Things to consider when hiring "Jazz Band" in Malaysia

The term "Jazz band" in Malaysia and in the western countries are perceived differently. Jazz band actually means Charlie Parker, Bill Evans trio, Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett, Big band, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Bossa Novas, swing music etc

There are venues and clubs in Kuala Lumpur that take "Jazz" in it's true form e.g "No black tie", "Alexis" and "Top Hat"(No longer). There are also new clubs in Malaysia that attempts to maintain a Jazz club concept by hiring a Jazz band that plays strictly Jazz music. But after a few months, club owners will typically change their idea, realizing that there's only so much "Jazz" a general music listener can take before they "switch off" thus affecting their businesses.

There are only a handfull of Jazz fanatics that are true Jazz purist. I must admit, I'm not one of those purist. When I go watch a band, I like to hear color, a little Jazz, pop, modern and as a band manager, pianist and keyboard player, I take that same route. I like performing and listening to varied styles of music during an event.

Hence, I adopt that concept when performing for the events and functions that I undertake. I understand that most people love listening to variety. Our band perform all sorts of repertoire ranging from country, pop, latin to Jazz, retro and evergreens, to entertain listeners and entertain ourselves. I will assemble musicians in my team that have that mentality of "entertaining".

When choosing a Jazz band to hire for an event, you have to know what concept the band adopts. There are image bands that plays only Jazz, mainly for their own enjoyment, and there are corporate event bands like us that understand and play Jazz well, but also have the versatility to tackle all kinds of music. That is the edge we have over young bands fresh from a Jazz college.

Our team members have loads of performing experience having joined Jazz bands, pop bands and other genre of bands during their early years and understand the importance of providing "entertainment". We are aware of the fact that companies hire us to entertain their guest. So there must be some kind of interaction, humility, proper dress code and fulfilment of guest request to a certain extent.

When people of Malaysia are happy with the music that we provide, I feel happy and have accomplish my goal as an entertainer and a live music provider.

Top are some photos taken of our live band performance during Luxchem Event Listing Dinner at Sunway Resort Subang.

copyright 2008 by JasonGeh