Choosing musicians for a smaller, more intimate wedding is harder than you might imagine. You want something upbeat but not excessively so, something that will add depth and eloquence without overwhelming everything else you do, and something distinctive and a little bit alternative, so that your guests will remember *this* particular wedding, rather than all the other weddings they've attended. For us, Swing Train 42 was absolutely perfect on all these counts. After flipping through dozens of promotional videos for different bands, looking at smooth Jazz, classic Jazz, Swing and pure Acoustic and Folk, we quickly realised that very little fitted what we wanted. Brass and sax were just too pushy; the Folk was usually too melancholy, and for Jazz we just couldn't find the right balance of melodic accessibility and intimate originality. ST42 however was unique in striking the exact right balance of melody, musicianship, and the particular, very attractrive sonal quality of a bass, guitar and mandolin.
So far as the booking itself goes, ST42 were a breeze to work with, accommodating and helpful with great communication. They like to do 2x or 3x 45 minute sets, but were happy to accommodate our preference for 4x 30 minute sets instead, so that we could have music to accompany all the important parts of the wedding. We also asked if they could manage several off-repetoire songs, some of which were in a similar style (Paolo Conte), but one of which was totally leftfield (Bob Marley's "Is this Love?") Needless to say, they rose to the occasion with aplomb and did a fantastic job!
Andrea, Vivian and Chris are not only first class musicians; they are also really nice people, unassuming and fantastic at what they do. Andrea doesn't blow his own trumpet (if you'll forgive the mixed metaphor), so I didn't appreciate when we made the booking that he also performs at Ronnie Scott's! So with ST42 you are hiring some of the best musicians in the country, at a very good price. The one thing I'd like to point out is that their online videos don't do justice to their range of ability, and they are actually even better than their videos suggest