Recently I got an e-mail from a Napan named Marti Blackard who remembered me, she said, from a holiday get together at Jay Goetting’s house. When Jay’s name is mentioned I listen, because that retired Register journalist and bass musician is one fine man.

Marti also said she remembered my crusade to get the music of our lives back to Napa after the classic sounds of  Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett and the Big Band sound were replaced by the “my guy’s a saint, your guy’s a bum” nonsense of modern-day in-your-face political radio programming.

KABL died in Walnut Creek and we Great Depression kids, who grew up facing disappointments, went on, because that’s life.

She had some good news to share with me, however. A jazz band would be playing at Concordia Manor off Linda Vista on a Thursday evening, and she invited my wife and me to join the Concordia residents to enjoy the band and to watch her 96-year-old mother-in-law Bernice Blackard “cut a rug.” That I had to see!

The evening was filled with music and surprises — the girl singer was none other than Marti herself. In a voice that reminded me of the great Helen McConnell singing with the Jimmy Dorsey band, Marti sang some songs that took us back to our salad days.

I was expecting perhaps three or four musicians, but what we got was an 18-piece orchestra, a band that originated more than 40 years ago in Santa Rosa, named after the band’s founders Jim Jolly and Jimmy Henning. The first letters of their last names were used to create the “J & H” band.

The group was sprinkled with Napans like Marti handling the vocals — many great artists who for years have played all over the Napa Valley, from Calistoga to Vallejo and points north, south and east.

The show began with “Beginning to See the Light” a Harry James orchestration followed by Marti singing “Wonderful” and “Embrace Me.” As Graham Bruce on trumpet broke into “A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody,” the queen of the evening entered to steal the show — none other than Bernice Blackard, stunning in a sequined dress and new hairdo.

Bernice will be 96 years young in August, and she could have fooled me. She has lived in Napa County for many years and has brought truth to James Hilton’s 1937 “Lost Horizon,” the story of a valley surrounded by snowy peaks where health and peace and longevity reign.

Bernice and other seniors began “cutting a rug,” as we used to call it, jitterbugging their way through Count Basie’s “One O’clock Jump” and Glenn Miller’s “String of Pearls.” I believed it because I saw them do it.

The show consisted of two acts, with refreshments on the break thanks to Cathie Bauer, Concordia’s activity director. Then the audience settled in for the memories that would come with Act II.

Kent Cohea, first tenor sax, played a beautiful rendition of “Smile” and Marti — with her smoky voice, her smile and warm eye contact — was for just a little while Helen O’Connell singing Jimmy Dorsey’s arrangement of “It Had to be You,” followed by her terrific version of “Tangerine.”

Then, once again Bernice and her jitterbugging partners were back swinging through Duke Ellington’s “Take the A Train” and the standard “Sweet Georgia Brown.” As my favorite old baseball manager Casey Stengel used to say, “Amazin’ — amazin’ — amazin’!”

The show concluded to long and grateful applause after Marti sang her touching version of “The Party’s Over,” beautifully melded in with “Every Time We Say Goodbye” and “Smile.” As Bernice noted “The Song is Over, but the Melody Lingers On.” God bless her!

Finally, I’d be remiss without mentioning all the boys in the band who made it a wonderful evening for people who have paid their dues and rated a trip back down memory lane.

So hats off to Charlie Garzoli, baritone sax and band leader; Dale Gutteridge and Ed Foster, alto sax; Charlie Moller, Kent Cohea, tenor sax; Tim Ryan, Jeff Bernard, Bill Welsh and Leland Gee, trombones; Scott Delany, Doug Emanuel, Al Cognata and Graham Bruce, trumpets; Dave Elmore, piano; Pete McRae, guitar; Bill Ametneek, bass; and last but certainly not least, Patrick O’Connell on drums.

What a band! What a night!