Comments on: Last-minute wedding reception music - HELP!

Question: Last-minute wedding reception music - HELP!

irishkitten — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:34:05 -0800

We're looking for dinner music for our wedding reception in a week! More behind the cut...

The wedding/reception is next Saturday. We're looking for some good suggestions for jazz/bluesy type music over the dinner hours. Our DJ has been less than helpful throughout the entire process(we're providing over half the evening's music), his dinner music 'isn't in the online database', and he has a couple 'crooner' cds that he generally uses. My hubby and I are a little more picky than the DJ seems to understand, and would like to sample songs, instead of the DJ picking random music. I'd 86 the DJ but with a hefty deposit and a week to go, it's not possible. What IS possible, is for us to provide him a CD with what WE want to hear. We just don't know where to start. Help? :)

Thanks, MeFites!

By: Green Eyed Monster

Green Eyed Monster — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:51:37 -0800

Rhapsody in Blue. At least that's one that we're using at ours next Saturday :)
congrats!

By: irishkitten

irishkitten — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:53:22 -0800

Oh wow, right back at you! :) Hope everything goes smoothly for you!

By: nkknkk

nkknkk — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:59:10 -0800

Dave Brubeck's "Take Five," and Joshua Redman's "Boogielastic."

By: Green Eyed Monster

Green Eyed Monster — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:05:14 -0800

Oh, yeah, Take Five is one of those that everybody knows, but doesn't know the name of...except me and NkkNkk. How about the instrumental soundtrack to a favorite movie?

By: rmd1023

rmd1023 — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:07:21 -0800

billie holliday: "cheek to cheek", "all of you"

"let's stay together", al green

"what a wonderful world" most canonically, the louis armstrong version or the Israel Kamakawiwo'ole mashup with 'over the rainbow' (if you want to go for a less famous version, maybe the tony bennet/k d lang duet version? they also do a version of "la vie en rose")

more:
"black is the color of my true love's hair", nina simone; "ain't that a kick in the head", dean martin; "the book of love" by the magnetic fields; "sunshine of my life", stevie wonder; "night and day", ella fitzgerald or any number of other performers; "let's do it (let's fall in love)", also done by ella fitzgerald or any number of other performers or off the "tank girl" soundtrack if you want to shake it up a bit (okay, maybe not)

By: irishkitten

irishkitten — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:14:47 -0800

Well, we initially met in ... Final Fantasy Online. There are actually a few songs from the soundtrack(instrumental) that we could get away with integrating into it... and a couple other soundtrack songs we have in mind.

Take Five, definitely recognize it, and never knew the name. Suggestions are excellent so far, thank you!

(Out for a couple of hours but please, keep em coming! Thank you!!)

By: saladin

saladin — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:20:40 -0800

Anything from Miles Davis's Kind of Blue would work for sure, especially "Blue in Green" and "Flamenco Sketches." Also, "My Ship" from Miles Ahead would do nicely, I think.

By: katemcd

katemcd — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:32:59 -0800

I agree with the many great suggestions above. If you're interested in something with vocals, I would suggest checking out Madeleine Peyroux's albums.

By: pxe2000

pxe2000 — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:58:06 -0800

Bebel Gilberto's music has a nice feel that would be appropriate and welcome at a wedding. Vince Guraldi, too -- yes, the guy who wrote "Linus and Lucy", but some of his non-Peanuts albums have appropriate music. I'm especially fond of his song "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" and his arrangement of "Moon River".

By: netbros

netbros — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:05:20 -0800

Joe Sample.

By: pised

pised — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:51:35 -0800

Seconding Madeleine Peyroux, and adding Sophie Milman, Diana Krall, and Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

By: PixelatorOfTime

PixelatorOfTime — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 22:07:48 -0800

Saxophone Colossus (album) by Sonny Rollins would be great played kinda faintly. Seconding Madeleine Peyroux and any Ella Fitzgerald. Coltrane for Lovers would be a nice subtle touch for a more romantic feeling.

By: bedhead

bedhead — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:54:38 -0800

Here's what we had for our dinner music at our wedding in April:

I'll Be Seeing You / Billie Holiday
Not Dark Yet / Bob Dylan
At Last / Cyndi Lauper
Rocket Man / Elton John
Sunday Kind of Love / Etta James
Slow like Honey / Fiona Apple
Good To Me / Irma Thomas
Wave / Joao Gilberto
Summertime / Louie Armstrong
Yesterdays / Mile Davis Quartet
Northern Sky / Nick Drake
I've Got Dreams To Remember / Otis Redding
Take Time To Know Her / Percy Sledge
Metamorphosis Two / Philip Glass
Starman / Seu Jorge
Glósóli / Sigur Rós
Kyrie Eleison / Sinéad O'Connor

As you can see, some modern, some classic, some bluesy, some more ethereal. We had some Joao Gilberto and Bebel Gilberto stuff throughout the reception, which went over well. Some of the songs in our mix weren't really wedding-y; we just went with the general feel and pace, so that's why stuff like Rocket Man is in there. All of the songs are ones that you can enjoy while sitting and eating and don't scream "hey! get up and dance!"

Congratulations and good luck!

By: irishkitten

irishkitten — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:12:55 -0800

Thanks very much for all these suggestions!! Think we've got the makings of a great list now!

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 07:23:10 -0800

Irishkitten, I think the perfect music for that interim would be the jazz instrumental CD Playing by Heart. Amazon MP3 has a few tracks from it in case you'd like to give it a sample without buying the album. It is, without a doubt, my favorite instrumental music [in fact, I'm going to play it again now, just because your question reminded me of the album, so thank you ;)]. If you've ever seen the movie "Playing by Heart", it is indeed the jazz playing in the background in a lot of scenes.

By: sero_venientibus_ossa

sero_venientibus_ossa — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 07:40:10 -0800

Chet Baker - The best of Chet Baker sings
Billie Holiday
Charlie Haden & Kenny Barron - Night and the City
Brad Mehldau Trio
Joe Pass - Virtuoso (any)
Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto
Thelonious Monk - Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington
Some mellow Coltrane (ballads, etc)

By: black8

black8 — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:16:18 -0800

Get you some Johnny Mathis and Johnny Hartman