Request: Dinner/Cocktail/Trendy Hotel Lobby music

I am looking for piano oriented music that is good for a cocktail and dinner party that is more interesting then “background piano” but does not break into jarring jazz piano solos. There is a time and a place for that! So please post jazz, piano, pop, contemporary music songs or albums (or playlist links). I could even go a little EDM towards Hotel Costes or Cafe Del Mar. Feel free to push the envelope if you get what I am after!

Cheers to 2021 and the not-yet-started “What we are listening to [2020]” thread!

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You might try the new Fred Hersch album, “Songs From Home”. Solo piano, very nice.

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Try Ola Gjeilo - pretty much any of his releases.

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Beegie Adair & Friends # Cocktail Party Piano :smiley:

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Try Soma FM, they have a lot of great stations. Like Secret Agent, sounds like what you’re describing.

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I like Beegie Adair… i wish they had more variety of photos of her in Roon!

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I like Soma. Ultimately I want a playlist, but Soma could be good for discovery.

Yes, for pleasant background. I have 4 of her Christmas albums on a shuffled playlist for the Holidays.

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Imagine being so hungry you have to go into a studio to do this. :cry:

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Thanks for the post @Aldos_Zxz… the reason I posted here was to find interesting suggestions from the Roon regulars here… I don’t want the generic no-name songs that the streaming services or labels are putting out.

Try something by Bill Evans. His Top of the Gate album is a great sampler. While it is not exclusively piano it should meet your criteria: interesting but not jarring. Given its age, I can’t call it trendy but he is acknowledged as an influence by many current jazz pianists.

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Or the two Bill Evans solo albums. Calm, peaceful, perhaps a bit somnolent.

Oh - where would I start? :thinking:

I think I have loads of this style of music. Perhaps some of those ‘lounge’ or bachelor pad compilations would be a great starting place. Or somebody like David Axelrod - The Edge compilation is great as are his first two albums.

If this thread is still active I’ll think of more. :grin:

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Yes please… i of course have found a lot of complications…

I like Parov Stelar in the more upbeat lounge… I want a mix, not just piano forward music.

I was thinking more along the lines of old school ‘lounge’ compilations such as Ultra-Lounge. I have the entire series, but this might be the best singular release based on the topic. Largely big band with a ‘groovy’ vibe.

Cocktail Capers

Similar vein - there was this entire series, I’ve selected 2 (I prefer vol 4, but you may like exotica inspired tracks).

Easy Rhythms

Exotica

Moving onto the late 60’s-70’s - which is when the term ‘library’ became more prolific. Excellent recording and playing!

Soul Punch

Italian series…generally very good.
Easy Tempo

And I do like this:
Sound Gallery

There’s also (I won’t include pictures), compilation albums from KPM ‘library’ label, Chappel music and Bosworth off the top of my head, along with many others.

Break beat/‘groove’ series (I have 16 volumes)
Dusty Fingers
OR
Strictly Breaks

This is a pretty good album, that could quite happily fit into Hotel Costas/Cafe Del Mar series, albeit Pink Panther themed.
Pink Panther

I did mention David Axelrod in my original reply.
David

Whilst allmusic review downgrades this based on its lack of aesthetic consistency, I disagree. I think it demonstrates his depth & diversity both as a producer and artist in an aurally pleasing manner. The styles may differ, but I think it gels well.

Perhaps something like this (as I’m listening to it now). Current artist, sort of funky, yet trying to create an old school vibe.
Adrian Younge - Voice of Gemma
Adrain

I best stop. :roll_eyes: hogging the thread. Hope there’s something here that interests you, at the worst, there’s a pile of music to discover. :smiley:

I’ve tried to reduce the length of this thread by resizing the album covers.

Edit
Been years since I learnt HTML. I just couldn’t find or work out a way to align picture left and include text right to make the post not as long. I did try. :upside_down_face:

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Also check out Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox.

Awesome list… I have a couple of Ultra Lounge in my library but not that top one.

The second series, Tidal USA is not finding for me, same with some of the others. But I got a good mix and pulled in some related. If only I could share back my playlist via the forum (a feature request I have put in).

Thanks!

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I hope those ideas were of some use…

I’m one of the few around here that only uses my local library (I did have Tidal for a few months, but it was hardly used), so I have no idea what the streaming services have available. Sorry about that.

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I don’t like “fake artists” that are common on Spotify, and maybe other services too. Fake meaning the streaming platform contracted out recordings at low cost. No credit to the musicians.

I found Eximo Blue on Tidal and they have 121 concept jazz piano albums. Should I assume they are fake or has anyone heard of them?

I am looking for some swinging piano that takes jazz standards a step forward, but not edgy (like Brad Mehldau or Keith Jarrett can get). So a more modern Beegie Adair (listed above)