Reviews

Mike, a massive thanks to you and the rest of your band members for the great music you put on at Sue’s party. Actually the partying only finished at 6:00pm on Sunday night, but everyone who was at Keston Village Hall on Friday was totally and rightly complementary about the party and in particular the band. From what I’ve heard you’ll be back in Keston before long; there is always a celebration going on here, and your band was a great hit. Hope to see you again!

Dear Mike, firstly, my apologies in taking so long to email you, secondly - Thank you so much! You were all amazing when you played for our wedding on Sunday 28th August. Everything went so smoothly, and the music was exactly what I was hoping for! We had so many comments on how good you all were and how lovely the music was - its just a shame the weather didn't quite hold out and you had to move inside, but that definitely didn't spoil it! I hope you all enjoyed playing as much as we all enjoyed listening! I would recommend your band in a heartbeat, and would love to go to another wedding where you are playing! Thanks again.

From Karen and myself, many, many, thanks for your part in making our wedding day so successful. The band were quite superb, as were the jazz quartet, and the ceremony duo. Best regards.

As most people would attest to, finding a band to play at your wedding that you feel you can trust is difficult. We certainly struck gold in finding The Get Downs. Firstly, in the run-up to the wedding, Mike, the band leader, was incredibly professional, courteous and enthusiastic, which instantly put our minds at ease, and we felt that we could put our faith in this band. He was also proactive in his suggestions of these things that might work during the wedding, and was helpful in assisting with the timings. We had the piano-sax duo playing during the wedding breakfast, which was much better than simply having a CD or iPod playing, and it was played perfectly in harmony with the mood during the meal. Our first dance was to a song not in the band’s repertoire, but they showed great flexibility to learn it in time for the wedding day – and it was played and sung beautifully. Shame about my dancing…! In the evening, we had the 9-piece band play and the sound was simply fantastic! The best sign that you have a good band in front of you is that everyone is on the dance floor having a great time. People are still talking about the music at our wedding now… All in all, we highly recommend The Get Downs – a great band. Photos courtesy of Capture It

Dear Mike, We would like to thank you and express our sincere appreciation for making our wedding day so special. Your professionalism and talent exceeded all expectations and made the day a success. All our guests were incredibly impressed with your performance and you went a long way towards creating the exhilarating atmosphere that they're all still talking about. Our wedding would not have been the same without your contribution and we would like you to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the rest of the band. We decided to have both our civil ceremony and reception at the same venue as we had guests from England as well as Ireland and Italy – a multicultural affair! We asked friends and colleagues and looked hard online for a pianist to play during reception drinks and ceremony and a jazz band to play during the meal. Eventually we came across The Get Downs who were flexible enough to provide both and, based on their reviews, we thought they were the best option for us. Mike also kindly agreed to play some background piano music as we arrived for reception drinks. As we had two relatives singing some Irish folk songs during the ceremony, Mike provided piano accompaniment, which made for a very touching, haunting experience. The songs included The Hermit Song and The Hiding Place by Liam Lawton and, especially for the Italians, Nella Fantasia by Ennio Morricone. Mike was already proving to be a consummate, talented musician at this point. The vocalists also commented on his professional and personable manner, which made it easier for them as they only had about 20 minutes to rehearse before the ceremony! The 6-piece band played two 45-minute background jazz sets during the meal and two 45-minute dancing sets. As we were very busy coming up to the wedding, we hadn’t really had time to sit down and decide what songs/music we wanted, so we made a few requests and asked Mike if they could provide a mix of their best pieces. Their performance was outstanding, exceeding all our expectations. One of the guests commented that she couldn’t believe a jazz band could be so talented and so young at the same time, as you would normally expect such flair from an older band. They played some classic pieces and, of course, our requests, which included Have I Told You Lately That I Love You for our first dance. Another request was Valerie, Amy Winehouse style. The singer belted out such an amazing rendition that, as it was our first dance and we were quite nervous, at one point we thought it was the Winehouse CD playing! The band then played and sang some electrifying dance pieces, which got everyone dancing. They continued to play until 10 pm, when the DJ began. We must admit that by that point the atmosphere was so exhilarating that we wished we’d booked them until the end! Between the piano music during reception drinks and ceremony and the jazz band later, Mike Paul-Smith Music were with us throughout the day. We were absolutely blown away by them. They scored top marks in every area, from professionalism and flexibility to talent and stylishness. Mike was incredibly efficient and organised throughout the process and he was a pleasure to deal with. We would recommend this band for anyone who wants to give their function, wedding or party a special edge. Thanks again!

