Review Centre: Vintage Themed Bands

"Easy to get along with and created a great environment for our wedding reception. Guest were happy and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Swing at its absolute finest!! Thank you so much for helping make our wedding such a memorable occasion. Communication before, during and after was superb. Would highly recommend. "

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"Great voice and interpretation. I really appreciated his skill and Italian classical repertoire. He is also a very kind person. "

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"It was one of the most enjoyable evenings I will ever remember. What should I distinguish first? The repertoire of old folk songs that stand the test of time? The coordination of the musicians? The playing? Their charismatic voices? Or the fun and joy that they generously offer to their listeners, rousing them and making them feel that they are all part of the same heady group? I thank them for the beautiful special evening they offered us, I highly recommend them and I can't wait to be together again in the same happy moments!"

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"She was really sweet, showed up on time. She even saying, and played songs we requested. We were thankful to have live music at our event and she was great."

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"Talented guitarist with a beautiful voice! Un sottofondo musicale di vera classe "

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"What can I say... they played at our wedding last year in Merano and it was just AMAZING!!! Super friendly and (almost) always said yes to whatever we asked. They played soooo good, everybody loved them!!! I’d book them again in a heartbeat , totally recommended!!!"

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"Your band yesterday was terrific. Not only did they play exactly the music we wanted but they were such lovely people. Please give them thanks from of all of us who organised the street party for the crucial part they played in making it a resounding success"

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"We hired the fabulous Miss Pearl to sing at my wifes birthday party. Miss Pearl was a pleasure to deal with, accommodating with a list of song requests and she kept the dance floor full all night. I wouldnt hesitate to recommend her or hire again. Thank you.x"

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"Large Private Party in collaboration with Famous Flavours Dear Gradalicious, thank you so much. We truly enjoyed having you. Beautiful music, very professional. We’re just now wrapping up the weekend and looking back on a wonderful celebration. Thank you, Peter & Annemieke & Anne Kay & Bent Schreuter "

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"Arietta did an outstanding performace for our celebration. Not only did she provide the dinner entertainment that we had asked for she also generously agreed to learning a few songs that we wanted specifically included during our event. These songs were an important part of a fun and entertaining opening and Arietta nailed it. I also must say that it was a pleasure working with her prior to our show. Very responses and enthusiastic. Over the years I've hired numersous entertainers/bands and while many perform well, few brought the joy and and commitment to entertaining that Arietta brought. Thanks Arietta!"

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"Ο Στέφανος και η παρέα του είναι απίστευτοι! Εξαιρετικοί μουσικοί, κάνουν πολύ κέφι, και έχουν μεγάλο ρεπερτόριο για όλα τα γούστα. Μας προσέφεραν μια υπέροχη βραδιά γεμάτη χορό και μελωδίες. Πραγματικοί επαγγελματίες και καλλιτέχνες! Τους συνιστώ ανεπιφύλακτα!"

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"Every song was perfect and the saxophone gave such a romantic touch."

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"Our friends and many others were applauding every song - they got two encores and they were rebooked for our party in December"

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"Beautiful trio, everything went fantastic! We’ve booked the guys 3 times already! They are superstars🌟💫"

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"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.”"

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