I got asked to play a solo at a funeral last week. Local dignitary passed away at the age of 83. Nice fellow. And, he'd played sax in his younger days in a dance band.
Long story short: I ended up doing a solo with piano of "On the Sunny Side of the Street" on tenor sax. We took it a bit slower than I'd normally play it, and (at the insistence of the piano player) we did it pretty straight, no improvisations.
We played this at the start of ceremony when the family walks in. My biggest fear was that someone from the family would get the rhythm and start to dance a bit. But, it all turned out fine.
Oh, and this was a large funeral. Probably in excess of 700 people.
And, yes, I got paid
