Date:	27-Sep-1999 13:49:13
From:	Ed Fuqua (efuqua@guggenheim.org)
	Guitarist friend of mine was hired to provide (solo guitar) incidental music for a breakfast meeting during the annual convention of Florida Undertakers and Funeral Directors. He had asked if they had any special requests, they said no, and just pointed out in the program notes where they would like music. One of the sections was their "roll call" of recently departed members. The tune my buddy chose? DON'T GET AROUND MUCH ANYMORE.

 

Date:	28-Sep-1999 19:31:43
From:	Don Bates
	High School Prom.....early sixties.....jazz band in a rock and roll setting......announced the name of the Prom Queen and the principal asked for that great Frank Sinatra hit " Lady is A Tramp" o

 

Date:	11-Oct-1999 18:45:02
From:	David Whiteis (whiteis@ipfw.edu)
	A well-known story about the one & only Joe Venuti: apparently he was playing a gig somewhere, during the 70s, & he told the audience that although he didn't usually take requests, he'd take them tonight. The first person to speak up requested the song "Feelings"! Venuti's response: "Feelin's? FEELIN'S? That's the worst goddam song I ever heard in my life! That's it! No more requests!" I don't remember the name of the tune he played instead, but it was an honorable old chestnut that Venuti managed to re-roast into savory new flavors.

 

Date:	16-Oct-1999 18:45:22
From:	bob (captnbob65@aol.com)
	...playing a high school dance in New Madrid, Missouri. during break, a kid comes up and says, "Y'all play kra?" he was asked to repeat 2 or 3 times. finally, exasperated, this poor country boy spells it out: "Y'all play kra? cee-awr-wa (c-r-y)....kra!" Johnny Ray's recording of it was a hit at the time. Yes, loooooong time ago

 

Date:	16-Oct-1999 23:10:40
From:	Ed Fridorich
	Many moons ago I played with the South Jersey Synphony on flute. One of the towns on our concert schedule was named Hammonton and the mayor of the town introduced some of the selections before we played them. I had a copy of the program and squirmed mentally when I noticed the program notes of the next piece included "the composer won the Prix de Rome". I sort of ducked down in my seat when the mayor pronounced Prix the way I thought he would pronounce it and not Pree.

 

Date:	16-Oct-1999 23:12:46
From:	Ed Fridorich
	Many moons ago I played with the South Jersey Synphony on flute. One of the towns on our concert schedule was named Hammonton and the mayor of the town introduced some of the selections before we played them. I had a copy of the program and squirmed mentally when I noticed the program notes of the next piece included "the composer won the Prix de Rome". I sort of ducked down in my seat when the mayor pronounced Prix the way I thought he would pronounce it and not Pree.

 

Date:	20-Dec-1999 00:32:23
From:	RJS
	Here in a recrod store: "Do you have any records by this jazz singer my son likes, she's dead, her name was Holliday...Judy Holliday, I think." Could I make it up?

 

Date:	24-Dec-1999 04:26:30
From:	Ivan
	Jeez , what a bunch of squares, the jokes are so corny!

 

Date:	09-Feb-2000 05:11:04
From:	Harald Linderborg
	I think I agree with the opinion that (many of) the contributions are just corny. Also, they are not all strictly in line with your headings. We all know that the world of jazz is supposed to create lots of rather more colorful stories. Anyway, I cannot resist telling you the following two because they are closely related to a couple of earlier contributions. 1. A friend of mine, who was a great jazz fan and record collector died. At the reception immediately after the funeral, his brother who is an excellent piano player played two tunes. The first one was 'Gone With The Wind', and I thought it perhaps to be an appropriate choice. But what do you think about the second one; 'It Could Happen To You'? 2. When I went to a small record shop back in the sixties, trying to buy some Billie Holiday record. The only album the shop assistant proudly found for me was titled 'Holiday In Hawaii'.

