Wedding Singers Found Here

One of the most essential elements of a great wedding is the music. The right song at the right time helps set the mood and a live band is a great way to achieve an intimate feel. Anyone can arrange the totally typical and somewhat boring pre-recorded songs played by a disk jockey, but as they say, there’s nothing like the real thing.

We spoke to Jack Morelli of Jack Morelli Music to better understand how large a role music plays on this important day and what you may want to consider incorporating into your wedding.

Urbanette Magazine: What makes you stand out from the other agencies and what do you bring to the stage?

Jack Morelli: I love what I do — no one ever calls me and says “My grandma died, I need a jazz trio.” I get to supply music for people’s happy times/celebrations. It’s wonderful.

Music is in my blood. I have been playing drums professionally since I was fourteen years old and I come from a family that takes music very seriously. My dad played drums till he was 85 and was a very successful band leader. My brother, Bob Morelli, is the president of Red Records, a subsidiary of Sony Records and is one of the most successful people in the record biz. My son Jakob is a professional musician based out of Philly, who has recently performed w/Roberta Flack, K’Nann, Aretha, and Queen Latifah.

Agencies usually have a number of “set bands.” If you don’t see one you really love, you have to settle or go elsewhere. We have a few amazing “set bands” but what’s really cool is we have an ever growing database of the best musicians in the area. When a client tells us what they want, we hand pick the appropriate musicians/DJ’s to create the perfect ensemble for each client’s tastes, needs and budgets. It’d never a cookie cutter solution — one size does not fit all!

We use the best musicians available. Really. Our professionals are music professors, have appeared on Broadway and in top venues around the country/world, and have been on tour with name acts. Our men have toured with Aretha, Adele, Hall and Oates, Billy Joel. McCoy Tyner, Harry Connick Jr., Foreigner, Jennifer Lopez, Tower of Power, Jay Z, Celine Dione, Jim Hall, Diana Ross, Maria Cary, Count Basie Orchestra, name it. We only use serious professionals who do music for a living. It is not a hobby or part time job — they show up early, dressed appropriately, ready to please the crowd, with a smile on their face.

Jack Morelli Music has all size groups available: a solo musician, a duo, trio, quartet all the way up to a 19 piece big band we offer all styles of music-jazz, blues, pop, rock, classical, reggae, country, swing, Calypso, ethnic, Dixie land, or whatever some one needs.

“We have good instincts and keep people from making bad choices.”

Urbanette: How do you prepare for weddings? Do you have a set that you normally play for such events and how much of your set list is client-driven?

Jack: We prepare for a wedding the same way we prepare for any party/event. A client gets an in-depth questioning about their party/event: number of guests, age range, ethnic background, do they want dancing, announcements, mild or wild. Then, we handpick the right musicians and the musicians are informed what a client is expecting.

There’s never a set list since it’s usually not a set band. As soon as the musicians arrive, they check out the audience, assess the situation, begin with a few appropriate tunes, watch the reaction and then pick the right tunes to create the correct mood for the moment. That mood or style of music might change each hour, and then the song selection will change accordingly.

Clients are always asked for the general feeling they want the night to have: a list of tunes that are requested and then a “do not play list.” Each client is treated as an individual. Many of our competitors play the same tunes for every client, whether they want them or not — Aretha, Barry White, Earth Wind and Fire, Black Eyed Peas etc. These are fine if the client wants that, but we do not assume that’s what they want. Maybe they want Miles Davis, John Coltrane, the Beatles, the Stones, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Bruno Mars, the Who, Bob Marley- Mozart, etc.

“If the agency gets lazy, you will hear the same tunes for every client’s party — how boring, how repetitious, how sad…”

Urbanette: How do you manage unusual requests from clients?

Jack: We ask a million questions to find out what they want — if they know exactly what they want, they get it. But, often, they don’t really know what they want — so we help figure it out. Sometimes, what they ask for may not be a great idea. One couple who was Russian asked us to play a lot of Russian music. When we asked how many guests were coming, they said 250 people. When asked how many guests will be Russian, they replied 6. We then tactfully asked if it might be a better idea to have most of the repertoire consist of standards, jazz classics, Sinatra and then during the breaks, play some authentic Russian tunes through our sound system w/out iPod. They agreed and it worked out spectacularly! Some clients ask for 4 hours of bagpipes, harp, steel drums, and we gently try to persuade them to do something that will appeal to all of their guests for an entire night. We have good instincts and keep people from making bad choices.

One client asked us to have a classical duo play their ceremony. When asked for the tune they wanted to be married to, they said the “Theme from Star Wars”. We explained that a duo might not be able to do “justice” to such a song that was written to be played by a large full orchestra. They insisted, our men played their best and the client’s loved it!

For more on Jack Morelli Music, check out www.jackmorellimusic.com