Cheerful nostalgia billows through 'Smokey Joe's Cafe'

Before there was rock there was rock 'n' roll. That was 40 or 50 years ago, when rhythm and blues was oozing into doo-wop and pop -- as exemplified by the songwriting team of Jerry Leiber (words) and Mike Stoller (music).

"Smokey Joe's Cafe," a tribute revue featuring the songs of Stoller and Leiber, is at Jazz Alley. The show is pretty mild compared with the productions that played the Paramount Theatre and the 5th Avenue Musical Theatre not too long ago. But the nostalgia throbs. And the seven performers, who share the small Jazz Alley stage with a peppy four-man band, are personable.

Stoller and Leiber, two Jewish boys from Los Angeles, started writing songs for black performers in 1950 when they were 17. Then Elvis Presley began recording their work and they became instant legends.

As the Jazz Alley show demonstrates, nearly every human experience can be jolly when submitted to the Stoller and Leiber treatment: Wandering ("Keep on Rollin'"), reproaches ("Charlie Brown," "D.W. Washburn," "Yakety Yak," "Hound Dog"), frustration ("On Broadway"), mercenary perfidy ("Don Juan"), salvation ("Saved"), boasting ("I'm a Woman") and, most especially, frustrated infatuation ("Young Blood," "Searchin'," "Fools Fall in Love," "Love Potion No. 9," "There Goes My Baby").

Then, too, there's pitiful melodrama ("I, Who Have Nothing") and plain old romance ("Spanish Harlem").

The best song in the show, however, is a sort of plaintive country and western tune -- before there was country there was country and western -- called "Pearl's a Singer." It's a poignant lament about a woman who maybe coulda, shoulda been a star if only .... Safiya Fredericks puts the song across at Jazz Alley as a touching little bittersweet drama celebrating resiliency in the face of disappointment.

The "Smokey Joe's" touring company comes from the Irving Street Repertory of New York. The Rep has already brought several productions of the Fats Waller revue "Ain't Misbehavin' " to Jazz Alley.

Four male performers -- Jonathan Celestin, Ron Lucas, Stanley Martin and Jace Rivera -- are spunky and fresh. Latasha Jordan Spencer is the company's female belter. She has gospel pipes. And Famecia Ward (a 2004 "American Idol" contender) is the perky femme fatale.

"Smokey Joe's Cafe" has a certain quaint charm. "Smokey?" What's that about? Oh, yeah. People used to smoke in nightspots. One of the show's big whole-ensemble numbers is "Baby, That Is Rock and Roll." Or, as one might say now, "Baby, That Was Rock and Roll."