Dear Mike, now that we're back from honeymoon and getting into the swing of things again, we thought it was time to sart thanking the many people who helped to make our day - and evening - so special. You and the band were amazing! Such a fantastic sound and a wonderful set - including the horn section on "All You Need Is Love" - made for a night we'll all remember for the rest of our lives. Our guests and Jamie at Micklefield Hall have all commented on what a fantastic band The Get Downs are. Thank you so much for being so flexible, so lovely to deal with - but most of all thank you so much for the wonderful music!! All our very best wishes.

The Get Downs were on time and organised, and did very well not to get in the way or disrupt the party whilst setting up! They seemed lovely as well as professional, my husband had time to chat to them and said they were really nice. The performance was perfect - loved the band and the vocals, and they seemed enthusiastic and happy to be performing. All of our guests loved them - we got alot of compliments about them and people asking how we found them, and I was really happy that they appealed to all ages - specifically my 75 year old grandad absolutely loved them, and in contrast my 19 year old cousin who is in a rock band also thought they were really great! An all round winner!

Hi Mike, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write to you but we had a pretty long honeymoon and since we've been back it has been non-stop really! Thank you so much for the wonderful music you played at our wedding. Your band was just fantastic, more than we could have hoped for and you really made the evening part of the reception fun and vibrant. We had so many compliments about your band, my brother-in-law even said he preferred you guys to the band he had at his wedding, although I wasn't allowed to tell my sister that! What I really loved most was that you were are very relaxed and friendly and that helped the vibe so that people could just have a great time dancing. I also was so happy when you played "Sing Sing Sing" and "In The Mood" as these are songs that I love and really wanted to hear but as you were in your 7-piece format I hadn't expected to hear them at all. I remember being at the cheeseboard on the other side of the marquee and hearing the drums start up for Sing Sing Sing and I just dropped everything and ran onto the dancefloor! Thank you so much once again.

I am delighted with how everything went in booking Down for the Count. The evening was an outstanding success in big part thanks to the Band. They were professional (and SO YOUNG!), courteous, great sound and combination of sets, and kept the floor full for most of the night - I really can't praise them more highly and the feedback both on the night and since has been ALL positive. We had used another band on our first Ball who were very good and I was slightly concerned that we couldn't match it - but Down for the Count over-delivered and I will definitely consider booking them again. Thank you all for helping to create a superb evening - I think a sign of a great event is when the band also has a good time, and I'm pretty certain that a good time was had by all at The Enigma Ball.

Oh, we do hope you enjoyed last Friday nearly as much as we did! Rosalind and Oliver had such a special time, which in no small part was down to you. Firstly with the lovely, dignified ceremony music, then the happy atmospheric quartet (and they loved the Louis Armstrong number) and that magnificent evening entertainment. There were people there we had known for thirty years and had never seen dance before! And the new Grandma had to go and fix her mascara after “Georgia On My Mind”. You all made it feel so special, and though you have moved on to the next events already, we hope you know that when “The Get Downs” are mentioned, it will bring on happy grins in the new Lambert family for at least the next forty years! All good wishes.

