Big band supremo Count Basie came back from the dead to take an appreciative audience at Cafe Deco on a nostalgic trip to the 1930s and 40s, and the days of big radio shows.
The crowd was treated to a memorable Harlem Night of big band jazz last Thursday by the Saturday Night Jazz Orchestra and its guest artists, organised by RTHK, joint organiser of Operation Santa Claus, and the staff at Cafe Deco.
RTHK Radio 3 head Bryan Curtis and Radio 3 presenter Phil Whelan donned white tuxedos and stood at large vintage microphones to talk about the music and the cause.
The broadcast was Whelan's brainchild and fulfilled an ambition on the part of the band to pay tribute to Count Basie in the year marking the centenary of his birth.
'Phil thought up the concept, but Cafe Deco made it happen,' Curtis said.
The high point of the evening was a one-hour live broadcast, timed with split-second precision by the presenters, aimed at recreating the atmosphere of jazz on the air as it was broadcast from nightclubs and ballrooms in the United States in the 30s and 40s.