Weddings

For booking and all other inquiries, contact the director Frank Hsieh at director@beantownswing.com, or call

617-272-5730 (New England)
917-830-5730 (New York and all other areas)

The 18-piece Beantown Swing Orchestra, featuring American Idol Season 3 finalist John Stevens, wants to perform at your wedding and to help make it the best ever. If you are looking for a classy, hip, and energetic band that will bring guests of all ages onto the dance floor at the same time, you have found it. With 13 horns, a full rhythm section, an optional string section, and amazing vocalists, no other band can match the awesome sound that we produce. And you might have seen us before – we play ourselves in the 2008 Hollywood movie “My Best Friend’s Girl” with Kate Hudson and Dane Cook!

We specialize in classic big band swing music. This is probably the only musical genre that appeals to all ages (from kids to seniors) and was created specifically for dancing, which is why it is so popular at weddings. The band consists of top-notch musicians, most of whom have recently graduated from Berklee College of Music or the New England Conservatory of Music, two of the finest music schools in the world for jazz and swing. At an average age of 23, not only do we know how to play the music hip enough for the younger crowd to fully enjoy it, but the older folks are constantly amazed that there are musicians from the younger generation who know and love the music that they grew up with. It is definitely a win-win situation. And don’t worry – nobody needs to know how to swing dance to enjoy the music and dance to it!

Eighteen pieces was the standard size of bands during the Swing Era, the last time in Amercian history that music was created specifically for dancing. There are four-part harmonies in each of the sax, trumpet, and trombone sections. There is no other way to recreate the big band sound using any kind of smaller band. Other bands try to do it by turning up the volume, but it just makes it very loud for people next to the speakers. Our sound is almost all acoustic and full and requires very little amplification – the way classy music should be.

As if that wasn’t enough, we set ourselves apart from all other bands by offering a optional 4- to 16-piece string section. Strings were commonly used in conjunction with big bands, particularly by Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, and Dean Martin, and the music is powerful and timeless. By having a 22- to 34-piece band at your wedding (assuming the stage area is large enough), you are making a statement that you take your music seriously and will settle for nothing but the best.

Cocktail hour music

Typically a jazz quartet, this is an ideal combo for background music during the cocktail hour, where conversation is important and you would like your guests to start to loosen up in preparation for dancing later in the evening.  Alternately, the string quartet can perform here, providing a sophisticated ambience which is a perfect complement (and contrast) to the classy and brassy big band music to follow.

Ceremony music

A classical string quartet is the standard for wedding ceremonies. Our string musicians are similar to our big band members – enthusiastic twentysomethings from world-class conservatories. They will perform music during the seating of the guests as well as for the processional, entrance of the bride, and recessional.

Swing dance instructors

Give your guests a special treat and hire a pair of our professional dance instructors to give a group swing dance lesson during the cocktail hour or after dinner.  It’s a great way for your guests to loosen up, have fun, and learn something new (if they don’t already know how to swing).  Our band has been a part of the Boston swing scene since 2006, and we can recommend the best instructors in town who dance to our music all the time and know exactly what moves work best for it.  They can also teach you some dance moves before your big day to incorporate into your first dance, making you look like pros in no time!

FAQ

Can you play something special for our first dance?

For your first dance, we will perform any song of any genre that you request. If it’s not already in our repertoire, we can arrange it in any style (swing or not) that you want, and we will perform and record it and send it to you for approval before your wedding, all free of charge.  We can also do this for your parent dance.

Can you play music for a hora?

We certainly can, and several of our musicians also play in Klezmer bands. We usually play a medley of traditional Jewish dance songs and end with Hava Nagila.  See a clip of this in our wedding sampler video above.  As a matter of fact, there is a hora scene in the movie “My Best Friend’s Girl” where you see us playing Hava Nagila.  That is actually us playing it and in the end credits you can see the song listed as “performed by Beantown Swing Orchestra”!

With so many musicians and horns, are you really loud?

Like a string or pops orchestra, our sound is full without being overly loud because almost everything is acoustic and the instruments are aimed in various directions. Even in Newport, Rhode Island, where there is a strict noise ordinance with a limit of 65dBA, we measured only 45dBA outside under a tent, which would allow us to perform all night long if we wanted to. In contrast, most standard wedding bands are overbearingly loud because they amplify all of their vocals and instruments and blast them through two speakers. They need to do this in order to “fill the room” with sound, so that people not in direct line with the speakers or in the back can still hear the band. The inevitable (and undesirable) result is that for most guests the music is too loud to be able to hear anyone talk and it’s a sure way to send the older folks home early.

Your musicians are so young – are they competent?

Our musicians come from two of the most elite music schools in the world for jazz – Berklee and New England Conservatory. We select top students and recent alumni from these schools who are especially proficient in the swing style, and the result is a band with a quality of musicianship equal to or better than any other wedding band around, swing or not. Our band members live and breathe music. They are not weekend warriors like most wedding bands with older musicians, who usually have office day jobs during the week.

With the music that we play, we’d better be good. It’s mostly acoustic so the sound is crystal clear and any mistakes or pitch problems become obvious. For most wedding bands that amplify everything through two speakers, the sound is muddy and flat, making it easier to hide problems caused by poor musicianship, and thus these bands are often stocked with mediocre musicians.

Where can we see you perform live?

Unlike most other wedding bands, we don’t perform at  sterile and uninspiring “showcases”.  Instead, come see us at one of our many public performances that we do year-round. These are real events where you can actually see for yourself if people like to dance to our music or not, and we get asked to do a lot of these because of the universal appeal of our music.  If you can’t make any of our shows, you can at least check out our wedding video sampler above.  These were filmed live at real weddings, so what you see and hear is a good representation of what you will get from us.  Many other wedding bands show a “staged” video of them performing in a room, and the audio from a studio recording is used as an overdub.