If Carmen Miranda and Busby Berkeley had ever collaborated on a burlesque show, they would have come up with Hot Pink Feathers. Led by Kellita Maloof, an award-winning choreographer and dancer (and holder of the Little Miss Aftershock title from the Miss Exotic World competition, among other risqué accolades), this Bay Area girlie group shares the “glitter gospel” everywhere from Tease-O-Rama to America’s Got Talent. (They even have corporate clients … a benefit that probably doesn’t come up much in job interviews.) Clad in kittenish heels, tiny two-pieces, and alluring accessories, they shimmy through an exuberant original revue that mixes Brazilian samba, showgirl moves, cancan kicks, and lots of cheeky moves. On Saturday, Oct. 3, see them shake their tail feathers at Cafe Van Kleef (1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland) during their monthly First Saturday showcase, accompanied by the New Orleans/barrelhouse-brothel party jazz of Oakland-based Blue Bone Express. 9:30 p.m., $10. CafeVanKleef.com

– By Claudia Bauer

Blue Bone Express, formed in 2004, is a five-piece band consisting of leader Queeto on trumpet and piano, Jesse Randell on drums, Jason Freidenfelds on trombone, Brandon Stasch on sousaphone and Kevin Brunetti on baroton saxophone. In addition, Brunetti and Queeto are both capable vocalists. The group’s instrumentation is unique in that since Jara Queeto is often playing piano, the group uses a trombone lead- unusual for this type of music, but very satisfying. Coupled with Brunetti’s baritone sax, Blue Bone Express’ sound is quite different from most brass bands of this type.

The group plays several standards such as Bourbon Street Parade, Second Line (also known asMidnight in Moscow, but mixes in other genres, such as the classic House of the Rising Sun and Queeto has written a number of original compositions as well. Backed by Stasch’s throbbing tuba work and the energetic second line beats emanating from Randell’s drumming, the band maintains a high energy and frequently concludes their sets by coming down from the stage to perform amidst the audience.

Stodgy in any way, shape or form these guys are not. Blue Bone Express is a group of guys who clearly enjoy what they do and they play their brand of jazz with great fluency. They are not copying the work done by the greats who preceded them but rather are creating a style all their own, though their influences are clear. Blue Bone Express is a very enjoyable and thoroughly danceable group that puts on a good show. Highly recommended.

Blue Bone Express plays at Oakland’s Cafe Van Kleef on the first Saturday of each month from approximately 9 PM to midnight together with the dance troupe Hot Pink Feathers. The club is usually packed, so come early and secure a space wher you can see the band and the dancers.

Smooshed into a block of nondescript office buildings, Café Van Kleef crouches in the belly of downtown Oakland, keeping it’s head down. Other than a few café umbrellas and the usual throng of smokers on the sidewalk out front, it would be easy to drive right by without ever realizing that you had just missed this little gem. Once you gain entry, you will never forget it.

It is tiny. Not Manhattan pizzeria tiny, but small enough that if you spend an hour inside you will have knocked elbows with everyone else in the place at least once. And the layout is impractical, a long hallway of the room with the stage almost five feet off the floor and tucked into a corner making it hazardous for any hapless performers suffering from vertigo. Every inch of wall space is crusted with a thick, barnacle-like layer of bizarre artifacts of American life. A photo of Marilyn Monroe hangs by a statue of Jesus covered in artificial flowers, a plastic (I hope it’s plastic) rhinoceros head juts out of the wall, a life-sized statue of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” writhes in agony beneath a silly hat. Add to this a boisterous and diverse clientele and a reliably attractive team of bartenders and you have an irresistible atmosphere capable of inducing a sense of timelessness that can easily make you forget that you were going to make it an early night.

On the first Saturday of each month, this barcrawler’s paradise is further enhanced by the sights and sounds of The Blue Bone Express and The Hot Pink Feathers. Like red wine and chocolate, these two groups work so well together one begins to believe in divine providence.

Blue Bone Express is a New Orleans style jazz band directed by trumpet player Jara Qeeto. Their style harkens back to the early days of jazz, when it was a key part of a risky, explosive, sweaty subculture. Their eclectic mix of original tunes and old favorites (I was grooving to Axel F and the funky music from the Star Wars bar scene) guaranteed that even the creakiest knees were flexing and bouncing on the narrow dance floor. Plus they have a tuba. Tubas make me giddy as a schoolgirl.

The Hot Pink Feathers, winner of the SF Guardian’s Best Dance Troupe, is directed by the vibrant Kellita, the reigning Queen of SF Carnival. She is a 1000 kilowatt bulb on stage, emanating so much light from the slim filament of her muscular body that she illuminates the entire club. She is always joined by a host of smiling Feathers, all showgirl legs clad in feathers, polka dotted tutus, or not much of anything at all. They strut and shimmy through the crowd, close enough to count the sequins on their eyelashes, close enough to catch a fever.

And feverish it is. A riotously entertaining evening where the proximity and radiant humanity of the performers makes you feel like part of the show. I love Oakland.

Blue Bone Express is a band made up of youngish players from the San Francisco area who play an amalgamation of Traditional Jazz and Brass Band music. They sound like no other band mining this territory. First of all, they actually sound like a band. There’s a gamboling cohesiveness to their sound that you almost never hear on Traditional Jazz recordings (at least not on most revival sides). It’s a loud and loose sound entirely lacking in the sense of stagnation that comes wafting from most Trad Jazz releases. There’s genuine excitement here. Especially when Kevin Brunetti is leading on sax. At times he has an unhinged quality to his playing that goes so well with this kind of music. He reminds me of both Fred Anderson and Pee Wee Russell.Brunetti sounds like neither of them (well, maybe a little bit like Anderson), but he has that same willingness to take the music absolutely anywhere.

However, this isn’t the kind of record your going to listen to for inspired solo playing. This isn’t that kind of band. They don’t make that kind of music. These guys can definitely play their instruments, but if your idea of small-band jazz is a collection of virtuosos taking solo turns, go somewhere else. This is jazz of a more elemental nature. It’s music to move to. It’s body music. I like that. I’m so sick of the quasi-intellectual trappings of jazz. What a dull burden. This band blows that tired pretense out of the water and makes you want to move.

The more I’ve been listening to this disc the more I’m tending to hear this band as a world unto themselves. They just don’t fit with anything that’s out there. I can’t imagine them being embraced by the Trad jazz festival scene (where the last thing anybody seems to want is the unexpected). And they definitely don’t have the corny slickness that appears to be a prerequisite for making it with the Lindy hoppers. These guys are like the Captain Beefheart of Trad Jazz.

There’s just one aspect of this record I can’t totally get with. It’s the trotting out of warhorses like That’s A Plenty and Just a Closer Walk With Thee. There isn’t too much of that shtick on this disc, but when you hear those songs along side the bands originals (all by piano and trumpet player Jara Queeto) you can’t help but notice how much more fresh Queeto’s tunes sound. Those old songs probably come across well in their live set, but I don’t see any need for them on this disc. I would have been happy to see a full set of the bands own music. However, I have to say their version of Midnight in Moscow is the best I’ve ever heard.

This isn’t Be-bop or Swing or the New Thing. This is the Real Thing. This is living, breathing, spitting Jazz music. It’s not revival music. It’s not museum music. It’s music inspired by a tradition and informed by it’s own time. It’s rough and inviting and convivial. It’s the best new jazz record I’ve heard in a long time.