About
Sweet Ade is a jazz band for hire in Caulfield North, VIC.
Six players and a stage full of odd instruments: recorders, ukuleles, clarinet, saxophones, accordion, washboard, drums, sousaphone and piano, with vocals over the top. Sweet Ade dig through music from the late 1800s to now, mixing tunes everyone knows with ones almost nobody does. The result lands with jazz fans and with people who'd never book jazz, which is a harder trick than it sounds. They can play semi-acoustic and low during dinner, then push into concert-style playing or something loud enough to move all ages onto the floor. Weddings, parties, corporate nights and house concerts, indoors or out. They're self-sufficient with gear and work happily in a small space, so long as it's flat and covered.
Watch
The show
The set gets built to fit your night. That might be semi-acoustic playing pitched low enough to talk over dinner, then something livelier that pulls kids and grandparents onto the same floor, and a concert-style segment or full show if you want people seated and listening. Well-known jazz standards sit next to tuneful obscurities, jazzy takes on songs from well outside jazz, novelty numbers, comedy and tunes for the children. There's a no-obligation chat first about what you're planning, and once you book they'll help you slot the music into your run sheet and fine-tune the choices.
On the day
Everything they play through is their own. Power on site is the only ask, and while they do amplify, this is not a loud band. Reckon on an hour to load in and another to pack down, neither of which is billed. Indoors or out is fine, and they'll fit into a fairly tight footprint, though the playing area wants to be reasonably level and covered over for anything longer than a short spot.
Song list
67 songs
These are some examples from our extensive tune list.
Jazz Standards
• After You’ve Gone
• Ain’t Misbehavin’
• All Of Me
• At a Darktown Strutters’ Ball
• Avalon
• Basin St Blues
• Black Orpheus
• Bye Bye Blackbird
• Cakewalking Babies From Home
• Caravan
• Egyptian Fantasy
• High Society
• I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate
• Let’s Fall In Love
• Moon River
• My Baby Just Cares For Me
• Nobody’s Sweetheart Now
• Some Of These Days
• The Shadow Of Your Smile
• What Is This Thing Called Love
• You Meet the Nicest People
Ragtime
