A Delightful Blend of Music and Humor with The Perfect Gentlemen

"The turn out tonight is just great and I really love the show,” said Cynthia Rosedale, director of events at the Pasadena Senior Center

The Perfect Gentlemen seen performing in Pasadena's Memorial Park Bandshell on the evening of July 14, 2009. [Staff Photo: Sang-hee Oh]

By M.W. MOSQUEDA JR.
Published: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 | 4:54 AM

Heart-warming laughter and music from the yesteryears filled the Memorial Park Bandshell Tuesday night as the award-winning quartet, The Perfect Gentlemen, created marvelous music mingled with masterful mirth and mischief.

The Perfect Gentlemen, composed of four middle-aged men sporting ties and hats, performed a delightful blend of a cappella harmony and humor with their guitars, ukulele, and organ chimes in front of the more than 190 people at the Memorial Park Bandshell.

“It’s quite delightful. The music and the characters are just very nice and very good and I recognized a lot of their songs,” said Pasadena-resident Alan Coleman, who mingled with other seniors at the park for the performance that started at 6 p.m.

The group performed their renditions of songs by the 1940s Delta Rhythm Boys and other vocal groups from the 1930s that often got the night’s audience, mostly from the senior center, singing along, especially when they sang Swanee River, a song written in 1851 by composer Stephen Foster.

The stagecraft was more than just singing. The group entertained the crowd with jokes and funny commentaries between songs, drawing laughter and applause from the amused audience.

In the middle of the show, the group brought out a Deagan organ chime and announced that they would be playing Mozart. But instantly, the group said Mozart was very hard to play and decided to switch to “Celebrated Chop Waltz”, an arrangement of Chopsticks from 1875, making the audience laugh.

The Perfect Gentlemen, made up of Dan Jordan (Second Tenor), Jim Campbell (Bass), Tim Reeder (Baritone/Ukulele/Tenor Guitar), and Phil Gold (First Tenor), clearly entertained the audience with their harmonies and old-fashioned humor tickled the crowd.

“We’ve tried to get different kinds of musicians that are reflective not only our community but of the era they represent. The turn out tonight is just great and I really love the show,” said Cynthia Rosedale, director of events at the Senior Center.

Formed in 1998, The Perfect Gentlemen has performed shows all across the U.S., made several concert tours of the United Kingdom, played numerous cities across Brazil with Jazz Festival 2006, and headlined aboard cruise ships on the Holland America Line.

Additionally, the group has sung with the Pacific Symphony and the South Coast Symphony, appearing as the barbershop quartet in a staged concert version of The Music Man for the latter.

MAKE A COMMENT