Miss Jubilee & The Humdingers
When did Valerie Jo Kirchhoff become Miss Jubilee? She and partner Dan Conner chose the lively stage name in 2007, when they formed the Humdingers in response to a lack of high energy St. Louis dance bands, especially ones that faithfully expressed the duo's ardor for the styles — both musical and sartorial — of jazzy blues from the 1920s through the 1950s. Kirchhoff's high-flying vocals set the tone for her talented accompanying musicians: Conner on drums, Lawrence Welby on string bass, Bryan Foote on horns. These three regular session men are complemented by a rotating lineup of guitarists and other players about town. The Humdingers' set list of gems from the more obscure pages of the American Songbook, which they initially rehearsed for six months before going public, quickly gathered a hard-core following of Lindy-hoppers, jitterbuggers, jive jumpers, and other toe-tappers across town. When they play at venues like the venerable Casa Loma Ballroom high-school...