THE THINGS WE LOVE, or ROMPING AT RADEGAST: GORDON AU’S GRAND STREET STOMPERS with TAMAR KORN (April 18, 2012)

How lucky we are to have these young cats swinging out for us!  Those of us who can get to Radegast know what I mean — the delicious combination of hot music among friends, with a side order of swing dancing, uplifting food and drink.

If you’ve never been to Radegast, it is well worth the trip — a spiritual oasis of its own singular kind, where the ambient music is often Sidney Bechet, Walter Page, and Jonah Jones.  The Radegast Hall and Biergarten — to give it its formal appellation — is located at 113 North 3rd Street  Brooklyn, NY 11211 — parking is easy at night.  Click here to see their schedule of hot bands.

Here are four performances from Wednesday, April 18, 2012 — to lift you up and get you in the groove in the best way.  The Elevators are Gordon Au, trumpet, compositions, arrangements; Matt Musselman, trombone; Dennis Lichtman, clarinet; Peter Maness, string bass; Davy Mooney, guitar; Tamar Korn, vocal.

Let’s start with a genuine Thirties love song written by Gordon Au in the twenty-first century, SOMEHOW THE WORLD HAS TURNED UPSIDE-DOWN, with vocalizing by Tamar:

Then, a sweetly romping 1931 favorite — uplifting even if you put stevia in your latte: WHEN I TAKE MY SUGAR TO TEA:

A spicy Latin-flavored MUSKRAT RAMBLE:

And an encouragement to be candid.  IT’S A SIN TO TELL A LIE, you know:

Good deal!

These musicians are playing gigs all over — so be sure to get on their email lists / websites / Facebook pages to keep up with them.  The people who lament the aging audience for jazz, the sad necrology of the music . . . come hear this band: they are the past, present, future rolling on!

May your happiness increase.

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“NO EXTRA CHARGE FOR TABLES” (1948-49)

There was Chicago’s South Side in the mid-to-late Twenties.  There was Fifty-Second Street in New York for a decade starting in 1935 or so.  There was always Harlem and Kansas City . . . but these three advertisements speak to me of a Golden Age that was happening before I was born.

Let’s get prepared.  We need some money, acetates for my Presto disc cutter, several cameras, rare Okehs and Paramounts for everyone’s autograph . . . and be sure to let your parents know we won’t be home early.  All set?

October 8, 1948:

The Beloved has her back cushion.  We’re all set!

December 3, 1948:

We’ll swing by Emily’s house to pick her up: Eric, Noya, Jon-Erik, Matt, and Kevin are meeting us there.  If anyone tends to get carsick, they have to come by subway.

March 25, 1949:

Gordon, Veronica, Lena, and Tamar promised they’d come.

Enough fantasy, perhaps.  All I know is that one of these evenings would have changed my life.

May your happiness increase.