Bands & Ensembles
...descriptions and booking information regarding Carl Cafagna's musical offerings

HOME | Audio/Video Samples | Song Lists | Performance Schedule
Educational Activities | Merchandise | Photo Gallery

   

 

[ SoundLove | North Star Jazz | Big Band Machine | Creole Kitchen | North Star Saxophone Quartet ]
  

Booking arrangements for the musical groups listed below are managed by Sweet Beat Productions, a talent/management company founded by and featuring Carl Cafagna.  Additional performing ensembles are also available upon request.

 

 

SoundLove

Created and designed for wedding receptions and corporate events, SoundLove puts on a show you and your guests will never forget!  Available from 6 to 9 pieces, this outstanding variety band can service virtually any occasion -- large mixed-generation receptions, fund-raisers and conventions, formal cocktail parties, anniversary and birthday parties, with audiences ranging from small to large, discreet to exhibitionist -- we can do it all.  Male and female singing and a horn section allow us to play almost any tune, any style, you name it.  We'll entertain ALL your guests, from teens to seniors and everyone in between.  With SoundLove, you can count on dancing the night away!

[ Upcoming/Recent Engagements | Song List | BOOK IT! ]

 

 

North Star Jazz

Formed in 2004, the NorthStar Jazz Sextet has quickly become one of Detroit's hottest jazz acts, having performed at jazz festivals and nightclubs across Michigan and the Midwest.  Past performances have included the Detroit International Jazz Festival, the Michigan Jazz Festival, the Idlewild Jazz Festival, the Summer Solstice Jazz Festival, Rusty's Jazz Cafe (Toledo, Ohio), and the "Ed Love Show" on WDET FM.  The group can be seen regularly at Baker's Keyboard Lounge (Detroit), the Union Bar & Grill (Kalamazoo), and Cliff Bell's (Detroit).  North Star employs a 3-horn sextet format, partly inspired by the T. S. Monk Sextet and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.  Leader Carl Cafagna has installed a "rolling" personnel system, with depth at every position in the group.  This ensures a consistent level of excellence despite the busy schedules of band members, and also gives North Star a particularly wide palette, with 4 different front-line configurations.  Regular sidemen include Detroit pianist/composer Scott Gwinnell, Dr. Scott Cowan, trumpeter and Professor of Jazz, Western Michigan university, saxophonist James Hughes, drummer Scott Kretzer from Toledo, Detroit bassist extraordinaire Shannon Wade, and Brad Felt on Euphonium, pared with Cafagna's tenor and soprano saxes as well as  flute.  Repertoire consists fo original works by Carl and other band members, leading composers such as Horace Silver, Donald Brown, Wayne Shorter, and Benny Golson, and choice jazz standards.  Matt Collar, from allmusic.com, calls North Star a "combination of muscular swing and harmonic intellectualism", and dubs us "the epitome of post-bop professionalism".   Mark Stryker, from the Detroit Free Press, describes Carl Cafagna as  a "brawny saxophonist, with a gift for organizing a band".  North Star Jazz is one band you'll want to see again and again!

[ Upcoming/Recent Engagements | Purchase CD | BOOK IT! ]

 

 

Big Band Machine

What ever happened to the big bands?  Well, here's one big band that is still alive and kicking, and playing great music too!  The Big Band Machine features the music of all the great bands, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, and many others.  Our book also includes hits from the 50's, 60's, 70's -- even the 80's!  Twelve instrumentalists, plus sultry female vocalist Ashaki, make for an exciting dancing or listening experience for any gathering.  Doug Collar, host of Friday Night jazz on WKAR FM, wrote "a wall of swing permeated the night scene...Dancers bounced around...others stood mesmerized by their first encounter with 13 men swinging.  marvelous".  Want to know the socks off the guests at your next black tie affair, fund-raiser, or any party?  Just hire The Big Band Machine and leave the rest to us!

[ Song List | BOOK IT! ]

 

 

Creole Kitchen

Dedicated to the sweet sounds of New Orleans, Creole Kitchen offers an authentic helping of America's truly indigenous classical music founded in the birthplace of Jazz -- the Big Easy. Grab some jambalaya, head to Bourbon Street, and groove to dixieland, jive swing, blues, and zydeco hits with some of the Detroit area's finest musicians!

[ Purchase CD | BOOK IT! ]

 

 

North Star Saxophone Quartet

A unique substitute for a string quartet, this ensemble is perfect for wedding ceremonies, rehearsal dinners, intimate parties, summer concerts in the park, holiday festivals, cocktail, and dinner music.  With a wide range of repertoire from Classical, Baroque, and Romantic music as well as modern styles of Jazz, Ragtime, Pop, and seasonal favorites, the North Star Saxophone Quartet is surprisingly versatile as well as affordable!

[ BOOK IT! ]
   

 

[ Back to Top ]


Graphics and Site Design by J. Smith

Copyright 2006 Carl Cafagna Music
Thank you for visiting!

 

 

 Cafagna, Music, Metro, Detroit, Live, Michigan, Troy, Oakland , County, Macomb, Wayne, Wedding, Jazz, Pop, Variety, Entertainment, Institute, Jam, Session, Coordinator, Saxophone, SoundLove, North, Star, Creole, Kitchen, Quartet, Sextet, Ceremony, Reception, customer, Service, Band, Publishing, Composer, Arranger, Teacher, Recordings, Sweet Beat Productions, Big Band Machine, Commision, singer, Clarinet, Flute, Drums, Talent, Agent, sweetbeat.org, gig, engagement, party, anniversary, corporate, references, merchandise, sell, society, Motown, classic, rock, swing, dance, request, business, technology, sound, man, arts, performing