About Common Ground Music Band

What We Offer

Live Jazz,  Party Music,  Background Music,  Jazz Funk, New Jazz,  Latin Jazz, Wedding Entertainment, Smooth Jazz, Swing Band Sounds, Big Band Sounds, Dance Band Sounds, Cocktail Music, and Corporate Entertainment. A Live Band for your Year End or Office Party. We provide music for your guests to listen to during our intervals.

The New Jazz Concept

Common Ground Music is synonymous with contemporary jazz. Our idea of Common Ground Music is a selection of jazz music that’s meant to excite and enthuse. It’s up tempo versions of a selection of jazz music that will have you clicking your fingers and tapping your toes. Each song is hand-picked and varied to provide a rendition that touches the hearts of an audience and appeals to their sense of beat, melody and harmony.

On the other hand, many jazz musicians play in depth complicated jazz music, often understood only by other jazz musicians. We’ve been there, done that and worn the t-shirt. A few listeners are normally intrigued whereas most are often bored to tears. Performing music above the heads of an audience is selfish and only pleases a few in this day and age.

Common Ground Music brings an audience onto the stage. Recognizable jazz songs are made contemporary and beated up to sound groovy and almost danceable. The audience simply love it and this can be heard by their chit chat and the ordering of more rounds. They often come up and suggest songs or ask us to play one of their favourites with the hope that it will be played with an up tempo, jazzy variation. George Benson and Al Jarreau are typical examples of what can be done to contemporarize jazz.

Common Ground Music has a distinct Latin Flare to it with percussion being central to the innovative and creative restyling of the music. Gone are the days of protracted, in depth, laborious and painstaking solos that you have to wait to finish. I remember a bassist that took such long solos that we’d use the opportunity to either catch forty winks, go to the gents or order a drink. When we returned, believe or not, he was only half way through, which would give us time to throw in a smoke. The strange thing is at the end of his solos some people wouldn’t know why they were clapping while others clapped to their relief that he’d at long last finished. I, for one, certainly fell into the latter category and vowed never again play or pay to submit myself to such extreme boredom.

Common Ground Music features in savvy clubs where owners want to see a return on their investment. I find it hard to get my head around die-hards who demand musical renditions of jazz played from the pre First World War error. If you want this music we can play it for you but please pay the band in advance before we start. I remember a jazz club in Durban where we played archaic standards every Sunday to the same ole bedraggled winos who’d feverishly clap after each song they’d heard time and time again. Fortunately the publican owned the building and lived on the premises. These days one can simply ill afford to indulge themselves in technical and theoretical stuff that appeals to few and far between.

Subscribe to Common Ground Music and enjoy. Sit back relax and listen, click your fingers and tap your toes or sing along. Whatever you do, I hope you’ll appreciate the experience of being with like minded people who love a jazzed up experience in savvy venues. Watch this space.

Our Repertoire

Our repertoire is divided into three distinct Musical Programs.

A Program – Danceable Music:  Our A program consists of danceable songs meant for people to dance non stop. An example of songs from this program would those such as Johanna, Hot Hot, Bambaleo, Volare and the likes.

B Program – Danceable but Highly Listenable: While our B Program is listenable one can also dance to most of the songs. This is our most varied program where songs are drawn from a huge array of genres. Examples of this program are, Love is in the Air, Masquenada, My Cherie Amour, You the Sunshine of my Life, Masquerade, Twelve Bar Blues etc – far too numerous to mention.

C Program – Sit back relax and listen – Or enjoy a conversation while the music plays on. Our Jazz repertoire is stupendous as the boys are also able to read musical charts. Songs in this program include Autumn Leaves, Green Dolphin Street, Skylark, When Sunny Gets Blue, Sophisticated Lady, Summertime etc.

We also provide music during our intervals.

As a Bonus we have another program consisting of Dance Music of the foxtrot, waltz and tango type. This wedding band program is also suitable for Corporate events. We’ll see you there….

Contact Raymond Walljee on  079 497 9233 | ray@commongroundmusic.co.za

Booking Agents / Event Managers

We pay Agents fees to Booking Agents and Event Managers who arrange performances for us