What Is a Blend?

"WHAT IS A BLEND?"  - Recent Blog Post from Lou Lanza, Detailing "What is a Blend" and Examples From Past Clients

A blend is a unique mix of sophisticated, hip live music combined with a DJ and tailored to suite individual needs.

I recently had a week where I was asked that by potential clients no less than five different times. For that reason I felt that one of the blog entries should be devoted entirely to answering that question.

Let me first say that a Blend can be just about whatever you want it to be. It is flexible and workable to fit most tastes. For example, one Blend I was on at The Merion in Cinnaminson, NJ had a string trio play the ceremony on one part of the property. The cocktail music featured a jazz trio led by Larry McKenna on tenor sax with Mike Kennedy on guitar and Madison Rast on acoustic bass. The introductions, specialty dances, and MC work were handled by the DJ. The dinner set was played by yours truly with Swing Easy (four horns and four rhythm). We traded one set with the DJ, and then he finished up the night. This particular client wanted as much live music as possible, so for that reason there were three live components. Since the bride was a big Sinatra fan, Swing Easy fit the bill perfectly. But their other musical tastes were for French trance and club music...yes, I said French, as in en francais. There is no one band in this region (maybe any region) of the United States that could have played this client's set list, so without the use of a creative DJ, this bride's vision would not have been realized.

Smaller non-traditional spaces also benefit from the Blend. Recently I was contacted by Emily Davis. Her wedding was taking place at the Chestnut Club . She wanted a vocalist/pianist that could play light classical for the wedding prelude, ceremony, and postlude. The DJ was then going to play the cocktail hour while the side of the room the ceremony took place on was changed over for dinner. For dinner, she wanted a mix of standards, pop/rock, and originals. That's quite a broad mix for any one artist to handle. Luckily, Nora Whittaker is on our roster and was available. Nora was absolutely perfect. Emily's comments were: "Everyone commented on how wonderful and appropriate she was. It set exactly the tone I was looking for. We'll be using her again."

Last year, I was a part of yet another facet of what a Blend can be. The Pilot Group hired me to accompany a singer from Atlanta on a grand piano on the John Lennon song, "Imagine." They also hired the master Latin percussionist, Pablo Battista and the wonderfully eclectic violinist, Brian "Fitz" Fitzgerald to jam live over grooves with the DJ. This is a creative, innovative, and completely unique musical creation. This would work for a portion of a wedding, and it definitely would be entertaining and fun at corporate gatherings or other types of parties and events.

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