The best jazz duos in Perth
Two players is the smallest booking that still sounds like music rather than someone performing at people, and in Perth that suits an enormous amount of what actually happens. River terraces, small Fremantle rooms, a courtyard where the afternoon light lasts until nine and nobody wants a drum kit anywhere near it.
Choose on the pairing rather than on the word jazz. A vocal pairing has your guests naming songs between mouthfuls; an instrumental one lets the talking carry the room; an upright bass in the mix takes the hardness off a concrete space better than any amount of extra volume. The list here is short, so send your date to several pairings at once instead of working down it one reply at a time.
Top picks in Perth
Top picks are the acts in this category in Perth, without a review, rating or premium ranking: all these sort keys are tied.
Questions people ask about jazz duos in Perth
How much does a jazz duo cost in Perth?
Two chairs, and how long you want them playing, gives you the base figure. Then comes the drive, since a Swan Valley winery or a run down south swallows a whole day rather than an evening. One unbroken booking from arrival drinks through to the end of dinner tends to beat splitting the same night into two bookings, so ask for it that way. Only a few Perth pairings publish a figure here, so send your venue and hours to several and compare on what each price includes.
Is a jazz duo loud enough for a Perth wedding?
Indoors, for a ceremony, canapes and a sit-down meal of moderate size, it holds up well. Put the same pair on an open lawn and the music disappears upwards, so the players push harder and the back tables still hear very little, which is the thing to know before you plan a garden reception. If a duo suggests you add a third player for your numbers, take the advice.
What instruments make up a jazz duo?
Around Perth you mostly see a singer working with either a pianist or a guitarist, a saxophone paired with guitar, or something chordal sitting over an upright bass. Each combination does a noticeably different job in a room, so build your shortlist on that rather than on the group name. Then ask for footage of the exact two people you would be hiring, not the bigger band one of them plays in.
How do I choose a duo when none of them show reviews?
There are no ratings attached to any pairing here, so treat the clip as the audition and your own questions as the reference check. Listen for how the two answer each other, because with nobody else playing there is nowhere to hide a pair who met in the car park. Then ask how long they have worked together and what happens when a guest requests something outside their book.
Booking tips
The sea breeze arrives at the same time as your guests
Perth's afternoon breeze off the coast and up the river will lift sheet music off a stand and push a small PA sideways. A pair who work outdoors here will site themselves with their backs to it and weight everything down, so tell them the aspect.
With two people there is no spare
A quartet down a player is still a group. A pair down a player is a solo act you never booked, and in Perth there is no flying somebody in that morning. Ask who covers each chair if one of them wakes up ill, and if the answer is woolly, take the hint.
Say whether it is background or a feature
A background set sits under conversation and never asks for attention, while a feature set expects the room to face it and listen. Both are jazz and they are played completely differently, so name which job the music is doing.