Yiddish Twist Orchestra are a band with a mission, and their own quirky mythology. Their aim, they say, is to revive the forgotten music of 50s London, a time when klezmer and other Jewish styles interacted with West Indian and Latin dance music, early rock'n'roll, and the Twist (or der shvitz, as they insist it was known before it was taken up by the Americans). Their "lost hero" is Willy Bergman, a "deranged bandleader" who brought all these influences together in the East End, but was forever changing his name and has never been tracked down. It's an entertaining tale that could make a great musical, and has allowed a classy group of musicians to develop a fusion style that was ideally suited to the Klezmer in the Park free festival.

Gathered on the bandstand by the lake in Regent's Park were a nine-piece band that included well-known figures not normally seen on stage in suits and ties, including trumpeter Lemez Lovas, one of the founders of Oi Va Voi, and guitarist Ben Mandelson, best known for his work with Billy Bragg and Les Triaboliques. They started with a series of slinky instrumentals, and then began to experiment, with slick brass and woodwind arrangements matched against keyboards and twanging surf guitar. In the past, their vocalist was Natty Bo of Ska Cubano, but here that role was taken by the young British folk singer Sam Lee. Half-hidden beneath a large black hat, he proved to be an efficient crooning balladeer who could switch to calypso or the jazz-edged Bagels – a story of cosmopolitan London set in Whitechapel Lane – and then a Victorian song about a Jewish policeman in Aberdeen.

The entertainingly varied set ended with a clash of klezmer and Cuban dance. All they need now is an equally strong female singer to expand their range even further.