Al & GenJam have an enormous repertoire of well over 400 tunes, which is what happens when you keep finding tunes you want to do and really enjoy writing fun arrangements for them. Below are several overlapping tune lists for various kinds of gigs, genres and occasions, with some comments by Al. The last two lists contain all our current Christmas and non-Christmas tunes.
- Dinner Music – Background music to relax and converse over dinner. Medium to down tempos, heavy on the bossas, and hold the fast stuff.
- Coffee House Music – Coffee houses are usually what I call mid-ground settings, where some folks are busy on their devices, others are chatting, and some came specifically for the music. Here’s an eclectic mix that pleased all 3 populations at Boulder Coffee recently.
- Hard Bop – My favorite jazz genre. Think Blue Note records from the 40’s through the 60’s. I specialize in obscure tunes by artists who should be better remembered.
- Hard Latin – My term for energetic Latin music. Mambos, Afro-Cuban, Latin jazz, salsas and rhumbas.
- Swing & Trad – Short for traditional. Older swing tunes, a little “dixieland” and familiar entries from the “great American songbook”.
- Movie & TV – Another personal favorite. I love working with movie cues (especially Film Noir), and TV themes, some of which are surprisingly fun to improvise on. “I Spy” is a really nice tune!
- Holiday Tunes – 41 to be exact, so we can play a 4-hour gig without repeating anything. “Holly Jolly Christmas” as a 7/4 mambo? Check!
- The Big List – Over 380 tunes, sorted by composer – everything but the holiday stuff. Anything on this list is fair game on a gig.
Al Biles 