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Private Event FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions

About Us
Q: What have previous corporate clients of yours had to say?
Q: What have previous wedding & private event clients of yours had to say?
Q: What are some of the event sites you've played at?
Q: Can I see some photos of you?
Q: How can I learn more about you and your background?
General
Q: Our event site says that amplified music is prohibited. What does that mean for us?
Q: Do you ever work with a vocalist?
Q: Will you have a microphone for us to use?
Q: How much space do you require, to set up?
Q: What are your electrical requirements?
Q: It's very important to us that our guests be able to converse easily. Are you able to play quietly?
Q: I like your CD and I think it'd be nice as a gift for some of our guests. Can we buy the CD's at a discount?
Hiring & Payment
Q: I'm interested in hiring you for a certain date, but I see you're already working that day. Should I contact you anyhow?
Q: What do we need to do to secure you for our event? Do you take a deposit?
Q: Do you accept credit cards?
Q: When do you expect the final payment?
Event Timing & Breaks
Q: Do you take breaks? How frequently?
Q: Can we coordinate one of your breaks with our (speech / toast / award ceremony...)?
Q: Are you able to provide recorded background music during your breaks?
Q: When will you arrive to set up?
Q: We'd like you to be all set up  (x)  hours before the event. Will that be a problem?
Q: What if our event goes longer than we expect?
Wedding-Specific
Q: Do you play music for wedding ceremonies? What sort of music?
Q: Do you have any songs to recommend for a first dance?
Q: We'd like background music early on and dancing music later. What group size would you recommend?
Q: Can you serve as MC?
Repertoire
Q: How do you decide what songs you'll play?
Q: Do you take requests?
Q: Do you have a general list of tunes for us to browse for ideas?
Q: Can I listen to some of your music online?

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How can I learn more about you and your background?
For general background, you can see my bio. For a more personal take, you might want to read this Jazz Improv Magazine interview or this San Francisco Chronicle article.

