Nightclubs: The Mood Merchants

Some enchanted evening, when a fellow meets a girl for cocktails for two, life is just a bowl of cherries. The music goes round and round—an unchained melody or a fascinating rhythm—and it seems like old times. It's just one of those things. Like a marshmallow moon in a buttermilk sky, it's magic. Whippoorwills call. 'Swonderful. Delightful. Delirious. Delovely.

Or so it can seem when the moods are manufactured by that offbeat brand of musician, the cocktail pianist. The sign outside says "Music for Hand Holders," but he plays for not only the...

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