Last week end the whole band drove up to Norfolk in Connecticut to perform at what turned out to be one of the loveliest weddings we’ve experienced. We started with a light trio, guitar & bass with Tatiana on vocals, and gradually added violin, piano and drums throughout the cocktail hour, dinner and cake cutting. The first dance was the very pure and romantic “Young at Heart” and the “mother & daughter dance” (what a great idea!) was Billy Joel’s oh-so-cool “New York State of Mind”. The evening ended in music too, with everyone dancing to classic jazz tunes under the beautiful garden kiosk. It is always so wonderful to see how our music makes people happy and enhances the special moments they will remember forever. Here is a picture of the cocktail hour trio.

Last Thursday, Avalon Jazz Band was invited to give a private concert during the annual New York City Opera gala that took place at the Plaza Hotel. We performed on the stage of the sumptuous and iconic Grand Ballroom, which is truly a perfect setting for old school jazz. The Plaza Hotel was opened in 1907 and was the scene of many wild parties and grand weddings or celebrations during the jazz golden age. The music felt like it really belonged there, and it was very inspiring to us.

The two stars of La Périchole were in high spirits and decided to sing a couple of tunes with us! French-born mezzo-soprano Marie Lenormand gave a very emotional rendition of Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en rose” and tenor Philippe Talbot tackled “Padam padam” with vehemence and passion that made all the ladies in the audience swoon. It was a fun night, in a ballroom packed with music lovers and experts who let their hair down and danced to the sound of hot French swing.

Avalon Jazz Band got to experience the hype first hand by performing a few times at the notorious Manderley Bar inside the haunted McKittrick Hotel, home of award-winning show Sleep No More. As soon as you walk in you are transported into another era: everything is red, everything is beautiful, everything is deliciously vintage, with a slight gothic touch. When you look around and see a bunch of people wearing “eyes wide shut” Venetian masks, it suddenly makes you feel hip and naughty. The decor obviously fit Avalon Jazz Band’s singer Tatiana Eva-Marie like a glove, and she got the audience howling like wolves out of a Tex Avery cartoon. Below is a picture of the band backstage: Kyle Schweitzer on the saxophone, Jeremy Bruyere on the bass, Gordon Webster on the piano and Adrien Chevalier on the guitar. Don’t miss our next performance at the Manderley Bar, it’s a great place to come listen to old school jazz.

Avalon Jazz Band performed at Manhattan’s edgy downtown Standard Hotel, located in the heart of the hip Meatpacking District. This lovely boutique hotel with a very modern deco twist on a retro 1960′s look has become a landmark of the New York City nightlife thanks to its famous penthouse discotheque and pool Le Bain. Avalon Jazz Band did not go for a swim this time, but rocketed up to the 18th floor, by way of the hotel’s “heaven and hell” animated elevator, to the oddly misnamed Boom Boom Room. We were all expecting an Austin Poweresque shag room full of orange velvet sofas, red vinyl and disco balls and were extremely surprised to arrive in one of the most stunningly beautiful bars in New York City. It most definitely has a 1960′s vibe, but of refined and tasteful kind, perfectly suited for Don Draper, an Old Fashioned and jazz of course. A hidden gem with a breathtaking view that we recommend to you all! Come listen to us on April 19th.

Legendary New York City restaurant Le Cirque recently started “Musical Mondays” in their very comfortable and sultry café area. Avalon Jazz Band was very happy to be among the first to perform there! It was definitely in our top 5 most magical New York moments ever. The audience was wonderful and the atmosphere actually felt like an intimate and casual private concert. We were suprised to find out that the area they call “Le Cirque Café” was much more affordable ($38 prix fixe menu) than the usual dining room while offering the same outstanding quality. We think Musical Mondays are going to attract a younger crowd and give a new freshness to this truly magical and authentic place. Their musical agenda is tasteful and fun (obviously, since they programmed us!) and we can’t wait to be back, both as a performers and guests. The chocolate and passion fruit dessert will be enough to lure us back in…

Join Avalon Jazz Band at the hottest French spot in New York City, Brasserie Beaumarchais on Tuesday February 12th 2013 from 7 to 10pm for a Mardi Gras Dinner Party!

