Jazz bands often go overlooked as the uneducated tend to assume that jazz as a musical genre is too niche, especially for a celebration like a wedding reception. This is a common concept in spite of the fact that many jazz bands are probably more versatile than most other wedding bands London has to offer. This is true for two reasons; jazz is hard to play and even harder to master, and jazz is a very broad musical genre which encompasses everything from swing, be-bop, dixieland, big band, acid jazz and more I can’t remember.

Take a step back from the cliché of jazz for a moment and have a look at just how many popular artists fall under the jazz canopy. Amy Winehouse borrowed heavily from jazz greats such as Ninah Simone, Billie Holiday, Doris Day and of course Ella Fitzgerald. Eva Cassidy had a huge hit with her version of the jazz standard Somewhere Over The Rainbow in 1996. George Benson was a huge pop star in the eighties with his jazz guitar led pop. Gil Scott-Heron pre-empted hip hop and rap in the late 1960′s with the now legendary Last Poets; the undisputed grandfathers of hip hop. It goes without saying the influence the likes of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennet, Dean Martin, Nat king Cole, Louis Armstrong and other legends have had on contemporary crooners such as Michael Buble, Jamie Cullum and even the likes of Robbie Williams and Will Young owe more than a respectful not to the old jazz greats.

Any jazz band worth their salt will be able cover almost any aspect of the jazz genre including swing, easy, be bop, free jazz, smooth jazz, funk and soul music; and no wedding is complete without a rendition of Louis Armstrong’s We Have All The time In The World. You’ll be amazed at the versatility of many jazz bands as to be honest, a musician who can play a good number of jazz classics won’t have a problem figuring out a pop sing on the spot because pop music is nowhere near as complex as Jazz, it really is a case of ‘you hum it I’ll play it’, something most other wedding bands London has to offer would struggle with.

If you worried that booking a jazz band for your wedding would be too ‘wobbly’ for most of your guests, then think again. It doesn’t have to be free jazz all night long, or even at all, as any jazz band available for a wedding reception will be musically versatile and happy to draw up a set list which will keep everyone happy and really get the party swinging.

Carl Liver

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