Imagine a world where Glenn Miller survived to become the dominant musical force in postwar music; where the Andrews Sisters rule supreme; where rock and pop never happened. This is the world of the Puppini Sisters, a close-harmony trio who bring the musical (and sartorial) world of the 1940s into the present.

From an appearance at the Dubai Jazz Festival, the whirligig of fortune had brought them to a sweltering Theatre Royal, a venue similarly out of time, decorated like a raspberry gateau. On record, the Puppinis revel in the period accuracy of their arrangements; live, a thumping three-piece band upped their attack, into borderline swingpunk.