To produce a successful Theme night, everything has to be correct, the venue, the lighting, the food, and of course, the music. The “Mood Music Orchestra” can fulfill your image of the sound and looks of the Victorian & Edwardian era, the Jazz age and the Swing era of the 40’s up to Rhythm and Blues of the 50’s. Our professional musicians and vocalists are versatile and play to a high standard with real enthusiasm for what they present.
OUR SALON REPERTOIRE INCLUDES:-
Radetsky March, Trisch Trascg Polka, Kaiser Waltz, Blue Danube, Annen Polka – Strauss. The celebrated serenades of Schubert and Haydn Beethovens’ Moonlight Sonata and Mozarts’ Eine Kleine Nachtmusik Estellita, Czardas, Schon Rosmarin and other string classics by Kreisler, Raff Cavatina, O Sole Mio, The Paris Tangos of Astor Piazzola, Por una Cabeza from Scent of a Woman, Italian and Neopolitan Songs, Un Homme et une femme, Windmills of your mind, Moon River, and modern classics by the Beatles, etc. arranged for salon players
JAZZ AGE HITS INCLUDE:-
Putting on the Ritz – Stompin’ at the Savoy, It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing, Blue Moon, Avalon, Take the A Train, Sheik of Araby, I can’t give you anything but love, East of the Sun, It had to be you, My Blue Heaven, Night and Day, Puttin’ on the Ritz, I’ve got Rhythm, In the Still of the Night, I’ll be seeing you, The Entertainer, At the Jazz Band Ball, In the Mood, String of Pearls, It’s only a Paper Moon, S’Wonderful, Let’s face the Music and Dance, La Paloma, Sway, Brazil and many more….
The Salon Orchestra was created to provide music for happy, festive occasions. This unique ensemble offers the “best in danceable, nostalgic and Continental music from the 1880’s to the 1940’s,” performed directly from the original arrangements of the era by acclaimed professional musicians dedicated to this project.
With violin, piano, & bass at its core, this “twilight of the twentieth- century” orchestra can expand from three to nine instruments – including a second violin, viola, cello, saxophone and trumpet plus drums, percussion and vocals ; depending on the occasion and desired musical ambience.
From 1880 to 1930, salon orchestras were heard everywhere — in private homes, classy restaurants and exclusive clubs. Any hotel of repute had at least one playing during lunch — and from “tea-time ’til after dark” — while guests dined and socialized and danced away the hours to waltzes and fox-trots … rags, swing and blues … Tangos and polkas … the Charleston and the popular songs of the day.
The “roaring twenties” with its worldwide social upheavals legitimised the jazz idiom and the salon orchestra adapted by the inclusion of saxophones and trumpets. The classic dance band of the 1920s and 30s retained the elements of the salon orchestra with these new “up to date’ instruments.
Salon orchestras retained their popularity until the advent of the Second World war. After the war, tastes changed and the salon orchestra almost disappeared until the 1990s and the movie “Titanic” rekindled interest in this unique type of music.
Our orchestra is diverse in its repertoire – From Classics like Strauss’ Emperor and Blue Danube Waltzes, Tritsch Tratsch Polka, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, to Songs like “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” “I’ll be seeing you,” “Carioca,” “Pennies from Heaven,” “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “String of Pearls”, “Bye, Bye, Blackbird,” “Twelfth Street Rag” – many great old tunes from times gone by!
Our Orchestra will take you back to the golden days of steamer trunks and wicker chairs, potted palms, all-night soirees and “Dancing Cheek to Cheek.”