The celebrations of Mardi Gras arrived in North America in the 17th century when the territories of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana belonged to the King of France. Today, New Orleans is one of the Mardi Gras capitals of the world!

It’s a night of decadence! Avalon Jazz Band and lovely singer Tatiana Eva-Marie will be performing New Orleans style jazz and French swing. The dress code is: Anything Goes! Wear your finest masks, softest feathers, sexiest colours and join us for a fun musical evening!

Avalon Jazz Band had a very busy New Year’s Eve, which included two awesome retro-inspired parties, prohibition cocktails, VIP access to Times Square, champagne and cigars, celebrity sightings and a whole lot of silly pictures.

We opened the evening at Beaumarchais, the trendy French spot in the meatpacking district, where they were having a Great Gatsby black and white party. The sexy hostesses wore their finest flapper outfits, feathers and all, and French bartender Adrien, the best mixologist in town was creating tasty masterpieces. After our performance we rushed to our next destination: Times Square! It was quite an adventure, and a difficult one even with our VIP passes. The police were grouchy (and who can blame them?) and very suspicious of what a violin case might contain on such a night. They almost seemed disappointed not to find a Al Capone’s Tommy gun, but fortunately we were allowed to pass. We even made it on time for our second appearance of the night, the Golden Age cinemascope party at The Lambs Club. Celebrity sightings of the night included Ryan Seacrest and Mario Lopez, who played the role of Slater on “Saved by the Bell” (how fun is that?), and of course our favourite Iron Chef was there, Geoffrey Zakarian, and below is a picture of him and executive chef Eric Haugan with the lovely Tatiana Eva-Marie.

New York City is a wonderful place to be during the holidays! The Yuletide spirit can be felt at every street corner: the thousand nightlights, the smell of pumpkin latte in the air, the cold ocean wind murmuring along the busy streets full of Christmas shoppers. Avalon Jazz Band’s musical contribution to the seasonal merriments happened at the National Arts Club, one of the most beautiful specimens of historical New York, located near Gramercy Park. We performed there in our sextet formation with Tatiana Eva-Marie on vocals, Adrien Chevalier on the violin, Hyuna Park on the piano, Michael Valeanu on the guitar, Jérémy Bruyère on the bass and Francesco Ciniglio on the drums. Our repertoire was a mix of holiday swing, standarts and French jazz and we were very warmly welcomed by the audience who were clearly jazz aficionados. We will be performing there again soon!

Our steady guitarist went on vacation in Europe this summer, so we decided to invite our old friend Romain Constant, a French Gypsy jazz guitarist from Paris, to come play with us in the meanwhile. It’s his first time in America and our first gig together, as he was barely off the plane, was at Radegast Hall in Brooklyn.

Romain Constant dedicated his life to the pursuit of swing and the specific sound of “jazz manouche” as Django Reinhardt played it in the 1930′s. He is without a doubt the most old school guitarist you’ll ever meet and he is famous for his melodious and dreamy style of improvisation. He was recently featured in PBS and Arte’s documentary “Harlem in Montmartre”, which tells the story of the black Americans who left America to create the jazz age in Paris between the First and Second World Wars, fleeing the brutal segregation and racism of their own country.

Romain Constant will be in New York for a couple of weeks and we are very proud and honored to have him join our little band of musical vagrants. Below is a picture of us in front of Radegast Hall in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Please check out our calendar to find out when we are performing next.

Radegast Hall

Since our good friend swing guitarist Romain Constant is visiting from France, we decided to take him out for a night on the town and show him some of our cool New York musical spots. First we stopped by speakeasy/cabaret Sleep No More, located in the beautifully decadent 1930′s McKittrick Hotel, to call on our friend violinist Scott Tixier who was performing there with the Candy Shop Boys. Then, we all headed towards Alphabet City to get some New York pizza slices as a midnight snack before stepping into a time machine and being transported to Mona’s in the 1920′s. Every Tuesday, this famous bar turns into an old school swing jam, led by Mona’s Hot Four, which includes our pal stride mastermind Gordon Webster who performed on our CD “Paris Paris”. Romain Constant was delighted to sit in with them and bring some Django style Gypsy swing to the mix. Below are pictures of Romain Constant and Tatiana Eva-Marie jamming at Mona’s.

Mona’s Hot 4

Sleep No More

Gordon Webster