We hunted high and low for a band with a broad repertoire, high quality vocals and instrumentals. None quite matched up to The Get Downs. We found it very scary hiring a live band - if it went well, it would be amazing and so much better than a DJ, but if they were late, too loud, not up to scratch the whole day could be ruined. From our first enquiry through many follow-up requests Mike was helpful and efficient every step of the way. He also managed to liase with me, the bride, and my Mum, keeping secrets where appropriate! Our wedding wasn't until 4pm, so our guests had plenty of time to get there and get ready. We also had plenty of time to get ready, which was great for the bride and bridesmaid, but allowed the groom to get a little nervous about his speech and our first dance. Our guests assembled from around 3.30pm with Mike playing a selection of romantic songs from our favourite musicals on the keyboard. Before we knew it 4pm had arrived and the bride entered to "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" which everyone felt was very appropriate! The ceremony flew by, we hardly heard our vows, as we were concentrating so hard on what we were saying. Mike played "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" and "Ave Maria" while we signed the register, which was wonderfully calming. Once the ceremony was complete we made our way outside to Handel's "La Réjouissance". I'd like to say we remember that bit but we were a bit overwhelmed by that point. However after a quick sprint Mike joined his bandmates in the next room, to play a favourite of the mother of the bride, Louis Armstrong's jazz version of "Here Comes the Bride" from the film "High Society". This was secret Mike had kept from the bride, and a very lovely surprise it was too. The jazz band continued to play as we drank champagne and had photographs taken in the sunshine. After dinner the rest of the group had assembled to form the full 9-piece function band and we were ready for our first dance, "The Way You Make Me Feel', specially arranged and learnt at our request. This was the most nerve-racking part of the day, as we had practised with the recorded version but obvioulsy hadn't heard the band. Their performance was spot on and kept to just three minutes, as requested. The original is over five minutes and therefore far too long to keep dancing for! The dancing continued all evening, with a bit of something for everyone, including a few current songs on our iPod while the band took their breaks. The dancefloor was heaving all night and everyone enjoyed the music immensely. They wrapped our evening up for us with a final dance of "Rock With You", after which we left everyone else to dance a little longer, and we headed down the road in a personalised London taxi! A huge thanks to everyone in The Get Downs, especially Mike. We hope you choose to invite them to perform at your wedding - whichever part of the day you want them for, we know they can cover whatever you might want, just as they did for us!

The Get Downs gave a great performance at the RAF Christmas Party. The arrangements for the band all went very smoothly, and the show on the night was first rate - the band even agreed to perform an additional set at short notice. They were virtually held hostage by the crowd until the end of their third encore! I’d have absolutely no hesitation in booking them again.

The band was fantastic - a great centrepiece for the evening reception! Excellent style and lots of fun for all generations. Four months on and we still hear a lot of praise for the band from all our guests. The logistics also worked perfectly, which is ever so important on the day. We would highly recommend them!

Dear Mike, We're just back from our honeymoon and I wanted to say a big thank you to the band for such an amazing performance. Sorry I didn't get to say much on the night, as you can imagine it was a bit hectic! Your performance was perfect, I couldn't have imagined anything better, you were extremely professional and the music and singing was incredible - a beautiful entertainment group that completed a perfect evening. Thanks again, and please say a big thank you to everyone in the band.

Dear Mike, When I heard about you, a jazz, Rat Pack and soul band made up from former AGS and AHS pupils, I just knew you were perfect for our Ball to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Aylesbury High School. Now we are here on Monday after the Ball, I have to tell you how many people have contacted me to let me know how WONDERFUL Down for the Count were. You were professional, smart and above all flexible! You changed from a jazz quintet to greet our guests as they sipped champagne, to the full function band to dance to after the dinner. And dance! I have never seen a dance floor more packed for the whole evening. Everyone loved dancing to the Rat Pack set - so sophisticated! The soul set was perfect to dance to the end of the evening. You may have heard that no-one was prepared to let you off the stage - the "encores" could be heard in the next county! So a very big thank you from us all at AHS - you made the evening.