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Today I present our young, vibrant and talented jazz band for hire the Meraki Jazz Collective. This 2-5 piece jazz act are deeply passionate about one of the oldest music genres around, jazz! Performing their stunning live sets at some of the finest weddings, events, parties, London jazz clubs and aboard luxury cruise ships, they a mesmerising jazz outfit.
Formed after completing music degrees at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music, the members of the Meraki Jazz Collective decided that they not only wanted to perform in the finest London jazz clubs but wanted to bring the timeless and sultry sounds of jazz to weddings, parties and events all over the UK and the world. They love to perform classic and contemporary jazz tunes along with all the modern pop tunes you love but with their unique and modern jazzy twist. If you love jazz, the Meraki Jazz Collective are a live band well worth your attention.
Jennifer the talented frontwoman of the Meraki Jazz Collective took some time out of her busy schedule to chat with me today.
I met the guys in the band while studying jazz at the Guildhall School of Music. We’ve all known each other a long time and it’s really nice to have this shared musical background. Guildhall was a fun and special time full of lots of learning and excitement, both personally and in music. It’s been great seeing everyone in the band grow ever since and see all the amazing musical projects everyone has been involved with over the years. It’s nice to be able to get together with friendly faces on gigs and have a great time making music with old pals, as well as incredible musicians!
I do a few days of teaching each week in local schools and on really full days, might have a few singing lessons to teach in the evening or a gig, so it can vary a bit. I like the flexibility of being self-employed, some days I’ll have completely to myself and I can focus on whatever I like! I always try to keep expanding the repertoire of the band, so I’ll often sit down to learn new songs and make charts to add to the mix!
So many things! I love the repertoire we have, the jazz classics and songbook standards are my favourite songs to sing but I absolutely love our postmodern songs too and how much fun these are. I love being able to bring joy to other people through our music, it’s really nice to work in an environment where people want to have a good time and you can be a part of making that happen. The guys in the band are such amazing musicians, I feel very lucky that they are behind me and I get such a brilliant sound to sing with, as well as them being super nice guys as well! Something I began to notice over time was the feeling I got going home after a gig. It’s some kind of adrenaline or just the happiness of feeling like I’ve done a good job but at the same time that I’ve had a total blast… I love that feeling!
Wanting to sing is something that hit me at a very early age, maybe 9 or 10 years old. Ever since then it’s been the thing that I want to do most, whenever I can! It’s hard to describe why that is, probably an accumulation of inspirations when I was younger that I can’t pinpoint now but I must have been able to tell, even back then, that it was doing me good. Mind, body and soul! It’s such a pleasure to be able to do this as a profession and I hope I’ll be singing for years to come!
I have done contracts onboard a couple of cruise ships with a slightly different lineup of the band. Getting to travel and see the world while doing what I love has been one of the best gigs (or extended gigs). The contracts are usually a couple of months long! A great thing about the ships is that you get people coming back to see you every night. If it’s a two-week cruise, you start to build up a little fan base and can connect with your audience, often sticking around to chat after your sets. I really like getting to see and meet the people who are connecting with your performance!
Oh god haha. Luckily, I’ve not actually had any major on-stage fails which I can remember anyway! But if I had, I wouldn’t be in a rush to admit them publicly!
I did have a rather drunk man give me his shoes (like, insist upon handing them to me) one time while I was singing haha! Don’t ask me why – I didn’t know what to do with them so I said thank you and carried on singing, he carried on dancing, barefoot!
I really love the jazz ballads. Angel eyes, body & soul… I could list a few, it’s hard to pick a favourite. When I really get into it, I forget where I am or who’s watching. Just close my eyes (probably pull lots of weird singer facial expressions) and get lost in the music and lyrics. It’s not for every occasion, but definitely for those late-night jazz sets!
The postmodern tunes are great for this. I love our version of “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” by Jet, it works so well with a fast swing and is just an awesome arrangement. The pop covers always get people dancing! We’ve had quite a few ballroom sets too and play rumba, chacha, waltz, bossa, you name it!
As soon as Covid blows over, we want to be out gigging as much as possible and keep doing what we love doing!
I have a background in sailing, I grew up near the sea and my parents were very nautical in their day, so I may have gone down this road! Sometimes I think I would have enjoyed joining the Navy!
I recently made Spanish paella and it was delicious! It’s my new favourite and surprisingly easy to make – great for sharing! I only wish I could speak a bit more Spanish, although I can sing ‘Besame Mucho’ in Spanish pretty well I’m told!
