About Our Bands
Washington’s Entertainment Connection is not your typical agency, as it is more of a music consultancy, where we not only help you match the best size and type of band to your event, we also work with you to survey your favorite tunes. This way, we cater the music list your taste!
Catering the music to your needs: Our party entertainment bands are uniquely flexible professional musicians, in that they are individually able to play many different genres of music, including Rock, Pop, Funk, R&B, Jazz, Swing, Klezmer and Classical, all in the same event. For those who love the 60″s sound, we even have an awesome Beatles Tribute band. Each of our bands are professional party entertainers have their own specialty, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that they are limited to only that sound or style. Our bands are professional musicians who cater their repertoire to your event. For example you hire one of our rock bands, and you want to hear some Latin, jazz, or swing music. No problem. We are professional party entertainment musicians. We can do that! We encourage you to check out each of our bands and sample the wide variety of music they can play. Then you can judge for yourself.
Professionalism: No Matter What Band You Choose: Washington’s Entertainment Connection guarantees professionalism from all of our bands and has a proven record for creating outstanding performances and incredible parties! Unlike any other agency, the owner of WEC, Brian Choper is a well know and respected drummer who plays with many of the bands represented. Professionalism is our top priority. Our professional party entertainment bands will arrive on time and start on time, and will always look awesome. They will do everything they can to ensure your event is impressive, awesome and runs perfectly.
Duos, Trios and Quartets
Nothing compares to great, live music as party entertainment. If these are your thoughts, but you’re still considering a DJ, here’s a solution that can allow you to keep live music in your plans: the Washington’s Entertainment Connection Quartets. Our smaller, more affordable bands are equally great for any corporate event, party, wedding reception, or cocktail hour. Whether you are looking for an event band, dance band, party band, bar mitzvah band or wedding band, for rock, jazz, swing or klezmer, we can help you balance cost with the desire for the excitement of live music. While the full bands of professional party entertainers usually have both two lead players playing off one another, the quartet has one. As an add-on option, we can include a player who also sings, or a vocalist. Whatever you choose, we can provide you high quality professional entertainment at a good price that will allow you to enjoy great, live music in MD, DC, VA for your party! A live music band makes the party in ways a DJ cannot. Now, with our affordable options, live music is within reach. Let us know you want an affordable option for that sound and whether it will be a duo, trio or quartet, we will help you choose the professional party entertainers that have the sound, the live music and the energy level you are looking for. You’ll be surprised just how good an affordable a professional band can be.
Musical Options We Provide to People Looking to Hire Our Bands
A live band makes the party in ways a DJ cannot. Now, with our affordable options, live music is within reach.
From our music samples, decide what you like best. Let us know you want an affordable option for that sound and whether it will be a duo, trio or quartet, we will help you choose the group of professional party entertainers that has the sound, the music and the energy level you are looking for. You’ll be surprised just how good an affordable band can be.
Keep in mind that as good as our trios are: nothing compares to the excitement, energy and versatility of the full size, live music band of professional musicians. Your celebration will have just the right elements of both to keep your event exciting and memorable.
With all of these options available, you can’t go wrong! Give us a call and ask us for details.
Add elegance to any party, function or professional environment. For any event including a birthday party, anniversary, graduation party, corporate event, Bar or Bat Mitzvah or wedding reception, ask about our solo, duo, trio or quartet options. They are available for any occasion.
About WEC
Washington’s Entertainment Connection (WEC) offers FIVE primary services:
Successfully matching clients with live bands and DJ’s for both public and private affairs.
Management and support of specific bands.
Representation and promotion of independent bands and DJ’s signed by the agency
Connecting clients with additional support services that have proven (to us) to be superior in the business, such as photography, videography and lighting
Expanding our mission to find the greatest musicians possible to hire to perform for you is WEC’s affiliation with “Gigs For You”. GFY is a non profit musician’s organization that helps musicians and other entertainers network with one another and find work. (GFY was started by our founder, Brian Choper.) Through this affiliation, you can take advantage of these GFY resources. As WEC discovers new talent through GFY, that talent is brought into the A-List group of musicians hired by WEC to perform for you as you hire our bands.
Thunder & Lightning
WEC introduces Thunder & Lightning, the house party band of Washington’s Entertainment Connection. This is a new, one-of-a-kind Rock & Roll party band and pop band, conceived, produced and managed by WEC.
WEC is a family of managers, musicians, sound engineers, photographers, videographers and DJ’s, all working together to create great bands, great music and great events. It is a family of artists in collaboration. Thunder & Lightning is a product of that collaboration.
