Music: Jazz Records

On the imitation-brick siding of the ramshackle frame building is nailed a beer sign with the legend: LUTHJEN'S—DANCING FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY. On the

bandstand of the narrow, crepe paper-festooned dance hall behind the bar ("Ladies Will Not Be Let in at the Door Wearing Shorts or Slacks") sit a pianist, trumpeter, guitarist, bass fiddler. As the evening wears on and the smoke from the wall tables eddies through the room, the band is likely to swing with a pile-driver beat into some old favorites—Big Mamou or Shake It and Break It. The style, as raw and jolting as a shot of bootleg...