Client dinners
Dinner music you can talk across.
A client dinner works when the table forgets the music is there, and then remembers it on the way out. Upright bass and guitar in the corner, standards played beautifully and played low, and an evening that feels considered.
This is the page for client dinners, member and association evenings, private clubs, firms and showrooms: the bookings where nobody dances and the evening still has to sound like somebody thought about it. The jazz duo leads here, and it can play an hour around a toast or a whole evening of dinner. It’s one branch of our corporate work, with one contract and one personal contact for the night.
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Volume at a client dinner
Most of what goes wrong with live music at a dinner is a volume decision. A band playing at party level makes guests shout across a table they were invited to talk at, and the host spends the night apologising for it. So the dinner level we work to is 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest table, measured where your guests actually sit.
A duo is built for that number. Upright bass and guitar playing standards leave the middle of the sound open, so conversation sits on top of the music, and two musicians can hold a dinner for hours without drifting louder. The dinner feels polished and unhurried. Sets run 45 to 60 minutes with 15 to 20 between them, and music continues through every break, so the evening never goes silent.
Toasts and remarks are covered at every size: a toast gets an announcement microphone, and the music stops while your speaker is still steps away from it. If the dinner wants a singer out front instead of standards underneath, Tejas Singh leads our roster and plays the same hours as a duo.
Hear it
Hear the jazz duo at dinner volume.
Guitar and upright bass on a standard, at the level a client dinner runs at. Your guests hear each other first and the music second, and it’s the music they mention on the way out.
The booking
What a dinner booking looks like.
Two musicians, with no stage and no cables across the carpet, playing for as long as the evening wants them.
What that buys is a table that talks easily. The music holds under the conversation, lifts a little between courses, and stops dead when somebody stands up to speak. Nobody has to ask for any of it on the night, because it’s planned with your run of show.
That’s the point of a dinner booking, and it’s why the smallest act on the roster is often the right one.
What live music costs in this market is on the pricing page. Tell us the date and roughly how many are sitting down, and we’ll come back with a recommendation and a price.
Getting us through your finance team
A client dinner is usually a firm's money, which means procurement. Here's what your finance team will want to know before anyone commits.
- One itemised invoice
- Performance, sound and any travel on separate lines, in a form accounts payable accepts the first time. The W-9 comes with the contract.
- Certificate of insurance
- Sent with the contract, at the limits Colorado clubs and hotels write into their vendor requirements.
Vendor onboarding is usually the slowest step in a corporate booking, so it helps to start it when you shortlist.
Where these dinners happen
Denver's client dinners usually happen in a recognisable set of places: the University Club of Denver and the Denver Athletic Club class of member institution, the private dining floors of the Brown Palace and Oxford class of hotel, and the firm's own showroom or top floor with a caterer in. The duo is built for exactly these settings. It needs an 8 by 6 foot corner, one dedicated 20-amp circuit, and a 60-minute load-in that can run through a service corridor.
Footprints, power and load-in for every size are published on the technical page, written so you can forward it to a club's events office as it stands.
If the dinner is a thank-you to a client list rather than a working evening, eight ideas for it, with the notes that change for advisors, realtors and firms, are in client appreciation event ideas in Denver.
Two neighbouring occasions have their own pages. When the dinner is the first night of an offsite in the mountains, corporate retreats covers the mountain version of the same evening. When the table is personal rather than corporate, a dinner at home or a milestone at the club, private parties and dinners is the page.
Client dinner questions
More booking questions are answered on the planners question list.
- How loud is a jazz duo during dinner?
- Dinner and cocktail sets run 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest table, a level you can talk across without raising your voice. If your venue or club enforces a cap, give us the number at contract and the evening is built under it.
- What does music for a client dinner cost?
- It depends on how many musicians the evening needs and how long they play, and for a dinner that's usually two musicians for two or three hours. We don't publish prices; what live music costs across this market is set out on our pricing page. Tell us the date and roughly how many are sitting down, and we'll come back with a recommendation and a price.
- Can you invoice against a purchase order?
- Yes. We can be set up as a vendor and quote against a PO, with the purchase order number on one itemised invoice. The certificate of insurance and the W-9 come with the contract.
- Does the music stop for toasts and remarks?
- Yes, before the speaker reaches the microphone. Toasts, introductions and remarks get an announcement microphone of their own, and transitions are planned with your run of show.
- How much space does the duo need?
- An 8 by 6 foot corner, one dedicated 20-amp circuit, and a 60-minute load-in. No stage and no house sound system are required: sound support that's the right size for the venue is included at every size, and the footprint for every size up to quartet is published on the technical page.
Tell us the guest count and the venue, and we'll recommend the ensemble for the dinner.
Live music for your event, from a solo musician to a full band, with sound support that’s the right size for the venue and a personal contact for the night.
Send us the date and the venue, and we’ll come back with a recommendation and a price for your night. What live music costs in this market is on the pricing page.