We have these guys play for our conference last year and I can't believe I haven't written in a…read morereview for them yet. The music was a lot of fun and they got everybody dancing. They had a great spirit. We're gonna try to hire them again this year.

VERY DISAPPOINTING EXPERIENCE with Jose Hernandez, per the contract their 'band leader', on a event…read moreheld of just last night. Booked them last December for a 70th BD party to be held May 2. Paid the deposit at the same time. Communicating with Jose the week prior I requested the trio set up an hour before the event started so no last minute sound checks etc. and the evening could start on time and go smooth. Needed a live mike so BD speeches could be made prior to their start time. He said not a problem. The BD started at 5 PM, still no trio. Dinner started at 6:15 PM, still no trio. Booked to play from 7 to 9 PM. Were they even going to show up ? No communication with either myself or the venue. Band showed up at 6:45ish to set up after the evening was in full swing. No apology yet (from Jose who I had negotiated the event with) and was told by Luis, the evenings lead, was all they knew they were hired to play from 7 to 9. TOTAL lack of professionalism in running your business and communicating with your client. Will NEVER recommend your business to any potential future clients. I would NEVER want my friends to go thru the same stress and anxiety we experienced last night.

OMG! If you are looking for something smaller than a mariachi but want the full vibe of a mariachi…read moreand some, then these are you guys!!!! They know songs and they are fun to hang out with!

OMG!!! Absolutely great Vibe!!…read moreThank you all for being there and adding the perfect vibe to our event!!! Great Trio.. I booked them and they were great to work with! Thank you guys soooo much!!!

I had been wanting to try Empress forever and finally got to this yesterday for the LaRussell…read moreresidency. We really loved it and it's like a mini Fox Theater or Paramount theater. Lots of nice classic detail and nice bar and good audio quality. Recommended

I have lived in Vallejo since 2014 and had not attended any concerts at the Empress. My goodness…read morewas I missing out. The Staff is amazing, the decor very elegant and the price to attend doesn't break the bank. THE DANCE FLOOR SETS THE EMPRESS ABOVE ALL VENUES. Great fun.

My daughter (14yo) has been taking lessons from Mr. Ortiz for three years. Prior to that, she had…read moreseven years of lessons. She plays advanced classical repertoire. Mr. Ortiz has many outstanding qualities as a teacher. He pinpoints weaknesses in technique and works closely with students to strengthen their technique. My daughter's technique has improved dramatically. Also, Mr. Ortiz's approach has guided my daughter's independent musicality. He doesn't insist that my daughter play a piece with his interpretation, as I've seen many teachers do. At lessons, he's asked her to play a passage several different ways, and he's shown her other artists' interpretations, then he leaves it up to her. She is fully engaged and invested in not just replicating a piece but in developing her own interpretive style. He has also helped her prepare pieces for festivals and Certificate of Merit, and she has been well prepared. My daughter has been insecure about memorizing, and Mr. Ortiz has helped her develop strategies for securing memory, like analyzing the piece's form and transposing to multiple keys. Lastly, Mr. Ortiz is a kind teacher. It's clear that he enjoys his students. He meets them where they are at. If they don't understand something, he patiently comes at it from a different angle. We think he is a gem in the world of classical piano.

Mr.Ortiz has been working with our son for almost 4 months now and he has learned so much. We…read moreappreciate Mr. Ortiz attention to ensuring our son has a solid foundation of notes, timing, etc. as well as challenging him with pieces that interest him. My son was very timid when he started lessons but is really coming out his shell!

100/10 - This place is a hidden gem. If you run into Brad even better! He made my whole experience…read moresuch a pleasant time. I came in with my late Dad's guitar neck fully broken. Brad said that he'd personally make sure that it's fixed to his standard. Very reasonable repair price as well. Not only is Brad awesome, but the store has what you need. Whether it guitar picks, strings, keys, or curious about lessons, this is the place to go. I'd HIGHLY recommend this spot! - Vi

We love coming here! My daughter is 7 and learning the piano. We started with the Music Discovery…read moreclass and were able to sample different instruments like the drums, ukulele and piano. The instructor's are kind, patient and build on the foundations each week. Very happy to have Consumer Music in Vallejo.

