The JIve Aces
with
The Manhattan Dolls

If you haven’t the time for this whole review, I’ll cut to the chase: The Jive Aces with The Manhattan Dolls was a swinging, foot-tapping, rollicking show that provided one of the best cabaret nights I, and seemingly the entire audience, had had in many a moon.

It was a return to an earlier era.  The six-member band Jive Aces was attired in matching outfits – lemon yellow jackets and pants, black shirts with patterned red and yellow ties, and black and white wing-tip shoes.  They didn’t allow much time to contemplate that, or the fact that they were in from the U.K.; they promptly hit their stride from the first note, with a jumping, instrumental “Pigalle Special.”  As they followed with “When You’re Smiling,” it was a flashback to the big band days, as instrumentalist Ian Clarkson put down his trumpet, came to the microphone, and provided the vocal.

They are labeled the U.K.’s “Number One Jive and Swing Band,” and it’s easy to understand why. Although they offered up a slower, stirring “Mack the Knife,” the crew primarily played and sang with more gusto and energy than a pro basketball team on a winning streak. From the musicians’ interplay, it was clear they’ve worked together for a long time. They obviously enjoy their own winning nonsense and stage business, accompanying another instrumentalist’s periodic solo breaks with some almost-choreographed dance steps. 

The Manhattan Dolls arrived mid-show, correspondingly garbed in 1940’s polka-dot dresses, with the skirts slit up to here. Once again, the calendar peeled back to the 1930s and ’40s as the three – Heather Dispensa, Annemarie Rosano and Sarah Drake – fetchingly took over the Andrews Sisters’ songbook, with “The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B,” ”Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen,” Glenn Miller’s biggest-ever hit, “In the Mood,” and several other equally nostalgic chart toppers.

The band’s amusing shenanigans threatened to obscure their excellence as musicians.  Ken Smith slapped that bass along with the best of them anywhere.  John Fordham on sax and Alex Douglas on trombone frequently tossed the tunes back and forth between them as easily and as arrestingly as if it were a tennis match. When the group turned to skiffle – the popular U.K. mid-century amalgam of jazz, blues, folk and country – Fordham traded his sax for a fiddle, and Douglas became a washboard impresario.  Drummer Peter Howell kept the rhythm a strong force throughout the night, and pianist Vince Hurley jumped, twisted, danced, swayed, wiggled and flew (yes, flew) – as he tickled, tapped and occasionally terrorized the keyboard.

Ian Clarkson, the band’s ostensible leader and alternately the other performers’ pal or provocateur, was featured on trumpet and did most of the vocals. As mentioned, the interplay may have diverted one’s attentions from his vocal talent, but he was right on target for the mood of the show.

The Jive Aces closed with a rousing “Sing, Sing, Sing,” leaving the audience chanting “We want more!” and succeeding in bringing back the group and The Manhattan Dolls for a jubilant, audience-included rendition of “Minnie the Moocher.”  It all made me feel sorry for the youngsters in the audience who missed these tunes the first time around.  The Jive Aces were due back in the U.K. in just a few days for a show in Surrey, and I couldn’t help but wonder if there might be a way to cancel The Jive Aces’ tickets back home and keep them all here in the U.S. with us.  Well, one can dream, can’t one? 

The Manhattan Dolls will be back at the Metropolitan Room on April 14th and again in November.  Tanya Holt, the room’s booking manager, solemnly promises a return this year of the Jive Aces as well.

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
February 20, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org