The History of Dueling Pianos

I remember when I first had a friend invite me to see "Dueling Pianos."  I mean, I had seen plenty of dapper men and stylish women playing a shiny baby grand piano while I ate a delicious steak and drank sweet red wine.  The sarcastic voice in my head said "Great, I get to watch two of them at once."  My friend was oddly excited about the night ahead of us and not wanting to hurt my friend's feelings, I kept my comments to myself and got in the car.  

We arrived at the club and as we were walking up from the parking lot, I could hear what sounded like a concert coming from inside and an entire crowd screaming "Benny...Benny".  After we paid our cover charge, we walked into the main room and it was standing room only.  

Dodging cocktail waitresses and bachelorette parties, we found two bar stools off to the side of the stage being vacated by an older couple.  I couldn't help but think to myself, how on earth we got from two people playing classical or jazz music on pianos to THIS party!  Well...here's how...

As you probably know, Sweet Caroline and Piano Man had not been written back in the late 1800s, but that's when "Dueling Pianos" got its start.  Ragtime was one of the popular music genres back in the 1890s, and Ragtime players would actually "duel" with one another to see who could play faster and better.  One of the more well-known "duelers" around the turn of the century was Jellyroll Morton.  

In 1933, Charlie Cantrell and B.H. O'Brien opened up Pat O'Briens in New Orleans.  Here, the audience could write down their song requests on cocktail napkins and players would take turns singing and playing the songs on Copper (topped) Pianos. 

Since then, several hundred Dueling Piano Bars have opened up across the globe, including the first modern style club, Dallas Alley (aka Alley Cats), which opened in 1986, in Dallas, Texas.  Today's Dueling Piano show is now focused on audience participation, where the piano players actually work together to accomplish this goal. Of course there is still fun banter back and forth as well as the occasional battle.  Other fun parts of the show include "call-downs" (for guests celebrating special occasions) as well as "bits" (comedic routines intermixed into a popular song).

While there are plenty of traditional brick and mortar Dueling Piano bars like Treble Makers, we can also bring the show on the road.  Whether you are a bar or restaurant owner seeking unique live entertainment once a month in your venue, an engaged couple looking for something special at your reception, or you want to throw a private party in your own backyard, traveling Dueling Pianos' teams can be the answer to an engaging and memorable event.

1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dueling_pianos#:~:text=Literal%20dueling%20pianos%20can%20be,could%20play%20better%20and%20faster.&text=In%201986%2C%20a%20piano%20bar,bar%20style%20of%20New%20Orleans.

2.Percifield, Greg (21 March 2014). "The History Of Dueling Pianos". 

3.https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/article_bb470e63-4af5-545a-b3c1-5d9bc5d7bdee.html