Anyone can arrange
the totally typical and
somewhat boring prerecorded
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:
What makes you stand
out from the other live music
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 is 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 musicjazz,
blues, pop, rock, classical, reggae,country, swing, Calypso, ethnic, Dixie
land, or whatever some one needs.
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.
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!