 

Date:	29-Feb-2000 20:37:52
From:	BJ
	Last year i attended at festival at JMU in Virginia. We played a trombone ensemble, and ther were about 12 of us. Well we started our concert and completey screwed the forst dong up. It how bad. so our conductor stops the conert, turns to the audience, and says "sometimes this happens". on top of that when he started us again we did the same thing.

 

Date:	02-Mar-2000 01:40:13
From:	Steve Lee (slee4@carolina.rr.com)
	A friend told me about a wedding he attended where the music was provided by a sort of lounge organist with a penchant for country music. Selections included "Your Cheatin' Heart" and other songs about as appropria

 

Date:	14-Mar-2000 11:29:35
From:	alaina
	you are cool

 

Date:	31-Mar-2000 23:01:46
From:	jeremy
	i was once playing a cocktail/restaurant/solo-piano type gig, and this drunk, not exremely nice, approximately 40 year old woman loudly and repeatedly requests that i play "Linus and Lucy", claiming that i look like schroeder (i'm 21, but i look like i'm 12, so to speak)....also, i've recently heard (haven't had a chance to test this theory out yet) that a performance of the mingus tune "peggy's blue skylight" reminds cocktail bar patrons of "as time goes by" on some subliminal level, so don't play the first unless you want to field many requests for the second.

 

Date:	14-Apr-2000 11:23:44
From:	Bill Sinclair (BillSincl@aol.com)
	I once played for a birthday party for an executive secretary in her 40's who had in her formative years been an expensive call girl. The request? Yup -- you guessed it: "Love For Sale" Actually, she was very amused.......

 

Date:	15-Apr-2000 23:03:55
From:	Bob Jacobson (bobboj@aol.com)
	A guitar player and I (on sax) were playing jazz in the cafe section of a bookstore chain. A guy who was sitting close by called out what we thought was "You got any Jim Beam?", which we thought was kind of odd in that atmosphere. We said no but later realized that he was actually requesting Jobim.

 

Date:	16-Apr-2000 00:36:57
From:	RA
	DJ played at a bar mitzvah - old rock n roll classic: "Jesus is just allright with me..."

 

Date:	21-Apr-2000 18:24:55
From:	theman
	Got two for your amusement: My best friend's wedding, as we're eating dinner, soft music playing in the background. pretty quiet and suddenly dead silent when the DJ played: "To ALL the Girls I've Loved Before." Great local blues band is playing a southern gig. Guy at a table, pretty ripped at this point, inisistently calls out his request: Freebird!!!!!!! Finally, lead singer steps up tot he mic and says, "OK, OK, OK...you want Freebird? Here's your F$%*in' free bird!" And proceeds to give the guy the salute. Crowd goes crazy and we proceeeded with "Mustang Sally."

 

Date:	12-May-2000 05:22:54
From:	Christopher Wigdor
	Joe Venuti and Jimmy Rowles were playing a private afternoon party for a society lady in her expensive brownstone appartment in Manhattan. They had been playing their collective balls off for about an hour when the host came over to them and ask if they couldn't "liven things up a bit". Joe said "No problem", and together with Jimmy pushed the piano out of the window.

 

Date:	23-Jun-2000 09:34:40
From:	Marco (marcoandreoni@yahoo.com)
	Happened to me. Blues band playing in Linz (Upper Austria)- Club owner drunken out of his mind keeps asking for a waltz. Guitar player repeatedly (and very politely, I should say)explains we are a blues band and we don't have any waltzes. This happens a few times. Finally guitar player had it - Pulls 200 schillings out of his wallet, hands them to the dude,and announces on the PA system :"Well go buy the F***in'record!" No pay that night, but it felt pretty good.

