*Editor's note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the first name of trombonist Doug Bert. This article has been updated to correctly reflect his name.

Walking down DeMun Avenue and making it through the door at Jimmy's on the Park on a Wednesday night reminds one of being in New York's Greenwich Village.  At Sasha's Wine Bar next door, Gene Lind is singing, and from Jimmy's comes the sound of music from the '50s, '60s and—if it's after 10 p.m.—some great-sounding jazz.      

For the last seven years, the Charlie B Trio has been playing on Wednesday nights at Jimmy's on the Park in Clayton.  The groups consists of Mark Friedrich on keyboards, Charlie Boehme on vocals and Jim Manley on trumpet.

Boehme, 63, was named Best Lounge Singer by the Riverfront Times last year.  The longtime St. Louis Public Schools history teacher is well known to many St. Louisans as the singer who replaced Walter Scott with Bob Kuban and the In-Men.  Scott was the vocalist on the Top 40 hit "The Cheater." Boehme is also the front man for three other popular groups led by Manley.

Manley is a clear disciple of the late trumpet player and band leader Maynard Ferguson when it comes to his groups and his trumpet artistry. Manley's other groups include the seven-piece Charlie B group, the 9-piece group Fantasy and wonderfully entertaining 9-piece show band Wild, Cool and Swinging.        

From 8 to 9:30 p.m., the trio plays selections most closely associated with the Rat Pack and the American Songbook. If you have eaten at Jimmy's a half-dozen times on a Wednesday night, you likely will have heard everything the trio does in its first set several times over.

At 9:30, the group takes a 30-minute break. The second set starts at 10 p.m., and exactly who will be playing or what they will play is never announced in advance. On some nights, three trumpet players and a couple of saxophonists perform. On other nights, a bass guitar and jazz guitarist join the trio. Well-known local keyboardists show up and sit in for a couple of numbers. 

"It just kind of happened that our friends started to come in, and the next thing you know we are all playing," Manley said. "It is especially good for the young trumpet players to get a chance to play some jazz."

Boehme said the schedule changes regularly.

"You never know what will happen," he said. "Some nights, it is just the three of us till 11. Other nights, I get to take it easy and listen to some of the best musicians in town."

Friedrich speaks in the style of a 1958 jazz beatnik when he talks about the second set.

"Man, you have fried chicken and you have fried chicken. What we do after 10 o'clock ain't no fried chicken," he said.

On Dec. 1, pianist Chris Swan showed up a little after 9 p.m.

Manley greeted him by shouting into a mic.

"Luppy in the house!" he said.

Swan goes by the nickname Luppy and works piano bars in the Caribbean. He has become a regular at the former dueling pianos club in Maplewood when he visits St. Louis, and he's now playing with the new dueling pianos act at Harrah's Casino.

"What I love about Jimmy's on Wednesday is that it's a mix of all the musicians from around town,"  said Swan, who at the start of the second set sat in playing Lullaby of Birdland, in which he and Manley took off with separate solos. He came back at 10:40 to play A Train with Manley, a second trumpet and a trombone that had been added to the mix. " We love to see each other, and Jim is gracious enough to let us sit in."

Dan Smith, a Webster Groves trumpet player and teacher, was at Jimmy's on Dec. 1. He had just finished a six-week West Coast and Midwest tour with the In the Mood stage show.

"It is nice to just sit back and enjoy the live music, and then to sit in and play is a kick," said Smith, who is a regular horn player with Wild, Cool and Swinging and has played often with the Tommy Money Orchestra in recent years.

Scott Stanifer has been a Methodist pastor for 10 years, but he has been playing the trumpet most of his life. He never arrives before 9:45 on Wednesday nights because of earlier church meetings, but he is always carrying his trumpet.

"You have to mention the level of talent in this room on some nights," Stanifer said.  "There are musicians all over the country who would love to come in here and play with Jim Manley."

Doug* Bert, a trombonist, arrived at 10:30 with his horn. He had just finished playing a two-hour gig at a Webster Groves nightclub and came straight over to Jimmy's. He sat in on two numbers that included a long solo.  

"As soon as you walk in the door, Jim makes eye contact, gives you a nod and you know you are welcome to come in and play. It is like having a friend over to the house," Bert said.

Dec. 8 saw a different mix. Vocalist, impressionist and comic Dean Christopher stopped by and did two numbers in the first set and three in the second set. The performance included a Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis duet.

"I come here because these guys are my pal-ies," said Christopher, using some Rat Pack lingo. "I have always liked to sing with these guys because they are good musicians and they are a lot fun." Christopher said he hoped to sit in again on Dec. 22 before flying to Chile to do his big band Vegas act on a Celebrity cruise ship.

Joe Bayer, the sax player with the Planet Boogie Band, arrived early Dec. 8 and played throughout the second set.

"The opportunity to play with some of St. Louis' best musicians is why I keep coming back here," Bayer said.

The last musician of the night was perhaps the most outrageous. Trumpeter Randy Holmes, best known for his jazz group Hard Bop Heritage, showed up in a bright blue-and-red suit after finishing a gig at the El Pisano restaurant in South St. Louis.          

"I know all the guys," Holmes said. "It is like a home for musicians on Wednesday nights. Plus, I like to hear Jim play the high notes."

By closing time on some Wednesdays, the place is filled mostly with musicians. That was the case Dec. 8.

Owner Jimmy Cristo understands the attraction.

"It has to do with Jim because of his reputation," Cristo said. "People want to come in and play. There are not that many places where they can hear or play jazz in town right now."