While the other party bands and DJ’s represented by WEC are either self managed or managed by the WEC owners, Thunder & Lightning is a project. It is the brainchild of, and is managed by WEC and a group of professional musicians, most of who perform with other WEC bands, and otherwise work closely with the company. This band was a group concept, and those involved came to WEC management, asking for help to start their own party band. Unlike most of the WEC bands that are sold as wedding, corporate and private event bands, Thunder & Lightning has been organized specifically to perform at public events organized by the agency. By creating this unique collaboration, the players have brought together the best of the area A-List rock musicians to form something unique. This is an entertainment party band that creates a show and an energy that people will hear about, talk about and go to see. Thunder and Lightning will get your party started and rock the house in events! MD, DC and VA your party band is waiting!
The band features a very wide repertoire that extends well beyond the rock & roll you hear most bands play. Their song list includes Pop, Classic Rock, Funk, and a touch of Rap and Blues. Thunder & Lightning performs at public events, clubs and corporate functions. What’s even better for the partiers, the band is setting up to play regular shows at public venues throughout the area. To keep in the know — Join our mailing list to be kept informed of where the action will be.
Nexus Rock Band: Rock & Roll of the 70s, 80s, and 90s Mixed with Modern Pop, Original Rock Compositions, and a Touch of Swing
The perfect wedding band or party band, the Nexus Rock Band will have your guests moving, laughing and dancing with the greatest in Classic Rock, Pop Rock, Funk and Disco for parties, weddings and corporate events and Bar and Bat Mitzvahs in MD, VA and DC.
With well over 200 songs on its repertoire list, this party band could be labeled a top 40 or society band, but they do so much more than that. This professional party entertainment band’s repertoire includes classic rock, dance and party tunes by such artists as Donna Summer, Aretha Franklin, Chicago, Melissa Etheridge and The Who; and Pop including Katy Perry, Fergie, Alicia Keys, Maroon 5, The Police, Natasha Beddingfield, and so many others.
This professional party entertainment band then moves on to even more spicy territory, rockin’ it up with exciting, syncopated and showy tunes from artists such as Santana and Gloria Estefan, then really showing it up with classics such as Blood, Sweat & Tears “Spinning Wheel”, Styx “Come Sail Away” and “Freebird”. This is a professional party entertainment band that loves the challenge of bringing you the best, and has the ability to bring an unparalleled variety of music to any event. Believe it or not, we can even play Jazz and Swing upon request (i.e. for cocktails), and we’re good at it!
And we have been noticed, having been invited to perform for celebrities, including TV and movie personalities, Nancy Pelosi, other members of Congress and President Barack Obama. We are the perfect wedding band, Bar or Bat Mitzvah band, anniversary band, gala band or party band in general, as we know so much music. Rock it up and party down with the Nexus Rock Band! What we play, how loud we play and how we dress is completely up to you!
The diversity of The Nexus Rock Band allows the band to be booked as a 3 member ensemble, to the full 8 member band, and anywhere in between. All of the configurations are great, and the full band really rocks down the house.
The Kol Haruach Klezmer Band
Also Performing As The New Klezmer Quintet
“The Internationally Renowned Klezmer Band…The Band That Played for the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Event…As Featured and Heard Simulcast on NPR”
“Kol Haruach Has Performed at Many Venues Including the
John F Kennedy Center for the Performing
New Klezmer Quintet The group always plays with improvisation and spontaneity – their musical “banter” is usually more important than restricting them to an actual formal arrangement. Klezmer, Israeli, Ladino, Latin and Jazz are almost always mixed into the program during each performance, no matter where the band plays. Taking Klezmer tunes and rocking them up, adding a Klezmer influence- our fans call it “Klezmer fusion” is their latest crowd pleasing invention. This band is available for concerts.
While Kol Haruach is renowned for Israeli and Klezmer music, we go out of our way to cater to other musical requests that you may have while planning your
party with our Klezmer music expert Brian Choper. This is one professional band of musicians with two names and one set of top flight musicians building on one beloved musical tradition. Why two names? It depends on the venue we are playing. When we play private affairs, weddings and Bar Mitzvahs, we go by our traditional name, “The Kol Haruach Klezmer Band”. However, when we play public shows, corporate events or parties, concerts or galas, we go by our English name, “The New Klezmer Quintet”.
The Kol Haruach Klezmer Band can also help you with smaller party entertainment band options. If you are interested in the party band, but are also interested in music for your ceremony or cocktails, private party, weddings and Bar Mitzvahs, we can provide professional musicians to help you with this. Please let us know.
The Jazz Connection “Songs By Singers Like Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Nat King Cole, Fred Astaire….
You and Your Guests Will Dance the Night Away!” The Jazz Connection is a modern, well established group of professional musicians; a band that brings the classics back to life from the 20′s. 30′so, 40′so and 50′so. Our professional party entertainers may have guests swaying one moment to Ray Charles sultry ballads like “Georgia”, the next minute joyously shake the dance floor to Duke Ellington’s high energy “A Train”, or groove with the smoky jazz club nostalgia of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Night in Tunisia”. We have performed at various well-known venues and concert halls, including The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and Twins Jazz. This is a professional party entertainment band that prides itself on matching the mood of the music to the mood of the guests. For the event that requires flexibility, the band is available from 2 – 6 pieces. What we play and how we dress are completely up to you! Contact us for more information.
