Temperatures might be falling and the daylight hours dwindling, but summer doesn’t officially come to a close until Sept. 23; consider it a bonus month (or three weeks) to throw a small dinner party and share new, and old, music with friends. A good soundtrack to the night can inspire discussion, pad out quieter moments and bring people to an impromptu dance floor.

To start off the evening right, the chef Angela Dimayuga, who founded the monthly party Gush, a roving club night for queer and trans people of color that features D.J.s and performances, suggests putting on the jazzy Bobby Caldwell hit “What You Won’t Do for Love.” She likes to play it when “one or three friends have shown up and we are sipping on wine and finishing the food preparations.”

After people take their seats and the atmosphere becomes more intimate, the singer and songwriter Kevin Morby “tends to put on music that isn’t really lyrically based,” he says, “so it doesn’t interfere with whatever conversation is happening.” He mentions “September Song” by Django Reinhardt in particular, which he likes to play “when eating, with the volume on low. The chaotic picking patterns get everyone feeling quite crazy and romantic.” The chef and artist DeVonn Francis of the event company Yardy NYC prefers “Noise” by Zsela, which he says is “haunting, powerful and written so incredibly well. It makes you pause and think about what really matters to you at the end of the day, and dinner with friends does that for me, too.”