As a wise man once said, it don’t mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. Or something like that anyway as California dislocated duo the Two Man Gentlemen Band set out to prove with their album “Two At A Time” and duly pulled out of time it is too.
This album is almost enough to turn me into a cravat wearer with song after song in that clever Louis Jordan playing on inconsequence kind of way but they are, in truth, just a bit too good to be actually trivial. So whilst the songs have titles like “Pork Chop”, “Cheeses and Crackers” and even “Tikka Masala”, this is more than a mere snack for the ears and the Two Man Gentlemen Band are more than a cabaret act – even an Edinburgh Festival cabaret act at that – in that they not so much reinvent the past as adopt it as something akin to a raison d’être.
If you are going to bring this humour into this miserable world, then it is, in all likelihood, a good idea to dress up and put on a show. Two Man Gentlemen Band are clearly showmen at heart. Anyone for a cocktail?