 

Date:	30-Jun-2000 13:31:18
From:	Craig Considine
	I was playing a wedding with a rock band for a successful man marrying his second (Trophy) wife. We were playing a James Brown tune when the couple got up unexpectedly and started their first dance. We were playing "Poppa's Got A Brand New Bag"

 

Date:	19-Jul-2000 00:09:13
From:	Charles N.
	I once played organ at a funeral where the deceased's wife asked for her husband's favorite song -- "After the Lovin'." An even weirder thing was that everybody crowded around the coffin crying while singing the song to the deceased. After three choruses, I tried to end the melee, but then the widow shouted, "One more time!"

 

Date:	19-Jul-2000 21:26:04
From:	Nat (n_catchpole@hotmail.com)
	I was playingn at Adnan's Jazz and Blues bar, in Essex, England, with a Saxophone and Piano duo (we only did standards, that was it), on a thursday night. 10% of the audience had pink hair, the other nine of them were pierced or tattooed, or shaved, or leathered or something else. Said hello to the barman, asked him what they usually have. "oh, not much jazz, no-one who comes here likes it very much". First request, (very politely from the pink hair and nose ring guy-we were only 18, so the audience was kind of understanding, i.e they didn't beat us up): "do you know any Black Sabbath?" No sh*t. Adnan's Jazz and Blues Bar, , Military Road,Colchester, Essex, England, check it out We ended up with half pay at the end of the evening as well.

 

Date:	02-Sep-2000 14:23:14
From:	Ganesh Cohn
	Just Finished playing "Straight No Chase" and there was this guy who was attendin the gig from scratch,just when we finished,he requested the same song,not being able to recognize whats the song that just has been played!. Errrr,we played "Hackensack" by monk and he told us our version of "Straight No Chaser" is fantastic?jazz weirdo?

 

Date:	02-Sep-2000 15:17:33
From:	George Colligan (GCOLLME@aol.com)
	I have had so many times when playing gigs with various jazz groups in clubs where people request at the best jazz tunes that are "played out" and at the worst completely inappropriate(like when I played at the Hyatt Regency in Baltimore with a trio that featured flute,piano,and bass, and getting requests for Prince or Madonna tunes).One experience that occured recently sticks out in my mind: I was playing a trio gig at Chris'Jazz Cafe in Philly with a nice trio.We were playing mostly standards but in a very modern way.I think it was clear that we were pesenting ourselves as something artistic rather than background music. A goup of 10 to 15 people came in and sat at a bunch of tables and were very noisy and probably drunk. They weren't there to listen to music, that's for sure. All of a sudden, someone from this group rushes over to the piano and puts a napkin down with about 10 "requests"---some were not even "songs"---like :5)Kenny G or 7)Whitney Houston.AAnd the songs were like "Take the A Train" or Misty or whatever--I think what aggravated me the most was that they so obviously wanted a personal jukebox without even taking an instant to listen to what I was already playing. I personally hate to have people ask for requests because it shows a lack of respect for what the artist is trying to do,and furthermore, it implies that the artist can't pick his own repetoire. Would you go to a museum and ask if they had any Picasso paintings where he painted"more

 

Date:	18-Sep-2000 21:10:05
From:	veteran bassist
	I recently listened to a tape from a gig I did over 25 years ago. It was in a Holiday Inn but the supposedly commercial lounge group was comprised entirely of jazzers. We played a beautiful version of "Here's That Rainy Day". Immediately upon conclusion a voice can be heard politey requesting "Here's That Rainy Day"!

 

Date:	03-Oct-2000 16:17:18
From:	Ed (rocket_miller@hotmail.com)
	Pub gig in the middle of nowhere northwest England, and they keep asking for the "Me NaMe Na" song by the muppets. Normally we say the the guitarist doesn't know that one (which is normally true) but this time we relented sort of - So we did the Flintstones (the head goes fine over rhythm changes) with solos and the next thing we know we get offered a gig for good money. Philistines We now do a jazz version of Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana

 

Date:	10-Oct-2000 12:56:00
From:	Eddie Criminger
	Legend has it that several years ago a local band (known for being somewhat irreverent) opened a gig at the Fraternal Order of Police lodge with "I Shot the Sheriff".

