Jimmy Durante at the Copacabana by Jimmy Durante

Personnel: Jimmy Durante (vocals, piano). Liner Note Author: Jimmy Durante. In 1961, Jimmy Durante could look back fondly on half a century of entertaining Gotham audiences, from a hot jazz combo way up in Harlem all the way down to his virtuoso ragtime solos at Coney Island (and including hundreds of venues in between). Nostalgia was never a pitfall with Durante, though. His stint at the Copacabana on E. 60th St. during the early '60s could hardly have been any less uproarious and chaotic than his earliest comedy acts. Immediately Durante reaches a gallop with "I Could Have Danced All Night," but stops the song after only a few bars with the blustery demand "Why should I sing this song and make it a big hit?!" (five long years after it had been a hit for anyone); he then launches into "It's My Nose's Birthday," stopping the show (and band) for a hearty laugh after delivering every punchline. Gimmicky yes, but Durante was also the consummate entertainer, knowing well how to start with the broad humor and...