Empire Salon & Dance Orchestra
Friday, 22 April 2011 19:00
At the beginning of the 20th century music had a special role in underscoring the more gracious aspects of daily living. The 20's and 30's were decades in which smaller orchestras were busy entertaining guests of the London Savoy Hotel, the New York Plaza and the San Francisco Palace hotel to name but three. 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 approach to music was unique. There developed a genre whose melodies were charming or bittersweet but whose sole purpose was to provide that musical complement to food, drink and above all, conversation. 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.
Empire Audio Samples
Beatles "Long & Winding Road" + Mozart's "Piano Concerto 21 2nd mov"
"Windmills of Your Mind" + Haydn's "Serenade" and a Piazzolla "Tango"
The EMPIRE Salon & Dance Orchestra was created to provide music for happy, festive occasions. This unique ensemble offers the "best in danceable, nostalgic and Continental music from the 1900's to the 1960's," performed directly from the original arrangements of the era by acclaimed professional musicians dedicated to this project.
With strings, piano, & bass at its core, this "twilight of the twentieth-century" orchestra can expand from three to nine instruments – including reeds and brass plus drums, percussion and vocals ; depending on the occasion and desired musical ambience. Typical programmes are drawn from light classics, musical theatre and the most popular songs of the day.
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," "Stardust," "Pennies from Heaven," "Sweet Georgia Brown," "String of Pearls”, "Bye, Bye, Blackbird," "Twelfth Street Rag" - many great old tunes from times gone by!
MOOD MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT is proud to present the EMPIRE Salon and Dance Orchestra, who are devoted to re-creating the music of those gentler times for your pleasure and entertainment. 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."
Please click this link to book the "Empire".
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