 

Date:	29-Oct-2000 21:24:50
From:	Kevin Roberts (bopsax@cdc.net)
	Doing a wedding gig on Tenor sax in a Church of Christ in the South - no organs or musical instruments allowed in the church sevices, we had to bring them - and the bride requested a solo version of 'In the Mood' as the recessional. Whew, what a trip!

 

Date:	26-Nov-2000 06:21:30
From:	Axel Melhardt (jazzland@chello.at)
	We – the classic jazzband RED HOT PODS from Vienna and myself, Axel Melhardt (manager of the club JAZZLAND in Vienna, Austria, since 1972) - visited with a group of Austrian jazzfans the birthplace of jazz - New Orleans. As anyone knows good jazz is hard to find on Bourbon Street – but we found the CAN CAN, where the wonderful SILVER LEAF JAZZBAND performed. On that special evening Bandleader CHRIS TYLE – an excellent trompet-player – switched to the clarinet since he had an equally good man at the cornet: DUKE HEITGER. They played on our request POTATO HEAD BLUES and CORNET SHOP SUEY and we thought that Louis himself was looking around the heavenly corner. There were about 60 people in the audience. The band and a few jazzfans from Austria (15 people) and appr. 45 elderly american ladies who drank and talked and talked and drank and cared zero for the music. Chris gut frustrated and asked the ladies to get them a little more interested what song they would like to hear and one of them suggested I WISH I WAS IN PEORIA. The Quartett startet and DUKE HEITGER played 4 or 5 chorusses on that tune that were perfect in Satchmos style. We – the band, the fans from Austria and myself – went berserk, the ladies talked and drank and drank and talked. No wonder that many musicians like to perform in europe......

 

Date:	26-Nov-2000 17:58:55
From:	Matt
	I was at my first gig with a new group, and there was quite a turnout at the place we were playing at (mostly friends of the bandleader). When we did a few tunes, someone requested that oh so great Christina Aguilera tune, "What a Girl Wants". I though the person was joking with us, but my bandleader said, "Okay, Matt. Here are the changes:" and he gave me a piece of paper with the changes on it. I couldn't believe we were going to play this, but as I grew to know the members a little more, I found that this "version" of the song was a standard for our group. The only reason I like this song is because the solos consist of honking and blatting on the saxophone, totally mocking Ms. Aguilera's original version.

 

Date:	04-Dec-2000 02:58:22
From:	Henk Meulstee (lekkerding@aol.com)
	We did a month in Zurich, switserland, at the Nova Hotel Bar/lounge, on a small and crowded two feet high stage. When I play and sing I usually close my eyes, when I was in the middle of what I thought was my heartfelt rendition of "Moody's Mood", I hear a soft deep voice about two inches from my ear say:"Is this not I'm in the mood for love?", with a heavy Swiss accent. I opened my eyes, stopped singing and looked up into a heavy bearded face of a giant Swiss mountain man, with a drink in both hands. I am not an agressive person, and very rarely get preturbed by anything, I thought I had seen it all. But he caught me by surprise and I grabbed him by the beard, pulled his face down to mine, (he was standing on the floor, I was on stage),told him if he ever did that again I would kill him. The whole lounge went quiet, and after what I thought was ten minutes of utter quiet, he said he was sorry, turned around and walked away, much to my relief. What I didn't realize was that I spoke right in the microphone and everybody heard had heard me. After finishing the set, my fellow musicians told me the man had been standing there for five minutes waiting patiently for me to stop singing, or open my eyes. I walked up the man, who was still holding two drinks, offered my apologies, whereto the man gave me one of the drinks, which he intended to give me on stage. I don't drink alcohol, but this time I faked drinking it just in case. He apologized back and said he enjoyed the music very much, but thought the changes of Moody's Mood sounded a lot like I'm in the mood for love, which was his favorite song.I explained that they actually were the same changes and made a friend for the rest of the month.

