# Recommendations of music for wine bar gig - background/ambient/jazz/?



## TheSixthWheel (Feb 12, 2011)

Wow, I never thought I'd be posting in this section 

Found an interesting opportunity today - to play a 3 hour set (9-12pm) on Friday or Saturday nights at a local wine bar. I've got a good mate with a nice Roland e-kit in mind for drum duties. It'll probably just be him and me (guitar) as a duo, keeping it basic.

I approached the owner of the establishment. He was sceptical at first but this could be to do with money rather than him thinking that live music would be inappropriate. After some discussion, he's interested in having some quiet/ambient music to be playing in the background. Nothing which would impede the flow of conversation, because people painly come there to hang out, catch up and chat. So I'm thinking some quiet jazz, some ambient soundscape stuff, etc...Only really simple and effective stuff, nothing too elaborate. Dress code (IMO) would be semi formal attire, hoping to look and sound as professional and as tidy as possible.

What I'm after from you guys is a few things:

1 - Some recommendations for music to be playing. Maybe specific tracks we could cover, or tone down to perform a more mellow version of. I already have bunches of ideas, but maybe there's a few of you who have a few tried and tested personal favourites for situations like this, which work well with only guitar and drums.

2 - Some recommendations for equipment. Getting the most out of maybe one decent powered speaker sounds good to me at the moment..? The venue twists around a bit and is much longer than it is wide. We wouldn't try to project all the way down the back of the venue, it'd be too loud for those near us...Having said that, the first thing I thought of when in conversation with the owner was utilising my Kustom 2x12 amp and my little travel rack (Lexicon reverb unit, 31 band stereo EQ, Power conditioner).

3 - Being that I've NEVER done anything like this before, some general playing/attire/conduct advise or humerous anecdotes would be rather fitting. Also, what kind of breaks would a duo expect to be given during a paid 3 hour gig?


Cheers guys, Nick.


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## CrushingAnvil (Feb 12, 2011)

George Benson - "Feel like making love"

PS. I'm chopped.


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## Skyblue (Feb 12, 2011)

Jim Hall-like stuff if you ask me. if you could get a pianist, it would be great... a bassist might even be more helpful in general. 
Here's an example for a piece in an extremely chillaxed mode, yet it's awesome: 
 

I know there are wind instruments, but it's just an example. try to gather some cool jazz standards, maybe a few jazz ballads... 

as for ambient I have no idea, that's really not my territory~


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## SirMyghin (Feb 12, 2011)

Not sure what to tell you track wise. I don't this the tracks are important. You are more part of the atmosphere in this situation than anything. Some nice light improv in various keys etc. Nothing too busy. Keep it low key, and go from there. Victor Wooten talks a bit about gigs of that nature somewhere, he used to do them solo, effectively used them as practice time. Tapping through the chords in a scale /arpeggios, etc.


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## a1a2a3a4 (Feb 13, 2011)

Directly from my heart to you - Frank Zappa


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## jymellis (Feb 13, 2011)

portishead
lovage


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## KingAenarion (Feb 13, 2011)

Moodance... 

Any good Jazz standard (Summertime, All of Me etc)


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## TheSixthWheel (Feb 13, 2011)

Cool suggestions so far, thanks people. I'll let you know how I fare.


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## Solodini (May 7, 2011)

Love a bit of Oscar Peterson. Kurt Rosenwinkel's fun, as well.


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