Big Band at Kirstenbosch

Lindsey and I took our friends Isabel and Sophia (new volunteer from the UK who has the best Cockney accent ever) up on an invitation to see the Jonny Cooper orchestra play in the gardens, picnic style. There have been cheap concerts there every Sunday night throughout the summer, but none so far promised anything as pleasing as SA's premier swing band sending old Satchmo, Franky, and Glen Miller out into the fynbos kingdom. The banter between Jonny and his orchestra was excellent, especially when the feigned exasperation of his horn section led him to pick up his own trumpet and rip one of the meanest "Mack the Knife" solos I've ever heard. My other two favorites were definitely "Pennsylvania 65000" and a goose-bumps version of "Hello Dolly."