& The Palast Orchester

A note about the other musicians with Max Raabe last weekend. How do people get that talented? Besides Raabe, the Palast Orchester had 12 other members -- two trumpeters, one trombonist, two alto saxophonists, two tenor saxophonists, a pianist, a guitarist, a percussionist, a violinist and a string bass player. But it wasn't that simple. The saxophonists played clarinet when called upon, which isn't so surprising, but trombonist Jörn Ranke also played viola. That switch gets one's attention.

It's also no surprise that the guitarist, Ulrich Hoffmeister, plays banjo, violin and, considering the musical period, ukulele. Supposedly he can also play the mandolin and the singing saw, and I believe it. But I didn't see him play the singing saw. Wish I had. As for the string bass player, Bernd Dieterich, he was also seen to be playing the sousaphone. There's an interesting combo of skills.

Then there was Cecilia Crisafulli, first violinist and only female member of the band, who not only played stunningly, but did so in a backless red dress that was stunning too. It's bad form to let your jaw fall to the floor while sitting next to your wife, and so I had to catch it while having some Oh-My-God moments. Crisafulli's relatively new to the band -- the woman violinist in all the clips I've seen was her predecessor, one Hanne Berger. I wasn't disappointed by the change. I also enjoyed hearing her name. Say Cecilia Crisafulli as Italian-ly as you can a few times and see if you don't agree.

The evening's playlist allowed pretty much all of the members of the Palast Orchester moments to showcase their instrumental skills, and do other things as well, such as when three of them did the aforementioned turn as the voices of the three little pigs. One song had all of the band ringing hand-held bells of various sizes, including a mock dispute between some of them about ringing the bells too vigorously.

All together, the Raabe and the band did two hours' worth of material, two sets with an intermission (which Rabbe called "an interval.") I wasn't taking notes, so naturally I don't remember most of the playlist, especially the German titles. But I can recall familiar ones such as "Singing in the Rain," "Bei Mir Bist Du Schein," "Dancing Cheek to Cheek," and "Just One of Those Things" (Cole Porter).

The arrangement of "Singing in the Rain" seemed fresh and novel, even though it was older than the movie version. "You may remember the song from the talking picture with Gene Kelley," Raabe said. "We play a dance band arrangement, which is somewhat different from the talking picture version, with Gene Kelly."

The first number after the intermission was "The Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)." I was mostly unfamiliar with Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's original, having heard The Doors' cover much more often. Anyway, Raabe's version was closer to this, but not quite the same. For one thing, I'm fairly certain Raabe used "show us the way to the next little girl" rather than "show us the way to the next little boy." Perhaps he didn't want to take épater les bourgeois quite that far.