 

Date:	09-Dec-2000 06:25:59
From:	Ja22 (amallallama@hotmail.com)
	Our Dixieland Band was asked to play Pearl Jam at a private gig...

 

Date:	15-Jan-2001 22:01:41
From:	Paul Wagnberg (paulwagn@frisurf.no)
	Hope You'll enjoy this little cute one:Many years ago,a booking manager,not very updated,got a hot live-band-tip from a friend over the phone.The band was Bay City Rollers. He said:Thanks,I'll try to hire them!He wrote the name down on a note:Basie Tyrollers.

 

Date:	02-Feb-2001 19:20:31
From:	Kevin (Kevinfay@hotmail.com)
	This is true . . . I was there. A woman trombonist friend of mine got married a few years ago. For the reception, she hired the big band that is her regular gig (why not?) Instead of the honor of the first dance with the groom, she whipped out her trusty Bach and played a feature, in full wedding dress, veil & train. "Love for Sale." I almost put this in the "strange but true" category, because 15 minutes earlier at the same wedding, we all had to clear out of the room because of an earthquake. When we filtered back in, the minister made a crack about how most couples wait until after the wedding to make the earth move . . . Again, this is true. I was there.

 

Date:	03-Feb-2001 22:07:12
From:	Frank Golombiksy
	neon signs. inside. miller lite and such. stuffed dear heads. me, bassist in a jazz trio. there. just got done playing "straight, no chaser" and "blue monk". (love monk!) southern accent asks, "what kinda music is ya'll playin'?" "this is jazz?" "well, ya'll play any blues?" .... ....nope.

 

Date:	07-Mar-2001 11:25:12
From:	dwin craig (dw1920@aol.com)
	At my wife's funeral,at the end of the service,the organist played her own selection for the occasion,"The Party's Over ".

 

Date:	13-Mar-2001 13:41:04
From:	Mike Mason (g4oty@compuserve.com)
	Leader calls "Bridge over troubled water" Drummer: "Huh? Why don't we just do all of it?

 

Date:	26-Mar-2001 19:19:50
From:	G. M. McDonald (mc_donald_mac@hotmail.com)
	Once did a gig, though not in jazz world, filling in for a country band when the band leader of the time started playing the old country standard "Mansion On The Hill." I have to admit I had never heard of this tune and was told"Hit it Mackie". Did the best rendition of Dickie Betts I ever did! After done, the guy with an old Gretch said it was just like the record!......Same guy had green strings on guitar! And how many times can an acoustic guitar player tell them you can't play In-a-godda-da-veda?

 

Date:	26-Mar-2001 19:21:43
From:	G. M. McDonald (mc_donald_mac@hotmail.com)
	Once did a gig, though not in jazz world, filling in for a country band when the band leader of the time started playing the old country standard "Mansion On The Hill." I have to admit I had never heard of this tune and was told"Hit it Mackie". Did the best rendition of Dickie Betts I ever did! After done, the guy with an old Gretch said it was just like the record!......Same guy had green strings on guitar! And how many times can an acoustic guitar player tell them you can't play In-a-godda-da-veda?

 

Date:	28-Mar-2001 11:38:07
From:	johnnyjazz (johnnyjazz@webtv.net)
	An orchestra leader at a jazz club in California, prefaced the next tune thusly, "This is for all you lover's of Cole Porter siting out there" I looked around to see if I recognized any of his significant others...........

 

Date:	08-Apr-2001 03:49:53
From:	monkaholic (jazzica9@yahoo.com)
	I love monk too, the above is what I've been dubbed by my band director. My clarinet teacher went to a jewish wedding, in which they played Ave Maria. I know it's not jazz...but I found it amusing.

