The music itself is made of German elements, such as the more traditional schlager and old-fashioned oomp-pah, and Teutonic beer garden music combined with New York-style hot dance music, including occasional solos and other jazz elements. Here you’ll find cut-time American foxtrots mixed in with waltzes from Vienna and tangos from Argentina.

When the band isn’t recalling the sounds of such famous Berlin bands as Marek Weber (The Paul Whiteman of Germany, the Palasters finished with his highly caffeinated treatment of “You’re the Cream in My Coffee”) and the more swing-oriented Teddy Stauffer, it occasionally reforms itself into a vocal quartet to recreate the innovative part-singing of the famous Comedian Harmonists.

The hottest number at this weekend’s show was the British song “Over My Shoulder,” played а la Ray Noble with muted trumpets shadowed by baritone sax and a Benny Carter-esque reed chorus. At one point in the proceedings, Mr. Raabe announced to the crowd that he was not a tenor; either his English isn’t very good, or he was pulling our collective leg, because he isn’t a tenor like Bismarck isn’t a herring. Matching the flawless, high-gloss section work of the band, Mr.

Raabe stood bolt upright and delivered all of his lyrics, in both German and English, with impeccable intonation, singing the words and music with pep and personality but without deviating from the melody or the beat. He sang “Singin’ in the Rain” so straight one could practically count the rain drops, and even enunciated a hard “g” rather than the apostrophe at the end of “singin’,” which may be a first.