You might wonder what happened to music that has style and elegance. You might picture countless nightclub scenes in classic films, where jazz and swing mixed together effortlessly, and women cared about their elaborate fashions. And you might wonder what would happen if all that could be brought into the contemporary scene.

Ginger and the Schnappes recreate that spirit, although the group is less formal and more fun, and you don’t have to don formal dress to see the band.

Ginger and the Schnappes performed Aug. 14, Musikfest Cafe, ArtsQuest Center, SteelStacks, during Musikfest 2021, Bethlehem.

The group released its first CD, “Social Music” (Mixon Brew Music), which contains 10 original compositions.

Vocalist Ginger Brew calls the group “a jazz cabaret band that swings. We can play for swing dances or as a listening band.”

Guitarist Joe Mixon says, “We are working to be a little broader in our choice of music, but the core is still that Great American Songbook sound.”

With Ginger backed by five of the Lehigh Valley’s leading jazz musicians, you will hear many standards. But the band also plays originals, with music by Mixon and words by Ginger. The songs take a wry view of modern life.

In concert, the group might even do Johnny Cash’s “Folsum Prison Blues,” Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” or a Beatles’ tune.

The CD, “Social Music,” reflects this variety.

“This is music for every occasion, for everybody,” says Mixon. “We are not pigeonholing jazz as a niche. You might like it even if you don’t like jazz.”

“Our songs are accessible. although they are musically sophisticated and not simple. I think of it as social music. All the social melodies out in the air,” Mixon says. The CD’s title is from a term Miles Davis once used to describe his own music.

The song “309” on the CD refers to Route 309, as the local answer to “Route 66.”

“Veut Faire La Fete,” which is ”We Want To Party” in French, channels traditional New Orleans.

“Prosecco” has “a feel for the mambo.”

Others, like “A-Strollin’ on By,” “Drunk and Dreamy” and “Double Stop,” reflect the imagined drama in Ginger’s life.

“I want songs that are well-crafted, like a jazz tune or a song for a musical. And I want fantastic words. You’ve got to understand the words,” says Ginger, adding, “My mother was a librarian and my grandmother was a poet. There was no mumbling in my house.”

Offstage, Ginger is Mary Ellen Williams, a former family physician who with her husband owns the Historic Bethlehem property rental company Dr. & Sir LLC. The first cut on the CD, “Chrome Dome,” celebrates her husband Jay Brew.

”I see myself as a character, I like to act out the songs. At shows, I try to be very engaging and very theatrical, reaching out.” says Ginger, a fan of vintage clothing, which she wears onstage. “It’s part of my personality, an excuse to put out the really dramatic stuff.”

Ginger, who has sung throughout her life, began taking vocal lessons from Mixon. Their daughters had attended the same grammar school.

Mixon invited Ginger to the “Jazz Jam” at SteelStacks. The group formed around the “Jazz Jam” house band of Mixon, bassist Brian Bortz and drummer Vern Mobley, with the addition of keyboardist Patrick Kerssen and sax player and flautist Dan Twaddell. Williams and Mixon also perform as the duo Ginger and Joe.

They began performing as Ginger and the Schnappes in 2018 at parties in Dr. & Sir rental properties. The name Ginger was inspired by Williams’ red hair. “Schnappes” is a Pennsylvania-Dutch sounding reference to their Lehigh Valley roots, although with their wide range of music, not much of it sounds “Dutchy.”