Jubilee Jammers make ukulele magic in Brooklyn

February 5, 2024 Mary Frost

Jubilee Jammers’ band leader Beverly Closs, left, strums the banjolele at a recent rehearsal. (She plays at least eight instruments.) To the right is Nina Craig. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

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BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — One ukulele is all you need to cheer the heart and lift spirits. Now multiply that by ten, and you have the Jubilee Jammers, a group of ten dedicated ukulele musicians making happy waves at performances in Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn.

Led by musical director and teacher Beverly Closs, the Jubilee Jammers’ brand of infectious musical fun brings smiles to even jaded Brooklyn audiences, who end up clapping and singing along — or sometimes even dancing in the aisles, which is what happened at a recent show at the Brooklyn Heights Library, when audience members jumped to their feet and danced the “Misirlou” around the room while the Jammers played “Never on Sunday.”

They call themselves the Jubilee Jammers because they first met at the St. Charles Jubilee Senior Center in Brooklyn Heights, at a weekly ukulele class. They have since developed into a performing group with a waiting list for membership. Their average age is 75.

Members of the Jubilee Jammers: Front row from left: Robert Ruffo, Ellen Bloom, Bette Druck and Betty Philipp. Rear row from left: Grace Bighouse, Ellen Jaffe, Delora Williams, Beverly Closs, Nina Craig and Frank Philipp. Not pictured: Stewart Newfeld. Photo: Courtesy of Ellen Jaffe

Members of the group — Ellen Jaffee, Grace Bighouse, Nina Craig, Frank Philipp, Betty Philipp, Robert Ruffo, Delora Williams, Bette Druck and Ellen Bloom — perform contemporary, pop and beloved show tunes, like “Hello Dolly,” “Happy Talk,” “Singing in the Rain” or the amusingly risqué tango “Hernando’s Hideaway” (with Closs providing the all-important click-click-click of castanets).

‘I know a dark, secluded place

A place where no one knows your face

A glass of wine, a fast embrace

It’s called Hernando’s Hideaway, olé!’

Jubilee Jammer Ellen Bloom at a recent rehearsal. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

“The concert was pure delight,” audience member Paula Gerson told the Brooklyn Eagle after the library event. “I thought the choice of Broadway songs was great and the players were excellent. I especially liked the short commentaries the group leader, Beverly Closs, gave before each song. It added a lot to the program. And the impromptu dancing was fun!”

Benita Hirsch, a member of the senior center, said she had seen an announcement there that a ukulele group would be playing at the library and decided to attend.

“Little did I know to expect a lively 75-minute concert filled with … classic songs from Broadway shows and musical films and audience participation,” she said. Hirsch liked that song sheets had been provided for folks to sing along with the performers, and noted that band leader Closs “was her own rhythm section, which added extra fun energy to the event.”

Jubilee Jammer Nina Craig at a recent rehearsal. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

How it all started

Closs — who plays keyboard, guitar, bass, banjo, percussion, recorder, ukulele and harmonica — has been a professional musician in one capacity or another all her life, giving private music lessons, teaching young children in Mommy and Me classes, and serving as musical director/composer for many Heights Players productions. She played keyboard in a rock and roll band, Third Rail and is a sought-after musician in New York City’s jamming scene.

“When I was retired, I visited the St. Charles Jubilee Senior Center,” she told the Eagle. “I saw a ukulele in the director’s office and asked if I could volunteer to teach a ukulele class. We confirmed a starting date, June 2017. I immediately called my daughter [also a musician] and said, ‘Melanie, quick! Give me your ukulele. I have to learn how to play it in two months!’ I had never played a ukulele before. It’s now my favorite instrument!”

The Jubilee Jammers perform “Happy Talk” at a recent concert at the Brooklyn Heights Library. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

The Jubilee Jammers have rehearsed once a week for almost six years, even through COVID-19, when the group met outside or via Zoom.

“The Jubilee Jammers are more than a class. They are like family,” Closs said. “They are the nicest bunch of fun-loving people and we all laugh and get along beautifully. They are so eager to learn and improve on the ukulele. Now we are performing regularly at the senior center, Brooklyn Friends School and the library. I know it’s a cliche, but that really warms my heart!”

Brooklyn Heights resident Diana Prizeman (center) jumps up to lead the audience in a rendition of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

Jammers: We are learning music and having ‘fun, fun, fun!’

Jubilee Jammer and Heights resident Nina Craig hails from Hawaii. “And as you know, the ukulele is truly a Hawaiian instrument,” she said. But Craig didn’t learn to play the instrument in Hawaii. “I learned to play the ukulele in New York at the St. Charles Jubilee Senior Center six years ago with Beverly Closs.”

What keeps her coming back? “FUN! Playing with this group is fun,” she said. “As a 77-year-old it keeps me active. I’m learning something new and I’m having FUN!”

Band member Delora Williams at a recent rehearsal of the Jubilee Jammers. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

Fellow musician Grace Bighouse, a resident of Windsor Terrace, said she learned about the ukulele class when Closs visited her folk dance group about five years ago. “She saw my ukulele and invited me to join. I had been going to a few ukulele jams in Brooklyn and in Oregon,” despite knowing only the three chords she learned as a child, she said.

“The best thing about our class is that we are always learning and being challenged. We have learned notes, strums, chords, picking, how to read music, musical theory and structure and vocabulary, and much more,” Bighouse said. “We survived the COVID years because of Beverly’s Zoom skills and we met outside in the garden, as well. I am thankful for our weekly classes. I love playing and singing together.”

Jubilee Jammers band member Robert Ruffo. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

Heights resident Robert Ruffo also joined the group six years ago at the senior center. “I love learning, playing and performing the ukulele with a fun, lively group of seniors,” he told the Eagle.

He added, “All of the gifts I have gotten out of this class is because of a knowledgeable, patient and loving teacher, Beverly.”

Longtime Park Slope resident Bette Druck has belonged to the Jubilee Jammers since last spring, making her one of the newest members.

“In the fall of 2023 I bought a ukulele on a whim on my last day of vacation in Hawaii,” Druck said. She had only played ukulele for six months when she joined the group, but also plays flute and mandolin and has sung in a number of choruses.

Band members Frank Philipp and Bette Druck at a recent rehearsal of the Jubilee Jammers. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

Druck said she attended the group’s concert at the Heights Library last spring and recognized Closs “because she was a regular member of another local monthly Ukulele Jam (at the Jalopy Center in Carroll Gardens). And so, as the saying goes, the rest is history.”

“I’ve really enjoyed playing with the group and have been improving my skills as the months have passed,” she added.

All ages enjoyed the Jubilee Jammers’ recent concert at the Brooklyn Heights Library. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

The Jubilee Jammers membership is limited to ten, Closs said. But the experience has been so satisfying she recently started a new 12-member beginners ukulele group — The Silver Strummers — at the senior center. “We are currently full and will be eventually performing, too!” she said.

Druck said that several members of the audience who attended the Jammers’ last concert at the Heights Library joined the new beginners group. “So, perhaps the next time you see us perform we will be an even larger group. Ukulele fever is taking Brooklyn by storm!”