Julie and Matt’s Wedding at Minerals Resort and Spa in Vernon, NJ

We owe a HUGE thanks to Julie and Matt for having us play at their wedding at Minerals Resort and Spa in Vernon, NJ on May 5!  Julie and Matt booked us about a year before their event, so after all of the planning, it was exciting to see everything come together and come out so successful! 

Their ceremony featured Andrea  on solo piano with beautiful classical music, and then our jazz trio of sax, guitar and bass for the cocktail hour.  Both of these were held outside, where it looked like it might pour at any second!  But luckily, the rain held off all day!  The reception featured our full 9 piece band with both Rhonda and Keith on vocals, and our full horn section, which is always a blast to play with!

We had a good little “save” during the wedding.  Julie and Matt were going to do their first dance and parents’ dances to recordings and had planned to give us an iPod to play the songs off of.  I’m assuming the iPod was somewhere in the room, but that people just were busy and forgot to give it to us.  Luckily, I had a backup plan and had downloaded their songs to my own iPod “just in case”!  Problem solved – No delays in the flow of the wedding, and the dances went off without a hitch!

Overall, it was another great wedding, with lots of dancing, and we had lots of compliments on the band once again.  Julie and Matt were awesome to work with through it all, with Julie being extremely organized (making my job very easy!!!)  I’m very proud of the band with all that we’ve been accomplishing – one successful wedding after another!  While we’re primarily a Hudson Valley Wedding Band, we’re more than happy to travel all over the tri-state area to perform for weddings!  Can’t wait for all of the fun performances the band’s got lined up for this year!

“Thanks for everything Joe! We had such an incredible night! And your band was definitely the highlight, as I was hoping. We got raving reviews from so many of our guests that “the band was absolutely incredible”! Loved all the songs you played, and clearly our guests had a blast. I was hoping that everyone would dance, and was thrilled that they did. Thanks to you and the whole band for a wonderful night!” – Julie and Matt

Tags: Hudson Valley Wedding Bands, Hudson Valley Wedding Music, Kazz Music Orchestra, Minerals Resort and Spa

Chris and Kim’s Wedding @ The Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, NY

The Kazz Music Orchestra played our first wedding of 2012 on April 28, at Full Moon Resort in Big Indian for Chris and Kim.  We had an awesome time.  It was a great group of people that LOVED to dance, which makes what we do a lot of fun!  We heard several comments that we were the best wedding band people had ever heard, which to me means that people had a fantastic time dancing to our music!  That’s our #1 goal!

This was our first time at Full Moon Resort, and hopefully not our last.  It’s a fantastic country setting in the Catskills, serves wonderful food, and is run by a great team that was very well-organized and awesome to work with!  Having a well-organized team like this makes our job very easy, and allows for a wedding to flow very smoothly. 

Congratulations to Chris and Kim, and a big thanks to Full Moon for making their wedding a huge success!  We’re looking forward to a LOT more fun weddings in the months to come!

“They were amazing and exceeded our expectations. They were so good that both our venue and our on day wedding planner both told us how impressed they were and asked to have all of their contact information. They made our wedding into the dance party that we wanted. Kazz made our wedding the dream wedding I had always wanted.” - Kim and Chris

Tags: Full Moon Resort Weddings, Hudson Valley Wedding Bands, Kazz Music Orchestra

“We Want a Band and a DJ at our Wedding”

Once in a while, couples contact us telling us that they want to book both a DJ and a band for their wedding.  My first question is “Why would you need to do that?”  Even as a live musician, I’m not anti-DJ like many musicians are, but, I struggle with understanding why people would hire both a DJ and a band for their wedding.  The purpose of this post isn’t to try and take away work from DJs, but rather to save our clients money.    Here are a few thoughts:

• From a cost perspective, it doesn’t matter to us if we’re going to perform less because there will be a DJ at a wedding as well.  Our time is still being booked for that date, and we still charge our standard prices.  I’m sure nearly every other band and every other DJ will do the same.  So, it’s not as if you’ll get a discount because both the band and the DJ will each be working a little bit less at your event, and therefore it’s inefficient from a cost perspective.  With weddings as expensive as they are already, this would seem like an obvious way to save money.
• Any band that you hire should already be planning on playing recorded music during any breaks that they may take during the evening.  So, you’ll still be getting the recorded music to fill the spaces when the band isn’t performing.  While you may not get the same quality mixing that a DJ would be able to do, any band should be more than capable of playing recorded dance music for your guests that will keep them on the dance floor. 
• Some songs sound better on recordings than they would being performed by a live band.  I won’t argue with this.  But, if you refer to the bullet point above, maybe you’d want to throw in 20 minutes of recorded dance music that wouldn’t necessarily sound as good from a live band, or perhaps that is in a style that the band doesn’t specialize in.  It shouldn’t be a problem for a band to play some recorded dance music for you as well. 
• “DJs have special training on how to emcee an event” – I disagree with this in several ways.  Bands typically provide emcee services for all weddings they perform at.  Any person who can speak with inflection can do a good job as an emcee. 
• “DJs have a library of thousands of songs.” - That’s wonderful, except during your four hour wedding reception, you’re going to hear less than 100 songs.  Many of the same songs are requested at every wedding.  So, if your band has a great repertoire of dance music and you still want to supplement it with some selected recorded songs, that library of thousands of songs from your DJ isn’t going to be that critical. 

