Vintage jazz from the pre-amplification era, roughly the period between Prohibition and the end of World War II, might seem like the least likely music to stage a revival. However, for the Zzymzzy (rhymes with “whimsy”) Quartet, the era is a treasure trove of songs and sounds that has led them to a new, young, hip audience. The quartet, which performs at the Ocean Beach Peoples Co-Op on Friday, Feb. 20, actually brushes upon a range of pre-World War II music, from show tunes to swing and beyond. “There is a worldwide mini-craze right now for gypsy jazz — which is basically anything that sounds like (guitarist) Django Reinhardt when he was young and buck-wild,” said guitarist Beston Barnett. “Because I play with that Django-ish je-ne-sais-quoi, and since I did name my son after the guy, I can see how we might fall into that category,” he said. He said there are some differences, however. “We sing the old tunes, lovingly, and I make some attempt to arrange them in a manner more akin to outfits like Benny Goodman’s than Django’s quintet.” The end result is a sound that has attracted both avid listeners and swing dancers. Why would thirty/forty-somethings in San Diego in 2009 play old-time jazz? “Well, on the one hand, it’s great music that all four or five of us have been listening to, via parents’ or grandparents’ record collections all our lives,” Barnett said. “For another, once you can do it it’s a joy to play. And it’s not the easiest trick in the book — there’s way more than three chords,” he said. “For me, gigs with the ZQ are twice as fun as any other group I’ve played with. I wish we gigged every night.” The group comes with an impressively diverse resume. Barnett has spent time with his own hip-hop combo as well as with Ghanaian highlife group Bolga Zohdoomah. Meanwhile, vocalist Peter Miesner was a key member of the iconic rhythm and blues band The Crawdaddys as well as garage rockers The Tell Tale Hearts. Rounding out the group, clarinetist Matt Gill is a fixture of local stage productions, with bassist Patrick Marion also heard playing alongside groove-oriented jazz combo Pocket and auxiliary member and bassist Paul Hormick, formerly with Hot Club of San Diego. Together for four years, the Zzymzzy Quartet can trace its beginnings to the birth of Barnett’s son, Django. “I met Pete Miesner through his wife, who assisted at Django’s birth,” Barnett said. Having coincidentally recently acquired a Selmer-style guitar similar to the type that the original Django played, Barnett took it to a party at Miesner’s house. “Though my own knowledge of old show tunes and standards is small potatoes next to Pete’s librarian-like stacks of tracks, we discovered a shared fondness for Irving Berlin,” Barnett said. With Marion and Gill soon rounding out their lineup, the quartet began gigging under the short-lived name The Speak Easy Quartet. The shift to Zzymzzy Quartet was for both artistic and pragmatic reasons, said band members. “We like it more than our original name because it functions better on the Internet and because it heightens our air of mystery,” he said. “We’re, alphabetically, the Last Word in gypsy swing, see?” Barnett said. “Zzymzzy was actually coined by a critic in the ’30s to describe his favorite jazz group — so it actually contains some authentic-era Zeitgeist, though you’d need Wikipedia to work it out.” According to Barnett, the best parts of working with the quartet is singing harmony with Miesner and whenever dancers hit the floor. “We do have something you could actually call a little following with the swing kids (and) it’s a pleasure to play to them,” Barnett said. “I always imagine pointing my notes at their feet.” Though he is unsure about recording plans, Barnett is hopeful the Zzymzzy Quartet is built to last. “At the very least, I’d say we’ve got another 15 years in us,” he said. “If I did this for 15 years, I’d be so at home in the music I could loll in it like a raft on the river. That sounds good to me.” Zzymzzy Quartet performs at Ocean Beach People’s Organic Foods Co-Op Deli, 4765 Voltaire St., on Friday, Feb. 20 at 5:30 p.m. The concert is free. For more information, visit www.obpeoplesfood.coop.