My husband and I hired Nova Jazz as a quartet for our wedding in spring of 2026 and they were…read morewonderful to work with! Easy to communicate and plan with and their performance really elevated our reception. We let them know what kind of vibe and tempo we liked ahead of time and they did the rest choosing songs to play for the reception to keep things upbeat without being overpowering. Daniel checked in with us at various points throughout the night to ensure the vibes were right and if we needed any adjustments. Nova Jazz also was able to play a special request song outside of their listed repertoire for our first dance which we really appreciated and was very special for us. We'd recommend them for weddings and any other special events when you want extra pizzazz!

Working with Daniel and his band was all around an amazing experience! After reading all the…read morereviews and listening to a few of their videos online, I knew I wanted Nova Jazz Band to play at my company's 30th Anniversary celebration I was planning. TLDR; they exceeded every expectation from start to finish, and Daniel made everything completely stress-free. From our very first correspondence, Daniel was very friendly, quick to respond, knowledgeable, and incredibly professional. The music was phenomenal - very classy and perfect for our occasion. The band totally nailed the vibe. Daniel's attention to detail was next-level. He thought of all the little things that usually fall through the cracks - from what songs should play during the band's breaks, to how the sound system was set up, to which speakers the recorded music should come from. He even coordinated with the venue director to make sure there wouldn't be a single hiccup. Basically, he handled every possible thing before I could even think to worry about it. Everything ran like clockwork and I couldn't have asked for a better experience. Daniel and his team went above and beyond in every way. I can't wait to hire them for a future event! Highly, highly recommend!

Hella Fitzgerald was a huge hit at our son's Bar Mitzvah. We wanted live music as opposed to a DJ…read moreand we couldn't have been happier with their performance! Every musician in the band was outstanding. They accommodated all of our requests, including an extra long hora. :) All of our guests loved them and it was so refreshing to have 'real' music at our daytime event. Their price was extremely reasonable to boot! We highly recommend Hella Fitzgerald - they were fantastic!

A musician's dream!…read more Per the recommendation of our wedding planner, we worked with Hella Fitzgerald for our wedding in Big Sur, CA in August 2023. One of the best decisions we made for our wedding. I am a musician myself and had a lot of specifications for what I wanted throughout our ceremony, first dance, and dancing portions of the evening. And I mean a LOT of specifications! Music is something I am very particular about. Lilan worked closely with me on everything from which 2nd singer to hire to match the feel we wanted (the band works with various singers) to learning new songs that we had requested to adjusting songs to specific BPMs!!! She never seemed to lose her patience with me and would text me randomly with ideas or singer leads. One time she even texted me a couple vocal riffs she sang into her phone to see what I would prefer. We wanted a fun, sexy, big band feel and a talented group of musicians who could perform soul, Latin, swing, R&B, and everything in between. That is exactly what we got. We never left the dance floor. Thank you HF!

