Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums

Flights & Sounds of Summer

September 4, 2009, 8:00 PM
Free Dance Instruction at 7:30 PM
Free Admission, $8 Parking (Map)

Veterans of ‘scenes’ as diverse as the famed Derby in Hollywood, NYC’s Lincoln Center, and CNN-TV, the Rhumba Bums along with Miss Carmen Getit play swing, jump blues and hot jazz with wit, style and plenty of tongue in cheek.

Long the house band at the fabled Derby in Hollywood, Lucky and his cohorts are now based in the San Francisco Bay Area. They have also played Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival and New York City’s Lincoln Center, both fine places, but, unlike the Great Park, they lack the dance floor that’s such an aid to enjoying the Bums’ mix of swing, blues and R&B.

Lucky has been leading bands since his teens, though he took time off to be the keyboard player for gritty bluesman Johnny Copeland, and has also worked with a Who’s Who of the blues, including John Hammond, Odetta, Kim Wilson and Paul DeLay. Ms. Getit joined the band in 1994, and has won accolades for both her voice — which shades from Dinah Washington’s refined style to Etta James’ fierce R&B growl — and for her blues guitar playing. The remaining five Bums have backed a host of demanding artists, including Aretha Franklin, Rosemary Clooney and Dizzy Gillespie. The group’s musicianship has been praised in the hard-to-please Downbeat magazine. The group has made numerous TV appearances, and is in the 2005 film Be Cool. Artist Website