Jubilee Jammers’ band leader Beverly Closs, left, strums the banjolele at a recent rehearsal. (She plays at least eight instruments.) To the right is Nina Craig. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — One ukulele is all you need to cheer the heart and lift spirits. Now multiply that by ten, and you have the Jubilee Jammers, a group of ten dedicated ukulele musicians making happy waves at performances in Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn.
Led by musical director and teacher Beverly Closs, the Jubilee Jammers’ brand of infectious musical fun brings smiles to even jaded Brooklyn audiences, who end up clapping and singing along — or sometimes even dancing in the aisles, which is what happened at a recent show at the Brooklyn Heights Library, when audience members jumped to their feet and danced the “Misirlou” around the room while the Jammers played “Never on Sunday.”
They call themselves the Jubilee Jammers because they first met at the St. Charles Jubilee Senior Center in Brooklyn Heights, at a weekly ukulele class. They have since developed into a performing group with a waiting list for membership. Their average age is 75.
Members of the group — Ellen Jaffee, Grace Bighouse, Nina Craig, Frank Philipp, Betty Philipp, Robert Ruffo, Delora Williams, Bette Druck and Ellen Bloom — perform contemporary, pop and beloved show tunes, like “Hello Dolly,” “Happy Talk,” “Singing in the Rain” or the amusingly risqué tango “Hernando’s Hideaway” (with Closs providing the all-important click-click-click of castanets).
‘I know a dark, secluded place
A place where no one knows your face
A glass of wine, a fast embrace
It’s called…
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