Modern jazz
Changes Jazz Trio
Doug Emery, guitar. Sri Viswanath, fretless bass. Brian Jaffe, drums. Standards, trio to quartet.
A standard you know, taken somewhere new: the guitar stretches the melody, the fretless bass slides under it, and the drums stay quiet enough to talk across. Changes is a Denver guitar trio playing the standards with a modern edge, and a saxophone joins when the evening wants a featured set.
Hear them first: two studio recordings on their site, with the three bios beside them.
Trusted and booked by
They play the standards the way a working trio plays them, with the arrangements left open and a little risk in the solos. Under a dinner they sit at the level of the conversation, and when the crowd turns to listen, they give it something to listen to.
Doug Emery studied guitar performance at Berklee, played more than three thousand dates across New England, from jazz duos to wedding bands, and now teaches music full time in Denver. Sri Viswanath spent decades as a working bassist in New York, on stages from Smalls to the Plaza Hotel, and played on Radha Thomas’s 2019 tribute to Chet Baker. Brian Jaffe came through the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver and has played more than a hundred theater productions in the Denver pit orchestras since 2011.
Configurations
| Size | What it suits |
|---|---|
| TrioGuitar, fretless bass and drums | Cocktails and dinner at conversation volume, and a listening crowd. |
| QuartetThe trio plus saxophone | A featured set at a gala, or a client dinner where the music is part of the program. |
The size and the date set the price, since an hour of cocktails in Denver and a full evening in the mountains are different jobs.
Occasions
Who books Changes.
- Client dinners
- The trio sits under the conversation with the drums played soft, and the quartet with saxophone turns the same booking into a featured set when the dinner has a program in it. It books like the rest of a company event, on one contract with the paperwork your office needs.
- Wedding cocktail hours
- The trio plays the hour after the ceremony at a volume guests can talk across, and a modern take on the standards suits a couple who want jazz in the hour without the lounge feel.
- Galas and award nights
- A listening act for the stretch between the seating and the program. The quartet with saxophone is the size for a gala that wants the music to be one of the things guests remember, and it stops on the emcee’s cue like every act on the roster.
- Dinner parties and milestone birthdays
- A dinner party for thirty, or a sixtieth birthday that wants real jazz in the house. The trio fits a home or a patio.
How the music sits around speeches and a program is planned with the run of show. What live music costs across Colorado, size by size, is set out in the cost guide.
Changes Jazz Trio questions
Stage sizes and power are on the technical page, and the questions every booking shares are on the full question list. The classic trio lineups are in what is a jazz trio.
- What does Changes Jazz Trio play?
- Jazz standards, played by a Denver guitar trio with a modern edge: guitar, fretless bass and drums, with the arrangements left open. It's instrumental, so it sits under a dinner, and it holds a listening crowd when the evening gives it one. Their site carries two studio recordings.
- How is this different from the jazz duo?
- The jazz duo is upright bass and guitar playing standards for cocktails and dinner, with the musicians matched to your date. Changes is a working trio with drums and a fretless bass, a more modern sound, and three musicians you can look up before you book.
- How loud is it?
- Under cocktails and dinner the trio plays at the level of the table's conversation, with the drums kept soft. A featured set with the saxophone is louder on purpose, because that's the part people stop to hear. If your venue has a sound limit, give us the number and the set is built under it.
- Where is the trio based?
- Denver. All three musicians live and work in the Denver metro, and the trio plays the Front Range and the mountain towns.
- Can Changes play outdoors?
- Yes, with a covered, level and dry spot and power run to it. We agree a plan for moving indoors with you ahead of time, because Colorado evenings turn fast.
Tell us the night, and Changes brings the trio or the quartet.
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.