Piano bar

A piano bar (also known as a piano lounge) consists of a

Description

Theatre historian John Kenrick describes 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.^[2]

The American minimalist composer Terry 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.^[3]

Types

There are several types of piano bars:

• Instrumental only: the professional piano/keyboard player plays strictly instrumental music, which is usually classical, jazz, or easy 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 on microphone, but no other singers are generally allowed.^[4] Examples include Carousel 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 preferring
  Marie's Crisis Cafe and The Duplex in Greenwich Village
  .
• R&B or country, sometimes played by request. The format is based on dueling piano entertainments offered at Pat O'Brien's Bar in New Orleans, Louisiana. Numerous popular clubs^[6] offer 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.^[7][8][9]
• 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 Alley
  in 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 and music sequencers to emulate the sounds of a live band, usually in MIDI format. It is mainly popular in Europe and Asia, often playing regional popular music.