Genre-Blasting Piano Mayhem

The Claudettes make you feel like you’ve just stumbled into some stranger’s wedding reception. It’s a good time, but you can’t quite figure out what’s going on. Who are these people, what in the hell are they doing, and how are you spozed to dance to it?

But the music is so infectious that, after a few bars, you just say the hell with it, jump in with both feet, get in the spirit, and celebrate whatever it is that’s happening here.

It’s a risky proposition for any occasion. A Korean bar owner in Illinois (Claudette) hires blues pianist Johnny Iguana (Junior Wells, Otis Rush), pairs him up with anything-goes percussionist Michael Caskey (John Sinclair, Chuck Mangione), then leases them out to other bars with the stipulation she comes along too … with her own portable bar for the show.

Initially, Claudette provided the only vocals, shouting out drink specials during the duo’s instrumental set. But recently, she’s been replaced with Yana, one of Claudette’s tenants who she thought would add some class to the act by just standing onstage. Turns out the sultry Nigerian-American can sing as well as dance and pose. On No Hotel, she makes her vocal debut on seven cuts, announced by her own theme music: “Yana Arrives” and “Yana Departs.”

But before Yana gets here, there’s plenty of stuff going on to keep you entertained. Iguana wanders from theme to theme mid-song, mixing styles and changing tempos at will, offering a mash up of Fess, Tuts Washington, Henry Gray, and James Booker piano styles in “Big Easy Women.” For some offerings, the song title is the only thread you have to hang onto before Iguana takes off on a tangent. Even something as easily recognizable as “California Here I Come” is transmogrified into a spinning, whirling dervish that leaves its 1920s origin in the dust. “Southbound Stroll” sounds like a disheveled drunk staggering home — one foot on the curb, the other in the street, wondering why the road is so lumpy all of a sudden.

Yana’s arrival is announced by 56 seconds of tinkly and stardusty Iguana piano. And, as soon as she opens her mouth, her delivery belies her origins. It’s not exactly world music, but she is all over the place, channeling Carole King on “She’s So Imaginary.” She visits France for “Laisee Tomber Les Filles,” portraying a sinister Edith Piaf wielding a sledgehammer instead of a rose. “Mirza” sounds like a cheesy bar band from a ’60s era surf flick, and “Ne T’En Vas Pas” could be the theme song for a sleazy ’60s British spy flick. After a bubbly interpretation of bubble gum pop, ’60s French style (“Chez Les Ye-Ye”) Yana leaves with a 45-second sound burst of outer space boogie-woogie.

When she departs, the wedding reception or whatever the hell it is goes back into full swing, but doesn’t get any easier to understand. That can’t be “There’s No Business Like Show Business” going from barrelhouse to classical licks to down-and-dirty rock and roll quicker than you can catch your breath and try to control your meandering feet. On the other hand, it’s perfect for an event where you don’t know anybody and have no qualms about making a fool of yourself. So go ahead — dive for a garter, kick your heels up, and go nuts.

The Claudettes are in charge, and anything goes.