The Jazz Connection Trios: Looking for something smaller then the full band? Looking for music for your small corporate event, cocktail hour or ceremony? Looking to impress your guests with warmth and pizzazz with a smaller group? Looking for a solution easier on the pocket? Consider either a trio or a three piece band of our professional musicians. Either way, The Jazz Connection can accommodate you. Contact us for details.
The Choper Jazz Project: A Quartet Performing Swing, Upbeat & Straight Up Jazz
“The Choper Jazz Project Features Straight Ahead Jazz. These Great Musicians Feed Off One Another and Share Their Energy With the Audience.”
Creating The Perfect Atmosphere For Your Party or Special Event
A tasteful group of real professional musicians, jazz players who know the A-B-Cs of jazz: Adderley, Bird, and Coltrane; and gives them the proper treatment. This is a band that distinguishes itself from other jazz bands by adjusting their music and style to the audience’s taste and mood.
The result: the feel of real jazz at your elegant affair; or Wedding, Bar and Bat Mitzvah, corporate event and party. The band creates an ambiance all its own, pleasing and entertaining your guests while remaining unobtrusive at events of all types, Weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, corporate events and parties.
Or, for a more upbeat reception, this band can mix it up and really rock out. The unusual flexibility of the group to play music beyond straight up jazz allows the option for you, the client, to request a mix of jazz, swing, Latin and even rock & roll. Call us for more information.
The band can dress formally or informally, as you request. Ensure a great party and hire the Choper Jazz Project today. Available as 1- 4 musicians for galas, parties, corporate events and wedding receptions.
C. Barnes Project
The Funk and R & B Band that Worked with the “Duke of Earl”, Gene Chandler!
The C. Barnes Project is 10-piece party entertainment band that specializes in R&B with the flexibility to play other areas of music for your event. They perform live music at weddings, private parties, college events, concerts and corporate functions moving fluidly between different types of affairs with an ease that you don’t always find in R&B bands … but then, the C. Barnes Project is known for its professionalism as well as showmanship. The male lead vocalist, known as O’Neal, has a rich baritone voice that can growl on songs like Sam & Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Comin” and purr with emotion on Al Green’s “How can you Mend a Broken Heart.” His energetic performance style was honed up and down the eastern seaboard including MD, DC and VA parties and events. and never fails to leave audiences wanting more.
Our female lead vocalist, Shelia Walker, shows her versatility and flexibility as she sings oldies, Latin, R&B and all with the same flair … going from Aretha to Britney to Sade to Gloria Estefan without missing a beat. … And the horns!!! They are what give the C. Barnes Project its Big Band sound. Whether complementing each other in unison or hitting those “Memphis-like” harmonies, this trio (Charles Barnes-trombone, Albert Anderson-saxophones, and Gordon Wade-trumpet and party/vocal grooves) ROCKS! Now, we’ve highlighted the horn section, but watch out for that rhythm section as well! Between the five rhythm section players, this party entertainment band incorporates about 90 years of solid experience! Headed by bass player Kenneth Jackson, these guys have exactly what it takes to get the job done.
The keyboard player Wayne Greenidge seems to know every song written in R&B and beyond. Guitarist Vernon Brooks has never met a chord or a song that hasn’t rocked; nor has he met any that he couldn’t own … ” And the team-up of percussionist (Arvel “Butch” Howerton) and the drummer (Charles Barry Wellman) is the most exciting since the Escovedo family showed up on the scene.
Did we mention that The C.Barnes Project served as Gene “The Duke of Earl” Chandler ’s back-up band. According to Gene, “They are a great bunch of quality musicians who know how to rock down the party, and they are very easy to work with … ” The band gets glowing recommendations from everyone with whom (and for whom) they’ve worked; and the list includes Percy Sledge, Gloria Brown, and Chick Willis.
Liverpool Beat
A full blown project and a labor of love, dedicated to reliving the sites and sounds of Beatlemania!
Liverpool Beat is comprised of four very talented party entertainment musicians that came together in 2001, through an ad in the Musician’s Grapevine. As practice began, the Lads soon realized they could not only duplicate the music of the Beatles, but match their incredible vocal sound as well. The result was a full blown project and corporate and private and public event band and a labor of love, dedicated to recreating the sights & sounds of BEATLEMANIA. Relive this timeless musical experience with LIVERPOOL BEAT as they bring their knockout performance of the early years (62-66), to every show, party and corporate event they do. See the Lads in the original costumes, instruments, amplifiers, accents, as well as being the “Most Entertaining Show I’ve Seen In Years”, as stated by Shelly Cecchett, director of the FIRST NIGHT DOVER New Year’s celebration.