Review Centre: Jazz Bands

"Joy Box were sensational! They made our wedding. Not only were they a fantastic band but they were incredibly professional and communicative making the whole process very straightforward! I would 100% book again!!! THANK YOU! "

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"We booked Soul Funk Secret for our wedding in Suffolk .They were a fantastic addition to our special day – talented, professional, friendly, accommodating. Everyone was exhausted from doing so much dancing! Vita has a fantastic voice and the overall sound was amazing with a great set list. We were sad when we got to the last song as could have done another round! Thanks guys. Hope to see you again some time. Marie and Clin x Marie Fairish"

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Brilliant Band.... music fantastic. Definitely have them again and three lovely gentlemen. Just wish we could have had them for longer."

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Thank you for playing for us last night – we loved the music you played and felt it really set our night off perfectly! Everyone has been saying how brilliant the band was last night and the photos today show that people really had a great time!! Your outfits were also perfectly fitting with our Roaring 20s theme and we literally couldn’t have asked for more! Thank you so much once again and we would not hesitate to book you for events in the future!"

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:

"It has just been a month since our wedding (19th August), we have pleasant memories and will continue to mention. Everyone was delighted with the level of music performance – with class and taste. Guests said they felt like they were at a concert, and the atmosphere was cinematic. Everything sounded great, Valentina’s voice should be appreciated, it is clear, warm and beautiful. Of course, let’s not forget the great playing of the pianist, double bass player and drummer. Really! Despite the weather surprises during the reception, the band agreed to stay longer for which we are grateful. By the way, we had a full blue moon during the reception which came out by complete coincidence after we had already booked the band. Which made the atmosphere even more wonderful. What else is worth to be mentioned? The contact with Raphael was flawless. I wish everyone would exchange messages so efficiently and concretely. If we had to choose this band again, we would choose the same way. As a professional classical musician, I can heartily recommend this band. Warmest regards, Barbara & Kacper "

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Truly amazing when we hired them, we knew that they were going to be good, but I had no idea how amazingly professional, Complete genre of songs they could sing for us! I could not have asked for a better band to play at my wedding! I would consider using them for any event! Thank you so much for all you did to make our day completely and amazingly special"

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"On the occasion of my farewell party I invited the Jazz Centrale to provide the musical accompaniment. This was done very professionally. The guests were particularly taken with singer Eline and the band."

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"The music was greatly appreciated by our guests, it was a good choice and especially a good performance of the pieces of music that you had chosen. At our first “meeting” we were already able to appreciate you, which is why we immediately thought of you for this occasion. The people in charge of the restaurant also thought you were very good. We therefore allowed ourselves to send them the link to your website."

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Thanks for tonight, Ed. You both played beautifully - just what we wanted. A few of the guests were musicians and they were very impressed by the music. "

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Original band, great live music, great show from Transilvania, Romania !"

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Both Alice and Tom brought a real touch of class to the Selfridges Christmas pop-up event. Customers and staff alike gravitated towards their exceptional performances - the feedback was fantastic! Would definitely book again."

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:

"I was happy to be present at a gig that nestles comfortably in my greatest ever gigs basket. The Paris Swinging Lovers did a straight through 2 hours gig and it was a model of a well thought out repertoire that took us on journey from St. James Infirmary to Raglan Road. Paddy has lived in Paris for the past thirty years, fronting a six man band of rabelasian Irish and French characters, so he knows his trade... Paddy plays trombone that acts as punctuation and percussion. The best entertainer I have seen for a long while."

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"From The Luna Lounge: We would love to see you perform again."

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