About
Matt Dennett is a pianist for hire in Canberra, ACT.
Jazz is the centre of it. Matt Dennett is a Canberra pianist with more than three hundred songs ready to go, and requests get met with or without notice, which tells you how deep the repertoire runs. Twenties, thirties and forties jazz sits alongside Brubeck, Herbie Hancock, Fats Waller and Gershwin. Then there's Chopin, Debussy, Satie and Schubert when a room wants classical. Then Edith Piaf, Django Reinhardt and gypsy jazz, and since he's an accordionist too, the French material is the real thing rather than piano doing an impression of it. Billy Joel, Elton John, Queen and The Beatles cover the popular end. He works solo, in a duo, and with trio and band line-ups including big band. Formal dress, arrives up to an hour early, and needs either a tuned piano or a power point.
Watch
The show
Matt arrives between half an hour and an hour before he's due to play, which gives him time to set up properly and have a word with whoever's running the event. Formal dress. The attitude is professional, the music isn't stuffy. If there's something specific you want in the timing or the order of the night, that pre-event conversation is where it gets sorted rather than mid-set.
On the day
One of two things. If your venue has a tuned piano, that's ideal and he'll play it. If not, he needs a power point somewhere near the performance spot for the keyboard and PA. Non-alcoholic drinks and a feed for Matt, or for the band if you've booked a bigger line-up.
Song list
Popular
Billy Joel, Elton John, The Beatles, Queen and more.
Jazz
20's, 30's, 40's jazz, Dave Brubeck, Herbie Hancock, Fats Waller, George Gershwin,
Classical
Chopin, Debussy, Beethoven, Satie, Liszt, Schubert, Schumann,
French
Edith Piaf, Django Reinhardt, Accordion music (I am also an accordionist)
Gypsy Jazz
Django Reinhardt, Rosenberg, Stephane Grappelli