The street band Tuba Skinny from New Orleans brought a unique crowd to the High Noon Saloon last Monday. Rather than a young, drunk crowd of college students with no sense of personal space, an older audience took over the dance floor.

They casually sipped their beer and proceeded to waltz and swing along to Tuba Skinny’s jazz and blues melodies with their dance partners. The scene resembled the lighthearted, fun, flapper vibe of party scenes in Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris.” This makes sense, as Tuba Skinny’s music is very much like jazz in the 1920’s, reflecting the musical heritage of New Orleans.

To evoke that rich, musical heritage, the members of Tuba Skinny have found inspiration in a variety of styles of music, including spirituals, calypso, ragtime and Depression-era blues, according to the band’s website. The instruments involved in making this sound include a tuba, bass drum, cornet, trombone, washboard, clarinet and guitars.

None of them grew up in New Orleans, but they all went there around 2009, were charmed by the music and culture and began their career together by playing on the streets for money.

The opening duo Boo Bradley (a popular act at the Madison Farmers’ Market) warmed up the audience with its folksy, bluesy music, reminiscent of early 20th century jug bands.

Around 9 p.m., headliner Tuba Skinny took the stage. At first, audience members were apprehensive to be the first ones on the dance floor, but then a couple of brave couples began dancing to some instrumental blues. Slowly but surely, more and more couples joined them swinging and dipping.

Throughout the night, the musicians revived plenty of old songs from their impressive repertoire of more than 200 songs, such as Jelly Roll Morton’s “Sidewalk Blues” from 1926. Other revivals included Mandy Lee’s “Somebody’s Been Lovin’ My Baby” from the 1920’s, Bo Carter’s “How Can It Be” from 1931, Lonnie Johnson’s “Sweet Potato Blues” from 1927 and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s “Dangerous Blues” from 1921.

Although it has mastered a large repertoire of jazz and blues classics, Tuba Skinny has also written and composed their own music, such as “Owl Call Blues,” on their most recent album of the same name.

Part of the charm of Tuba Skinny’s set at the High Noon Saloon was the individual performances each band member gave. Erika Lewis’ vocals were strong and powerful, such as during Mandy Lee’s soulful “Somebody’s Been Lovin’ My Baby.” Also impressive was John Doyle on the clarinet, Todd Burdick on the tuba and the rest of the ensemble who brought these old tunes and New Orleans traditional style of jazz to Madison.

“It’s a very strong and vibrant culture,” Lewis said about New Orleans. “And it’s centered around music and celebration and family. As far as I can see, that doesn’t exist anywhere else in this country.”

And there was a particular sense of celebration at the High Noon Saloon, too. The crowd wasn’t huge, but it was happy. People switched dance partners and taught newbies (like me) how to waltz and swing dance. Dancers who missed a step laughed, smiled and continued to not take any of it too seriously.  When a particularly talented pair began dancing, everyone else stopped, admired them and cheered them on.

A lot of people stumbled, but no one let that ruin the celebration.

Tuba Skinny played until just before midnight, and by then even the younger members of the audience were exhausted from dancing all night. Tired dancers occupied most of the tables and bar stools while their more energetic audience members finished the night swinging, finding new partners if necessary.

After sufficient cheering, Lewis asked the audience members if they wanted a happy or a sad song for the encore. In the spirit of the night, most people asked for the happier song. Of course, the band performed both as the people in the audience ignored their exhaustion for just 15 more minutes.

For me, it all ended with the only successful dip of the night, and it looked like everyone else had a similar experience. The big-band vibe infiltrated the atmosphere of the High Noon Saloon. New Orleans has a vibrant heritage and culture, and Tuba Skinny shared that with Madison for one night of traditional 1920’s music and dancing.