This review is long overdue. My husband and I went back and forth multiple times about whether or…read morenot to post a review, but we ultimately decided that we wish we had known what our experience would be like prior to booking Jessica as our DJ. We got married in the summer of 2023 and below is an account of the things we noticed. When we reached out to Jessica following the wedding and reception, we initially received a response which included a rebuttal to each of our observations, but when we followed up with two more emails about how we were open to rectifying the situation, there was no response. 1. The incorrect song was played for the bridal processional. We are willing to take partial credit for this mistake, as Jessica has a clause in her contract which states that all music must be available on iTunes. While we mistakenly assumed that the version of our song was on iTunes, we don't understand why Jessica didn't tell us beforehand that she had trouble finding the version. We would have sent an mp3 to her right away. Instead, she played a different version of the song and as a result, the part that we told her to fade into did not line up with our version and the fade in was awkward. The mishap started things off differently than we had expected. It impacted me (bride) on a personal level because of the emotional aspect of finding the "perfect" processional song. 2. Our first dance song was cut in half unexpectedly. We double checked that the questionnaire we filled out for her indicated that we wanted it to fade out at 1:52. Instead, the song faded about a minute in. We were very confused (as guests could see on our faces) and were disappointed because we had practiced a lot for our dance. She responded by stating that we gave her a "look" to express that we had stage fright and she faded out early. Neither I nor my husband looked at her during our dance. We also never discussed a "look" with Jessica, so we were even more perplexed when she brought that up. We were smiling, looking at one another, and having a great time until the confusion came. 3. Much of the music from our playlist(s) was not played. As in, almost none of the music played was from our playlist(s). We indicated specific "vibes" that we wanted in our music and that wasn't followed. We don't remember hearing most of the music we indicated for cocktail hour or dinner and neither did our guests. We think we heard a couple of songs for open dancing, but just a few. She responded by stating that we might be surprised about songs we simply missed because we were away at photos and whatnot. We asked her to send us a list or screenshot of the playlist to confirm, but did not receive a response. 4. We spoke with her over the phone about her playing the role of "emcee" in addition to DJing. We hoped that meant she would take initiative to check in with us about making announcements, hyping the crowd, etc. From our perspective, she did not present with the energy level we were hoping to see. This may have been a personal preference on our part, but her presence as a DJ was more on the passive side as compared to every other wedding we have attended. Ultimately, we would have gone in a different direction if we could go back. We are not the type to leave a less than stellar review for a service, but we feel that it's important to have the things that we regretted laid out as objectively as possible.

Lively, tasteful entertainment. Our wedding reception was bustling and cheerful thanks to the…read moretalented DJing of Jessica. Her selection of songs perfectly matched our wishes. She ably emceed during the speeches and provided us with high-tech, wireless microphones. Her inspired performance after dinner kept the dance floor thundering throughout the night. Thanks so much for all the fun!

Rose did an incredible job for our wedding at Elliston Vineyards. She goes above and beyond, she…read moretruly enjoys what she does. She enjoys the music and the happiness it brings out. Rose has a huge list of songs to choose from, and is willing to learn other songs to accommodate to you. She did two for us, she did purpose by Justin Bieber for me to walk down the aisle and for when my groom and I were walking down from the ceremony she performed best I ever had by Drake. I was impressed with how generous, kind, and caring rose is. Rose has phenomenal talent! You made my ceremony a memory I can never forget with the performance you gave us. I highly recommend Rose for all weddings and events!!!

Amazing performer . Amazing personality . Excellent musician. Strongly recommend for any event .read more

This team was so difficult to work with as I helped serve as a liaison between the bride, groom,…read moreand coordinator. During setup of the wedding, they were extremely rude. We'd ask them questions about their setup, change requests, or even simply excusing us to pass by to a door only. Each response was shockingly unprofessional and rude. I would think they understand after being in this business so long that not everything goes to plan on a wedding day and making changes/compromise is important into making the big picture of the event happen. Moving on... Music was delayed during cocktail hour because they had to move equipment from the ceremony to the dining area. When I asked kindly if they could play music as requested by the groom, they responded with "you'll get it when we get there." Really diminished the vibe of the cocktail. They left their road cases in visible sight instead of moving it back to the truck, making it difficult for other vendors to create a clean presentation for their area. The music for the dancing was not loud enough. Again, the groom personally asks to turn the volume up and it didn't happen. Also, the music had no transitions like a professional DJ! Basically, a fade with a new song cued up, sometimes the delay would be 5-10 seconds of awkwardness. Both the owner and his assistant were seriously frustrating working with. I would never recommend them to any future clients. The owner did mention that he is retiring, I'm glad they are. Oh, something positive. They had quality equipment.

Rob was amazing! He…read morewas extremely responsive, was accepting to our play list and gave suggestions where he felt fit. He did the ceremony as well as the reception. Unfortunately we were running behind so could not do the shoe game, but he MC'd everything to perfection. I would recommend using him for a wedding or any other event. He is affordable and professional!