I’ve been to many weddings where there were DJs, and they were a LOT of fun.  So once again, I am not downplaying how great a DJ can be for entertaining a crowd.  However, I think in nearly every instance, if you want some recorded music at your wedding along with a live band, that a good band will also be able to successfully manage your recorded requests as well.  Enjoy the music!

Tags: Hudson Valley Wedding Bands, Hudson Valley Weddings

First Dances – Should the Band Play, or Should You Dance to a Recording?

One of the considerations in planning a wedding is whether or not to have the band perform your first dance together, or whether you should dance to a recording of your first dance song.  From a bandleader’s perspective, here are a few thoughts:

• If you’re going to take dance lessons and learn a routine for your song, you may want to consider dancing to the recording.  You’ll be spending many hours practicing to the recording, and that’s what you’ll feel comfortable with.  When a band plays a song, even if they play the exact same arrangement of the recording you’ve practiced to, it’s still not going to sound quite the same as the recording.  If you’re going to be focusing really hard on your footwork and getting your steps right, having something that doesn’t sound 100% familiar might be a bit of a distraction.  Even if you’re not taking dance lessons together, dancing to the recording still allows you to practice prior to the wedding, so it still may be the preferable choice for you. 
• If you’re not going to take dance lessons and are just going to dance together and truly enjoy the moment, having the live band you hired perform your song can make for a very special dance. 
• Most bands, The Kazz Music Orchestra included, will learn a set number of special requests for an event.  If you’ve got a lot of other dance songs that you’d like the band to play, dancing to a recording for your first dance may not be a bad idea, so that you can have the band learn another one of your song requests. 

Overall, there’s no right or wrong answer.  It ultimately comes down to your preferences and what you feel most comfortable with.  The most important thing to remember is that it is your first dance together as a married couple, so while not tripping over your two left feet, the most important thing is to savor the moment!  See you on the dance floor!

Tags: Fist Dance, Hudson Valley Wedding Bands

Performance For The West Point Military Academy Glee Club – Recap

On Saturday, February 12, we volunteered our time to do a special performance for the West Point Military Academy Glee Club, and had a magical night doing so!

The 7 of us played for two hours, and the 70 Cadets danced non-stop, which made the performance a blast for us.  I’m proud to say that for the first time ever, someone “crowd surfed” to our music! At the end of our two hours, Rhonda had the following to say to the Cadets:

I’ve heard the Glee Club perform many times now, but it was quite special for the 7 of us to be surrounded by 70 incredible voices singing just for us!  After us performing for their party, to have these wonderful young musicians reciprocate and perform for us as a thank you gesture made my night!  Musical respect is an awesome thing!  If you’ve never had a chance to see the West Point Military Academy Glee Club, do yourself a favor and go hear them in concert.

On a side note, if you’re looking for a place for a Hudson Valley Wedding, check out the Bear Mountain Inn for someplace with some incredible scenery!  This picture is the view from the balcony of their lodge.  Very beautiful!

Performance for the West Point Military Academy Glee Club – Saturday 2/11/2012

We are excited to announce that we are doing a special performance for the West Point Military Academy Glee Club on Saturday, February 11, 2012 at the Bear Mountain Inn in Bear Mountain, NY.  The Glee Club will be rehearsing all day on Saturday for upcoming performances through the semester, and when their rehearsals conclude, The Kazz Music Orchestra will be playing from 10:00 until midnight to help the Cadets celebrate and unwind after a long day.  We are excited to volunteer our time and services for these Cadets, as they will be returning the favor to us by serving our country after they graduate. 

If you will be in the area on this day and are considering The Kazz Music Orchestra for your wedding or special event, please contact us if you would like to stop by to see us perform this evening.

Tags: Hudson Valley Wedding Bands, Kazz Music Orchestra, Wedding Bands, Wedding Music, West Point Military Academy Glee Club

Favorite First Dance Request

One of the most fun things about performing at weddings is learning special requests for the bride and groom, whether it’s for their first dance together, or just songs that they really enjoy.  Many times, we are introduced to new artists, or to songs that we’ve never heard by artists that we already know quite well, so these requests turn into a great education for us. 

While speaking with a couple whose wedding our band was going to be performing for, the bride asked, “What is the best song request you’ve ever been asked to learn?”  I was pretty quickly able to answer Krystle Warren’s “Circles”, which we played for Lexi and Christophe in Easton, PA in July of 2011.  It was a song I had never heard of, and it was by an artist I had never heard of.  But, when Lexi and Christophe shared the link with me, I fell in love.  It is definitely not a traditional wedding first dance, but it is still an incredible song, and it was fun and challenging for The Kazz Music Orchestra to do the song justice.  We received a thumbs up from Christophe after the performance, so I think we did OK.  Here is Krystle Warren’s performance of the song.