed for Charlie Parker in Billy Eckstine’s big band, recorded with [guitarist] Wes Montgomery, the vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, and many others.” Pusch started taking lessons from Poindexter and, after a while, they started performing together. Poindexter was instrumental, in helping Pusch further his jazz education by introducing him to other American musicians. “He knew everybody,” Pusch recalled. “Through him, I met Dexter Gordon. Art Blakey sat in with us when we played an outdoor gig.” Later, in 1977, Pusch stayed with Poindexter in New York, where he met the cream of the city’s jazz scene. “He invited Philly Joe Jones to stay for two weeks in our Lower East Side loft; I met Eddie Jefferson, Bob Berg, Junior Cook,” Pusch said. He also took lessons from George Coleman, who had briefly been part of Miles Davis’s band in the early ’60s. On his return to Germany, Pusch released his first album as leader of his own outfit. However, his connection to America persisted; he would return to earn a degree in jazz composition and arrangement from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, in 1983. Pusch’s first album Journey Agent, released in 1981, was an assimilation of the styles typical of hard bop and post-bop American musicians he had met during the past decade. On the album, his quartet, which included piano, double bass and drums, performed originals and a cover of “Mixing Pot” by Brazilian musician Hermeto Pascoal. Mostly mid-tempo numbers, the tunes ranged from the ballad-like “Scientific” and earthy “B-flat Blues” to funky, Latin-inflected “Mixing”. “I’m influenced by all the players I like to listen to,” Pusch said. “That’s the secret about jazz. It isn’t only music; it’s a philosophy of personal self-development built on tolerance and the art of living in the moment.” He has performed in a variety of formats: duo, trio, quartet and big bands. Pusch is also a composer and arranger who has scored symphonic pieces for films. Pusch’s first major Indian encounter was in the late-’90s, when he performed at the Avignon Theatre Festival in France. “It had a focus on India, and members of the Kalakshetra College of Dance and Music were performing,” he said. “I got in touch with them and decided to go to Chennai to study.” Pusch received a scholarship from ICCR and moved with his family to Chennai in 1996. He would remain there for more than two years, studying Carnatic vocal from S Rajaram and rhythms from V Selvaganesh. “I got into the movie business and performed for many music directors, inclu!ding AR Rahman,” he said. There have been Carnatic saxo!phonists, like Kadri Gopalnath, before him, but Pusch is probably the first Westerner to perform the traditional south Indian style on the sax. He has also arranged compositions by Thyagaraja, Mysore Vasudeva and others, using a rhythm section comprised of guitar, bass and drums. “We respect the raga, but put it in a harmonic frame,” he said. “It’s not the style, but the attitude of the musician that counts. The future of music, art and culture lies in a respectful, well-understood and lived fusion. Not in a commercial, fast food con-fusion.”"

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review: