Piano bar

For other uses, seePiano bar (disambiguation).

Apiano bar(also known as apiano lounge) consists of apianoorelectronic keyboardplayed by a professionalmusician.Piano bars can be located in acocktail lounge,bar,hotel lobby, office building lobby, restaurant, or on acruise ship.Usually the pianist receives a small salary plustips in a jaror basket on or near the piano, especially from patrons requesting a song traditionally written on a beverage napkin.Some piano bars feature a baby grand orgrand pianosurrounded by stools for patrons (or, an upright piano ordigital pianoencased by a cabinet resembling a grand piano). Others have a bar surrounding the piano or keyboard.

Dueling pianosat Tickler's Bar in New Orleans

Description

Martuni's, one of the last piano bars in San Francisco, California.

Theatre historianJohn Kenrickdescribes the piano bar as follows:

A piano bar is a hybrid creature: part performance space, part living room, part cruise-a-thon, and part saloon. The bar is there to sell drinks, the pianist is there to perform, and the crowd is there to sing, listen, drink and socialize. All of this means that it's impossible to predict what a given evening's chemistry will be, even if most of the people on hand are regular customers.... While every factor counts, the most important issue is the person at the piano. The pianist determines the type of music, the style of performance, and the general tone of the evening.... The experienced piano bar player knows how to take genial control of most any situation and generally keep the party going.

The American minimalist composerTerry Riley,who worked as a cocktail pianist when younger, later offered this "religious" view of the profession:

Having worked for years as a lounge lizard, I was smitten with the insight that the cocktail pianist is signaled out to conduct his ritual of group urban chanting on the themes of love and existence—a kind of medicine man at the ever-present altaric piano, surrounded by his boozy tribe sipping sacraments in the circle of our common misery.

Types

There are several types of piano bars:

Two pianists playing at O'Brien's Piano Bar in New Orleans

• Instrumental only:the professional piano/keyboard player plays strictly instrumental music, which is usuallyclassical,jazz,oreasy listening;this type of piano bar is often found in hotel lobby lounges or fine dining restaurants and upscale bars.
• Only the musician sings:the professional piano/keyboard player sings to his/her accompaniment, usually onmicrophone,but no other singers are generally allowed.Examples includeCarousel Piano Bar & Lounge.
• Musician and servers sing:the professional musician sings and also invites servers to sing solos. In this type of bar, the servers are selected for having both serving and singing skills.
• Sing-along:patrons surrounding the piano/keyboard sing as a group, usually without microphones, often preferringstandards,show tunes,popandrock.It is "a social venue for singing".Examples includeMarie's Crisis Cafeand The Duplex inGreenwich Village.
• Dueling pianos:usually on stage with two grand pianos, each played by a professional player who sing and entertain; humor and audience participation are important. Usually these bars have substantialsound systems,and most of the songs performed arerock and roll,classic rock,Top 40,R&Borcountry,sometimes played by request. The format is based on dueling piano entertainments offered atPat O'Brien's Barin New Orleans, Louisiana. Numerous popular clubsoffer the sing-along format, while Howl at the Moon Piano Bar,Shake Rattle & Roll Dueling Pianos(in New York City) and The Big Bang Dueling Piano Bar feature full performance shows, often with singing and dancing by their wait staff.
• Open mic:individual patrons sing (on microphone) to the accompaniment of the professional musician; in some ways, this type of piano bar is likekaraoke,except that the music is live and dynamic, and there are usually nolyricsavailable (although some piano bar players do supply some lyrics); like karaoke, the songs performed may cover a wide, eclectic range (show tunes,standardsfrom the 1920s forward,jazz,country, R&B, rock'n'roll, blues,folk,soul,disco,hip-hop,etc.); the patron singers are usually called to the microphone in a rotating order; often, each singer is allowed two or three songs each time he/she is called to perform.The Alleyin Oakland, California, uses this format.
• Combination:some piano bars include the characteristics of two or more of the above, either on different nights or combined on the same night.
• "One-man band":The musician uses an electronic keyboard equipped with built-in accompaniment function andmusic sequencersto emulate the sounds of a live band, usually inMIDIformat. It is mainly popular inEuropeandAsia,often playing regional popular music.

Awards

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs presents annually several awards,MAC Awards,for piano bar performers: Piano Bar Instrumentalist, Restaurant/Hotel Lounge Instrumentalist, Piano Bar/Restaurant Singing Entertainer – male and female.

Notable piano bar performers

Jimmy Durantestarted as a piano bar player, as didBilly Joel.Joel's classic hit "Piano Man"is based on his experiences as a piano bar player. ItaliantenorAndrea Bocellialso played in piano bars to pay for singing lessons.

See also

• Cab Kaye's Jazz Piano Barin Amsterdam where Cab Kaye performed, when not touring, five nights a week from 1979 until 1988
• The Fabulous Baker Boysis a 1989 American romantic comedy-drama musical film. It features "dueling pianos" music. Real-life brothers Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges star as two brothers struggling to make a living as lounge jazz pianists in Seattle.
• Harry's New York Barin Paris and its piano bar "Ivories" whereGeorge GershwincomposedAn American in Paris
• Rick's Café Casablancain Casablanca, Morocco, designed to recreate the bar made famous in the filmCasablanca
• Lounge music