What an amazing night at Roxy & Dukes Roadhouse in Dunellen, NJ, on September 18, 2016. Two outstanding vocal groups – The Nostalgix and Jimmy Keyes’ Legendary Chords – both singing splendid street corner acappella! We’ve come to expect fine R&B and Doo Wop acappella singing month after month at Roxy & Dukes, and this was another great one!
The Nostalgix – Tony Aquino, Joe Gironda, Pat Moschetto, Roger Miliote and Les Levine (filling in on bass) – were up first. We’d seen The Nostalgix sing to tracks before but this was the first we saw them sing acappella. They did an impressive job. The Nostalgix opened with “Morse Code Of Love” and the slowed the pace with “Two Kinds Of People” and “That’s The Way It Goes”. They had people clapping along to “Stormy Weather” and gave us nice renditions of “It Happened Today.” “Sincerely,” “Lorraine” and “Why Do Fools Fall In Love”. The Nostalgix closed with a strong version of “Sometimes”. When the audience called them back for an encore, The Nostalgix finished with the Temptations’ “My Girl”. A first class job! Thanks, Nostalgix!
Like Nostalgix, Jimmy Keyes’ Chords gave us a rare all acappella set that was amazing. The group – Tito Rivera, Al Moe Jr., Sergio Clark and Raymond Sanders – trace their group lineage back to the original 1950’s Chords who’s “Sh-Boom” was a huge cross-over song in 1954. With the passings of Jimmy Keyes and the rest of the original Chords, we’re fortunate that the group is carrying on the Chords’ tradition. Sounding much like the Chords’ records (only done in magnificent acappella) Jimmy Keyes’ Chords gave us renditions of Chords standards “Lulu,” “Hold Me Baby,” “I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire,” Zippity Zoom,” and of Course, “Sh-Boom”. Their versions of “Little Maiden” and “More, More, More” were real showstoppers. Jimmy Keyes’Chords finished with a powerfully delivered “Gloria”. For an encore, the had the place rocking with the Drifters’ “What Cha Gonna Do”.
We look forward to having both groups back at Roxy & Dukes in the future. In the meantime, here’s a gallery of photos from this concert. Click on any photo to enlarge and use your left and right arrow keys to see the rest. Scroll down to watch videos of some of the songs by both groups.