I love relaxing after I’ve been hard at work, but if I’m not burned out, I prefer to be active, so probably some kind of awesome fun adventure activity day… Quad biking? Jet skiing? Something like that! An ideal day off would have to involve some epic food too like a sunny BBQ with friends. That would hit the spot I think!
Cat person, definitely. I adore cats, although unfortunately, I’m mildly allergic to them. I had cats growing up but I’m not sure if it will be a good idea to get one in the future because of the allergy, which makes me very sad!
Thanks so much to Jennifer for taking the time to chat, letting us all into her and her band’s world. How interesting was that?! I’m sure you want to know more about her live band so read on if you do.
The Meraki Jazz Collective offer plenty of booking options like all of our live bands for hire here at Seventh Second and some of those include indoors or outdoors daytime acoustic sets, extra sets, late performances and free background music whenever they aren’t performing for you.
This fantastic jazz quintet offers duo, trio, quartet and quintet lineups. You can pick and choose your musicians for any lineup out of female lead vocals, double bass, drums, keys and sax. All the lineup options are perfect for any part of your event but the full quintet is the best of the bunch with an audio and visual show that’s absolutely perfect for any event, especially if you want the sophistication and class of a top-draw jazz band in full swing.
With any live band for hire here at Seventh Second, all prices include your booking deposit, PA, musical and stage lighting equipment, PLI and PAT certificates, travel and accommodation expenses and background music. This goes for the Meraki Jazz Collective too with prices starting from a brilliant £1100 for the quintet. A fantastic live jazz band for hire at fantastic prices.
With their wide choice of songs, people love all sorts from this dynamic jazz band. Jazz and pop faves always seem to be high on the list of song requests though and these include amongst many others Ain’t Misbehaving, All About That Bass, I Want It That Way and Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off.
Why not see why there’s a buzz surrounding the Meraki Jazz Collective with some of their reviews below? You can read all our reviews here if you’re curious.
“Watching Jennifer sing and the rest of the band perform was particularly mesmerising – they have a unique charm and passion on stage and Jennifer has such a wonderfully expressive voice.”
Sandy Thomas – Manchester 2019
“We hired Meraki Jazz Collective for our wedding and they were amazing! Everyone commented on how great they were, they read the dancefloor and kept it full all night, they were so easy to talk to and made a real effort. Thank you so much for making our evening extra special!”
Lucy Edmans – Kent 2019
“The Meraki Jazz Collective was the perfect classy background music we wanted for the reception.”
Ben McAdams – Brighton 2020
“We had our wedding day on Sunday at Brookfield Barn, Horsham West Sussex. The Jazz band was absolutely brilliant, better than any band we could have imagined to play at our wedding. We had quite an intimate wedding with around 70 guests and our dance floor was packed for the night!”
James Emmas – West Sussex 2019
Feeling you’d like to know more or hire the Meraki Jazz Collective for your event? Click in the top right-hand corner to enquire now or click here to contact us or here to view their full profile on our site. There you will find loads more on this great jazz band for hire!
As well as our current 15% off offer, you always get everything listed below and more with any jazz, wedding, function or party (including the Meraki Jazz Collective!) you hire with us. Grab those function freebies!
There are always more amazing live jazz, function, party, and wedding bands plus so much more on offer with our full roster of live bands and popular guides below.
With our comprehensive covid cover 24-hour support, and booking contracts you can hire with confidence with Seventh Second. We want everyone to enjoy their live band and event to the max so we make sure you have nothing to worry about when it comes to hiring any of our live bands. We’re in the bands you see on our site too so we can offer unrivalled expertise, advice, support and prices. Not only that, we’re also all experienced live musicians with an average of 10 years of experience performing at events and we use that experience to make sure you hire the perfect act for your wedding, party or any other event.
If the Meraki Jazz Collective hasn’t quite taken your fancy today why not have a look at all our other fantastic live bands for hire or chat with our live music experts who will help design the perfect bespoke band for you? They are here 7 days a week from 10am to 10pm via phone, email, the usual socials, text and live chat.
That’s it for my showcase feature. Hopefully, you enjoyed learning all about the world of the Meraki Jazz Collective. For my next showcase, I’ll be taking a look at one of our most popular wedding bands League of Gentlemen so make sure you pop back for that. If you want a fantastic live wedding band that will get your wedding party rocking, then it’s going to be a must-read for you.
Don’t forget to share my showcase with others if you loved it or if you know someone who needs a fantastic live jazz band!
Thank you as ever for taking the time to read my showcase.
Bye for now,
Oana and the boys and girls at Seventh Second
