The Ozzie Fuhrman Swing Band @ The Mandolin Cafe in 2009

While Terry Radjaw was holding down the party at Neumo’s and Colony Collapse was tearing up The Fun House, a quieter celebration was going on in Tacoma at The Mandolin Cafe.  The Ozzie Fuhrman Swing Band has been playing classic swing jazz from the 1930s and 40s in gigs around Pierce County since 2007.  The show doubled as Ozzie’s 90th birthday celebration.  How often is it you get a chance to see a band led by a nonagenarian?  The eleven-member band’s youngest member is 14, blowing on a trumpet in the back row with his dad.

Mandolin Cafe is a charming coffee-shop with faux-Greek-cool decor, and the Ozzie Fuhrman Swing Band fit right in to the atmosphere.  About fifty people sat at bar counters or wore party hats at one of the tables, and a father and daughter sat in the back playing checkers.  A few summer students from University of Puget Sound worked on some homework.  A piece of paper had “TIPS” sharpied on it, taped to the hollowed head of Michelangelo’s David, sitting on the piano.  Four birthday balloons graced the front of the Room near Ozzie.

After some delay, the band finally began with “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” written by Irving Berlin for the 1936 film Follow the Fleet, which starred Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.  The band rolled through their set of jazz standards, including a simmering version of Gershwin‘s “Summertime.”  Highlights included a song from the Larry Clinton Orchestra, but the real show-stealer was the young vocalist with the hot pink glasses, whose version of Cole Porter‘s “De-Lovely” was assured and completely convincing.  Her voice may have been young, but her singing commanded the complete attention of the growing crowd.

Ozzie has been leading swing bands since 1946, when he lived in Chicago.  He hadn’t played jazz in a long time when he formed the Swing Band with members of the Puyallup Valley Community Band.  Ozzie still sings many of the songs himself, and his voice is astonishingly good as he sings from one of his many lyrics note-cards.  They play at 7 pm the first Monday of every month at The Mandolin Cafe.  Its a pleasant time to bring a book, drink some coffee, and listen to renditions of jazz classics done well.