Our event site says that amplified music is prohibited. What does that mean for us?
More often than not, that means that the venue does not permit loud music. Since jazz is inherently an acoustic music, we do fine in such cases, despite the fact that we use some amplification.
In some cases, however, the site's request may be based on a local ordinance that forbits any electric amplification. That can be a bit stickier, though there may still be ways for us to work around it. Feel free to have your site coordinator call contact us at 510 654-3221 or through this website.
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Do you ever work with a vocalist?
Yes, we do. Some excepational vocalists in particular whom we work with are Nicolas Bearde, Jackie Ryan, and Jennifer Lee, and Ed Reed.
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How do you/we decide what songs you'll play?
We like to have the freedom to choose songs as we go, depending on the feeling we get from the event and your guests -- in terms of their energy level and how we see them respond to different sorts of music. We never begin an event with a predefined set list. That said, if you have any particular songs that you'd especially love to hear or styles that you prefer, we're happy to accomodate your wishes as much as possible.
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Do you take requests?
We're happy to field requests on the fly if we know them. If an excentric guest comes up and asks for something we think you might not want us to play, we'll ask them to OK it with you first.
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Can I listen to some of your music online?
Yes, there are lots of songs available for you to listen to on our general audio page. As a demonstration, we have also recorded numerous versions of a popular song to illustrate the sounds of different instrumentations we play in, which you can find on the main events page. Here are a few more tracks you might find useful: A swinging number from the Count Basie songbook; A collection of Christmastime songs. Lastly, you may want to visit our special section about wedding ceremony music on this page.
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Can I see some photos of you?
We have a small event gallery you can visit, of photos people have sent us when we've performed at their private events. In addition you can peruse the site's main photo gallery.
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What do we need to do to secure you for our event? Do you take a deposit?
We ask for a deposit of one third of the total amount in order to secure a date. You can send that as a check whenever you have decided you want us to play and we have agreed on the instrumentation and time. If there is a time change, we'll make every effort to accomodate it; please let us no as soon as possible. Please send payment to Anton Schwartz at 3240 Peralta Street #2, Oakland CA 94608-4130.
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Do you accept credit cards?
We are normally paid by check. We are happy to accept credit cards as well, but must add a 3% fee to offset the additional cost. You can make a credit card payment at antonjazz.com/payment.
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When do you expect the final payment?
We ask for the balance to be paid by check on the day of the event, upon completion. If this is not feasible, please let us know in advance so that we can make alternate arrangements.
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Will you have a microphone for us to use?
If we are performing with a vocalist, or for a large number of people, we will have a microphone and sound system which you may use for annoucements and toasts and the like. Otherwise, we generally do not use a central sound system, so if you need a microphone please let us know in advance - we can generally work something out. We can also arrange for a wireless microphone for an additional fee.
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How much space do you require, to set up?
This depends on the number of musicians we're performing as. Some examples: A quartet of sax-keyboard-bass-drums would require approx 8'x10'. A trio of sax-keyboard-bass might need just 5'x8'; A sax-keyboard duo 4'x6'. A sound system, when needed, will require a few more feet of width. Remember that you should also budget a bit of space in front of us where no people will be seated.
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What are your electrical requirements?
In general, we need just a single grounded 110v (everyday, three-prong) outlet within 15 feet or so of where we'll be playing. If it's further away let us know and we'll bring the appropriate extension cords. We don't draw much power; 5 amps is more than enough, so any normal circuit will be fine.
When we use a full sound system, we again need only a single grounded outlet, but our power consumption may go up to 10amps. This is still fine for a normal circuit, as long as it is not shared by other high-consumption devices such as stage lighting or heating.
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What if our event goes longer than we expect?
If you are unsure about how long the event will go, there are a couple ways to handle it. First, you can book us for a longer period of time to be safe. Alternatively, you can request that we be available for overtime. In that case, we'll ask you as our alotted time is coming to an end whether you'd like us to continue longer. The first way is simpler, and will be less expensive if you wind up using the extended time... but the second option may be preferable for you if you see overtime as an unlikely possibility you'd like to provide for.
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I'm interested in hiring you for a certain date, but I see you're already working that day. Should I contact you anyhow?
Yes, for two reasons. First, it is sometimes possibile for me to rearrange public performances for the sake of private ones. Second, if it turns out that I am firmly booked elsewhere you may want to consider hiring my group with one of my excellent colleages playing saxophone in my place. We've done this dozens of times in recent years, and the clients have been delighted without exception.
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It's very important to us that our guests be able to converse easily. Are you able to play quietly?
We are extremely sensitive to volume issues. Conversation is frequently an important part of the private events we play, and we make it a point to play as quietly as necessary to honor that fact. We have played events which call for us to perform in very close quarters for the boards of Fortune 100 companies, while they converse.
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I like your CD and I think it'd be nice as a gift for some of our guests. Can we buy the CD's at a discount?
Absolutely! All of our CDs are very listenable, even to people who don't know much about jazz. (For winter holiday events, Holiday Time makes a great gift.) We are able to extend the following prices to you for the CD's, individually or in combination - see below. By comparison, Borders and Tower Records buy the CDs wholesale for approx $10 and sell them for $15-17.

WMC SL RB HT

Quantity Prices for our CDs as Gifts
Quantity CD: When Music Calls
or The Slow Lane
or Radiant Blue		CD: Holiday Time
5-14 $10. $7.
15-59 $9. $6.50
60-119 $8. $6.
120+ $7. $5.50

