About
The Hokey Carmichaels is a jazz band for hire in Sydney, NSW.
Pedal steel guitar and horn arrangements is not a combination you hear often, and it's what makes The Hokey Carmichaels stand out on both the jazz and country swing circuits in Sydney. Tenor sax, cornet and steel guitar swing through standards like Georgia On My Mind, Caravan, Sweet Georgia Brown, St. Louis Blues, Stardust and Tennessee Waltz, with a good balance of sung numbers and instrumentals. Everything is played live, with no backing tracks. As a quintet they can hold an easy background feel or push harder as the night goes on, and adding a drummer for the sextet gives you a genuinely uptempo set. They need a level performance space, power, and shelter if you're outdoors. Battery-powered sound is available where there's no mains. Insured.
Watch
The show
Pedal steel guitar sitting inside horn arrangements is the thing that makes this band sound like nobody else on the Sydney circuit. Tenor sax, cornet, guitar, bass, some numbers sung and some left instrumental. Every note is played by a person on the night, with no backing tracks propping anything up. They'll talk to you beforehand about where the evening should sit, because the quintet can hold a low, easy background feel just as comfortably as it can swing hard. Add a drummer for the sextet and the uptempo jazz and country material really opens up.
On the day
The band needs a level surface to play on and reasonable access to get the gear to it. Let them know where the power is when you book. If there isn't any, they carry battery powered sound equipment, which makes lawns, paddocks and remote sites workable. Outdoors, they need protection from sun, rain and wind. Very large rooms sometimes call for audio and lighting production beyond what the band carries, and they'll flag it if that's the case.
Performance options
Two shapes to pick from. The quintet is guitar, pedal steel, tenor sax, cornet, bass and vocals, and it covers everything from background swing to a properly driving set. The sextet is the same group with a drummer added, which is the one to book if you want the night to lean uptempo across the jazz and country material. Both run in 45 minute sets, and how many you take depends on how long you need music for.
Insurance and paperwork
Public liability insured
Song list
33 songs
After You've Gone
Big Beaver
Blues For Dixie
Caravan
Cherokee
Choo Choo Ch'Boogie
Coquette
Deed I Do
Flippitty Flop Flop
Georgia On My Mind
I'll See You In My Dreams
I'm Sitting On Top Of The World
If I Had You
Jumpin At The Woodside
Just Squeeze Me
Lazy Bones
Mama's Gone Good Bye
Moten Swing
Okie Boogie
The Preacher
Rosetta
St. Louis Blues
Stack- O - Lea Blues
Star Dust
