The Speakeasy Swingers maintain old-school Las Vegas style in packed-house performances

The Speakeasy Swingers have close to three centuries of experience among them, and they have no intention of stopping now. They love the music they play, and they believe the audience for it continues to grow.

“I notice more and more contemporary artists, when they get a bit older, they start doing music from the great American songbook themselves,” said Charlie Shaffer, who has been playing keyboard for the group since its inception. “There’s a wide variety of music contained in that category. There’s jazz, up-tempo dance tunes, beautiful ballads and more. It’s not very limiting at all, and it’s fun.”

The group, which also includes Bill Bailey on bass, Paul Testa on drums, Bill King on trumpet, Don Hill on sax and Bobby Scann on trombone, recently doubled its performance schedule. It now plays from 7 to 9 p.m. on the first and third Thursday of each month at the Italian American Club, 2333 E. Sahara Ave. The doors open at 6, and there are sometimes special events, such as dance demonstrations, before the band playing. The group was put together by Jazzin’ Jeanne Brei, but she and Hill disagree over who should get the credit for coming up with the idea. Both claim it was the other’s suggestion.

“When The Treniers ended, I didn’t want to quit playing,” Hill said. “Jeanne said, ‘If you don’t want to quit playing, let’s form a band,’ and that’s what she did.”

Brei had been hanging out and sitting in for songs from time to time for a few years with The Treniers when the group disbanded following the death of Claude Trenier in 2003. Like most of the band, Hill was a veteran performer, having played with The Treniers for 55 years.

“At first, we just performed,” Brei said. “We didn’t even bother to name the group until 2007 when we recorded a CD and I needed to put a name on it, and that’s when I came up with The Speakeasy Swingers. I wasn’t thinking about what the word ‘swingers’ might mean to some people in Las Vegas, but it hasn’t hurt us.”

Brei gathered musicians who had performed on Broadway and in shows on the Strip, seeking talented performers who knew all the songs she wanted to present and could play them without sheet music. She was looking to re-create what she calls “the swanky supper club of 1950s Las Vegas where you could dance, have dinner and see big floor shows by a headliner.”

“Back then, you could go see Sinatra’s show for $7, and that included a steak dinner,” Brei said.

To do that, she brought in musicians including Shaffer, who has been playing in Las Vegas since he arrived in 1958 to play with a rock band at the Hacienda, which was where Mandalay Bay now stands.

“It was a real nighttime town in those days,” Shaffer said. “All of the swing dancers made the stage at the Hacienda their home. We worked from midnight to 6 a.m., and the place was still jam-packed with dancers when we got off.”

Over the years, Shaffer has performed with many groups and arranged music for big names, but he has usually been a quiet utility performer, rarely a name on a marquee, although he has recorded 14 albums. He worked with Peggy Lee and Don Cherry and did arrangements for performances on all of the popular talk shows of the day, including “The Merv Griffin Show,” “The Sammy Davis Jr. Show” and “The Joey Bishop Show.”

He is quick to point out that the arrangements were for musicians performing on the show, not the shows themselves as is sometimes reported.

“At the Riviera, I worked with Sonny King, who I thought was one of the greatest showmen I’d ever seen,” Shaffer said. “He did shows for standing-room crowds every night.”

The Speakeasy Swingers perform to a full house most nights with an audience made of a mix of people who remember the heyday of Las Vegas and others too young to have experienced it the first time around.

“One of the things that is really cool about the room we perform in is that we get all ages,” Brei said. “We recently had a little girl who celebrated her 12th birthday there with 22 of her closest friends. She’s also a great piano player, so we brought her up on the stage to play a little.”

It isn’t uncommon for the line between the audience and the stage to get blurred. Brei frequently points out celebrities and longtime Las Vegas performers in the audience and often calls them to the stage to sing a song. During instrumentals, she often grabs an audience member and takes him out on the dance floor.

“I can’t think of another place in Las Vegas where you can hear old-school music and dance,” Brei said.

The club was built in 1960 and looks like a time capsule of the period. It is vintage, not old, with renovations and general upkeep ensuring that everything is functional while retaining the classic aesthetic. Most nights, someone is performing in the bar in addition to whatever might be going on in the large banquet room that The Speakeasy Swingers play in.

“It’s a pleasure to see the changes the new management is making,” Brei said. “The food is really good also, and it’s moderately priced.”

Some of the performers are semi-retired, while others are still performing regularly on the Strip. There’s a fair chance many of them would be playing the show even if it wasn’t a paid gig, but Brei is insistent on making sure the musicians are paid, running a raffle during each performance with many of the prizes provided by local businesses.

“I do a weekly gig with my daughter, who’s a singer, at the Bootlegger (Italian) Bistro,” Shaffer said. “It’s a nice job, and it’s about as much as I want to work now. The show at the Italian American Club is where I get the pleasure of performing with other musicians. The Speakeasy Swingers consist of a bunch of very good players.”

Brei contends that performing keeps her young and remembered she heard Doc Rando, namesake of UNLV’s Dr. Arturo Rando-Grillot Hall, perform at the age of 102. For performers such as Hill, his instrument is his voice to the audience.

“I like the saxophone because it’s mellow,” Hill said. “My wife says that the way I play it, I make it talk.”

The next performance of The Speakeasy Swingers is set from 7 to 9 p.m. July 7 at the Italian American Club. Admission is free, but food, drink and raffle tickets are available for purchase. Visit jazzinwithjeanne.com, iacvegas.com or call 702-457-3866.

Editor’s note: Old-School Vegas is a periodic series in the East Valley View that looks at entertainers and venues embodying the vintage feel of Las Vegas entertainment.

To reach East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor, email ataylor@viewnews.com or call 702-380-4532.