 

Date:	13-Apr-2001 01:41:17
From:	Charles H. (charlesmjr@yahoo.com)
	A little under a year ago, I was subing on 2nd tenor in a 16 piece jazz band. The gig was a high society thing with about 100 people there, ages 10 to 90. The band has been together for almost 30 years and the leader is in his 70's. They play mostly the original arrangemtns of the Miller, Dorsey era. The book hasent been updated much since the late 1970's. One of the younger people in the audience made a request to hear something "new" to the piano player who just happened to be the daughter of the groups leader. She then shouts back "Dad the kids want to hear something new." The responce was "O.K. we have Y.M.C.A. "

 

Date:	30-May-2001 00:42:53
From:	chazmuz (chuck_hutcheson@yahoo.com)
	Hey, "theman", I was playing that night with the southern blues group when when we gave him the "freebird". Classic moment in time... revenge of the band members!

 

Date:	12-Jun-2001 07:29:34
From:	Brian White (brian@whitewb.freeserve.co.uk)
	The British pianist Alan Clare used to tell of when he once played a "society" ball. During the course of the evening,with everyone enjoying a dance,one of the guests (a typical type,known as a "hooray Henry"), came over and asked him to play "That's What You Are". Alan's experience (he worked often with,among many others,Stephane Grappelli) and knowledge of popular songs was second to none,but he was mystified.As the guest returned elegantly to the floor Alan searched through his sheets to no avail.Eventually,the guest returned and asked again,somewhat impatiently, for "That's What You Are",adding sarcastically,"Aren't you supposed to know all these poular songs ?".Alan had to admit this one had beaten him."How does it go?",he asked clearly embarassed.With obvious annoyance,the guest began to sing it for him."Unforgettable...that's what you are...."

 

Date:	25-Jun-2001 19:13:08
From:	dave allen (dallen@lindmarkengineering.com)
	I was a mobile DJ for about 7 years ( please don't send me death threats, you starving musicians) and certainly was thrust into some interesting situations. One of the most humorous was when I was providing music for the annual Christmas party thrown by a prominent husband/ wife real estate broker team in my home town. It was a pretty ritzy affair, with everyone dressed to the nines. The hall was festooned with lavish decorations, food and drink flowed in abundance. The hostess approached me after dinner. She and her husband, in their late forties, had recently been married. She wanted me to officially kick off the dancing, by playing their special song. She and her new spouse, of course, would start off the dance, the dance floor cleared of all other guests. The special song was, she said, "On the Wings of a Dove". It didn't seem to fit my impression of their taste in music, being a Country standard, and I asked her several times if she was sure that was 'their song'. She assured me each time that it was. So, with all eyes on the elegant host and hostess, poised to dance to the tune they fell in love to, I began to spin that down-home gem (literally 'spin' the LP, this being the vinyl to CD transition days). I'll never forget the look in their eyes, as the music began. It was the look of revulsion and fear, as they faced the prospect of stepping lively to this upbeat waltz from a foreign culture, and doing it with grace and flair. I deduced I had played the wrong tune, but thought it would be unacceptable to stop the song abruptly, so, to take the attention off the happy bride and groom, I invited the guests to join them on the dance floor. So now I had ten couples whirling and jerking on the dance floor. Of course, as is always the case, several of the couples proved to be good dancers, and had fun with it. Nonetheless, the damage was done, even when I had faded that tune into a more contemporary and acceptable slow song. In retrospect, I should have known that the Hostess' song was "The Wind Beneath My Wings", which was everyone's special song, in those days. I was not invited back to do DJ honors the following Christmas.

 

Date:	01-Jul-2001 11:48:06
From:	Tamás Móricz (leto2@freemail.hu)
	Once i was at a colleague party (many idiot drunken persons). Two guys was continously playing 20 mp3 songs, and when these started the 4th time, i asked the 2 guys to play my CDs. They agreed, and i started to play a Peace Orchestra, a Tosca and a Dzihan & Kamien song, but after these 3 songs a bloody-face drunken guy was shouting at me: Can you play: Britney Spears' Oops! I did it again again? I went home (and woke up my roommate with my swearing), and never been there since then. But, actually it is a funny story.