In the last three years, she has taken her fledgling company, which began as a
pickup group at the Kennedy Center in 1999, on regional tours, to considerable acclaim.
When the dance world's former enfant terrible is asked whether he thought his original
pickup group in 1980 would ever make it this far, he answers flatly, "No.
That shifting is the result, in part, of the way in which the
pickup group, the instant band that comes together onstage or after hours for blowing sessions, has been supplanted by formal schooling and private jamming in this generation's musical education.
Early jazz stars like Bunny Berigan, Benny Goodman, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Bix Beiderbecke and other members of the Paul Whiteman band, Eddie Condon, and assorted members of Local 802 gathered for the camaraderie, networking, relaxation, and inevitable jamming in
pickup groups. Burke gives us a fascinating glimpse into this boys' club atmosphere--or "bachelor subculture" (19)--and how it became a proving ground away from popular audiences, establishing what the musicians felt was an authentic and intimate reaction to the inauthentic nature of Broadway's mass entertainment culture.