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| Manhattan Magic is a dance band that specialises in jazz, swing, Dixie and standards. The Band accepts bookings in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. | ||
We
specialise in providing professional live music for a wide variety of
clients and events. If you demand high quality performance, style and
presentation, make Manhattan Magic your first choice. |
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Our
full band of six musicians offers a wide choice of repertoire and is
perfect when dancing is to be a feature of your event. We also offer
three and four piece combinations for smaller venues. |
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To
guarantee your complete satisfaction we carefully discuss in advance
personal preferences and individual requirements. We look forward to working on your behalf to create a successful and memorable occasion with: |
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Jazz is considered by some as the most important
contribution that America has made to the world of music. Jazz is chiefly
but not exclusively instrumental. This is not to say that there have
not been many great jazz singers. Whilst it can be written down it is
essentially an improvised art form. That is to say, the musicians will
devise their own music based on the chords of a piece. The repertoire
ranges from simple twelve bar blues to thirty-two bar standards. These
are popular songs that are 'jazzed-up'. The make up of a jazz band can
vary but is based on the line-up of rhythm section, composed of keyboard,
bass and drums, with a front line of brass and reeds which are typically
trumpets, trombones and alto and tenor saxophones.
So many different ingredients have gone into the making of jazz that it is difficult to give a clear account of its history. At the beginning the American Negro slaves expressed their feelings and accompanied their work with song. Work song and blues were a means of expressing deep emotion. Gospel songs and spirituals gave the Negro his own voice. Another ingredient in the birth of Jazz was Ragtime. It was popular around the turn of the 19thC as written down piano music. The first jazz performers played entirely by ear. The Negro musicians of New Orleans mixed all these styles together, playing entirely by ear. The centre of jazz was to later move up to Chicago and black musicians like Louis Armstrong began playing with whites. At this time jazz began to be written down and by the 1930s jazz had become established. Big bands became popular and famous names such as Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman were in demand. During the 1940s the household name of Glen Miller became established to be never forgotten. Swing is the jazz style that emerged during the 1930s. It spilled into the late 1940s and then remained popular in recordings, film, and television. Most swing-style groups had at least 10 musicians and featured four saxophones, two or three trumpets, two or three trombones, piano, guitar, bass, and drums.. Musicians strove for large, rich tone qualities on their instruments. Solo improvisers did not seek intricacy in their lines so much as lyricism and a hot, confident feeling that was rhythmically compelling. For these reasons, the musical period of the 1930s and 1940s has been known as the swing era and big-band era. Not all dance music played by big bands of the 1930s and 1940s was jazz. However many people considered almost any lively, syncopated popular music to be jazz. For many decades the saxophone has been the voice of Jazz. It is capable of a wide range of tonal sounds, from the rich sonorous to the wild and wailing. Manhattan Magic makes full use of the saxophones in it's performances. Whether it be dinner jazz, swing, standards, Dixie, Rock and Roll or pop. |
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