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Do you take breaks? How frequently?
Yes, we generally take a break every hour, for about fifteen minutes. So four a four hour performance that would be three breaks.
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Can we coordinate one of your breaks with our (speech / toast / award ceremony...)?
By all means. We can be flexible about when to take our breaks, so long as we don't go for more than about 75 minutes without a break.
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Are you able to provide recorded background music during your breaks?
If we are performing with a vocalist, we will have a sound system through which we can play recorded background music. Otherwise, we generally do not use a central sound system. Many venues (restaurants, wineries, hotels) are already set up for background music. If yours is not, give a call or an email, and we may be able to work something out.
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When will you arrive to set up?
Generally we can be set up and good to go within fifteen minutes of our arrival. We allow more time than that simply to account for traffic and unforseen circumstances; exactly when in advance we plan to arrive depends mostly on the the venue and the time of day (e.g. rush hour). When we use a central sound system we allow an extra 45 mins. or so for setting that up. All that might be more than you want to know; the bottom line is: if you want us to start at 7pm we'll be set up and ready to start playing at 7pm.
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We'd like you to be all set up  (x)  hours before the event. Will that be a problem?
We are very good at setting up quietly and professionally, even when an event is already in progress. If the situation is such that we must be set up in advance of our performance time, we must charge a surcharge for the time we spend waiting.
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Do you play music for wedding ceremonies? What sort of music?
Yes, we play cermony music in various formats ranging from a solo instrument (saxophone, guitar, or piano) to duos and trios. The most popular format is probably sax-guitar or sax-piano duo.

We often begin playing 20 or 30 minutes before the actual ceremony, to make the guests feel comfortable as they arrive and wait seated. (Not a bad thing to have going on, too, if there are any last minute delays!)

For processional music (while the bridal party walks down the isle), we can play the standard "Here Comes The Bride" (the Bridal Chorus from Wagner's Lohengrin) or any number of other pieces, classical or more contemporary. Some popular classical selections are: Air from Handel's Water Music, Air on a G String (Bach), "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Pachelbel's Canon in D, Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary, Schuberts's Ave Maria. A more jazz-oriented selection which we really like for the purpose is a Thad Jones composition. You can listen to a livelier version and a calmer version. Other jazz alternatives include In a Sentimental Mood, Skylark, Body & Soul, I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face...

For recessional music (after the ceremony, for the bride & groom to walk away to), we can play the traditional Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn, or an alternate classical piece such as Beethoven's Ode to Joy -- or, many times it is appropriate to just play an upbeat jazz tune, marking the beginning of the reception phase of the wedding. Some nice choices for that include Our Love Is Here to Stay, If I Were a Bell, Get Happy, Anything Goes.... Occasionally we've ventured into non-jazz territory with tunes such as How Sweet It Is, Happy Together, and Linus and Lucy (the Peanuts theme).
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Do you have any songs to recommend for a first dance?
A few ideas for FIRST DANCE songs (slow dance):

A few ideas for FIRST DANCE songs (more upbeat): [back to top]

Can you serve as MC for our wedding?
We're happy to make small announcements for you, such as the first dance and the cake cutting. For more elaborate involvements, you might want to consider asking a groomsman or bridesmaid, or hiring someone.
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We'd like background music early on and dancing music later. What group size would you recommend?
We often begin an event as a duo or trio during cocktails or dinner (for example, sax-bass-piano), and expand the group into a quartet or quintet for dancing -- by adding a drummer and, perhaps, a vocalist. We'll be happy to discuss this possibility with you. [back to top]

Do you have a general list of tunes for us to browse for ideas?
Below is a list of some songs we do instrumentally. This list isn't complete, and if there are any that you particularly want it'd be prudent for you to tell us in advance... but this'll be good for some ideas, anyhow. Likewise, if there are any other standards you'd particularly like to hear, chances are we can field them -- just ask. Also note that our repertoire is different with each vocalist with whom we work, including many tunes you may not see here.

Ballads

Other Standards Latin (Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, Calypso, etc.) Miscellaneous Jazz Bebop 3/4 Time Modal Shuffle / Bluesy Funk/Pop/Rock (Instrumental) Funk/Pop/Rock (Vocal) Christmas Songs [back to top]

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