About
The Vespers is a musical duo for hire in Brisbane, QLD.
Smooth jazz, mid-century pop and a bit of vintage country. The Vespers are a Brisbane duo built by two long-serving musicians whose credits include the Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth cruise ships, the 2023 Matilda Awards, The Tivoli and the refurbished Princess Theatre. The set can go formal jazz for a cocktail hour, then swing into 60s grooves or straight covers later on. Expect Julie London, Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Great American Songbook standards through to the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash. Book them as a simple guitar or piano duo, or add instrumentalists and backing vocals for something bigger. Push it further again and you get a full band with trumpet, sax and clarinet. It's a new collaboration, but not a new pair of musicians, and that shows in how little fuss it takes.
Watch
The show
Two experienced musicians who've been around a while, with the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Elizabeth behind them, plus the 2023 Matilda Awards, The Tivoli and the reworked Princess Theatre. The set changes shape with the event. Jazz for a formal night or a cocktail hour, 60s grooves, or a straight covers set when the occasion is casual. Guitar or piano keeps it simple as a duo. Add instrumentalists and backing vocals when you want something with more weight behind it.
On the day
At the simplest level it's guitar, mics and a small PA, all supplied, though a venue with its own system is better in a big room. There's a piano version of the same. Beyond that it scales to a trio or larger group, and at the top end a full band that can bring in trumpet, sax and clarinet, extra vocalists, even a small dance team.
Performance options
Four ways to book them. The smallest is the duo playing a single set of roughly 45 to 50 minutes, with further sets added as the night needs them. Step up to the trio and you gain a drum kit and piano behind the pair. The largest option is a five piece: vocals, keys, guitar, drums and woodwind, which is where the jazz material really opens out. Every configuration works on the same basis, a first set with as many following sets as your event calls for. Talk to them about which fits the room and the running order you have in mind.
Insurance and paperwork
Public liability insured
Song list
17 songs
and many Great American Songbook.
The Beatles
Carly Simon
Diana Ross etc
Dolly Parton
Dusty Springfield
Ella Fitzgerald
Fleetwood Mac
Frank Sinatra
Hall & Oats
Johnny Cash & June Carter
Julie London classics
Kate Bush
Mamas & the Papa's
Nancy Sinatra
Patsy Cline
Shirley Bassey 007 tunes
