No one—not even Sparks—is certain when the Latona Pub gig began.
On a cloudless Friday, some three blocks uphill from the japanese sweep of Seattle’s Inexperienced Lake, a gleeful postwork throng descends on Latona Pub to let off some early weekend steam. The bar dates to 1987, when Bob Brenlin—nonetheless an proprietor—purchased an outdated “boarded-up tavern” and gave it the primary of many remodels. Right this moment the floor-to-ceiling home windows and plush colour palette make it considered one of Seattle’s hush-hush gems.
In fact, you wouldn’t name the Friday scene hush-hush. It’s extra like a malty beehive. And it’s anchored each week by bassist Phil Sparks, who from 5 to 7pm leads what is nearly definitely the longest-running jazz gig on the town—even when Sparks himself isn’t fairly certain when it began.
By advantage of its twin rhythmic and chordal duties, the bass is essentially probably the most reliable piece of a functioning jazz ensemble. And Sparks, 70, is likely one of the most reliable bassists within the Seattle space. A founding member of the 30-year-old Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, with recording credit starting from saxophonist Hadley Caliman to drummer Jerry Granelli, Sparks moved to the Inexperienced Lake neighborhood in 1985, two years after relocating to the PNW from Colorado. “In my thoughts,” he says, “I imagine the primary folks to play music at Latona Pub had been my spouse [Rosemary Sweeney, a singer] and myself.”
Sparks usually provides caveats like “in my thoughts” to his time on the pub. Once you play as many live shows as he has, with as many alternative musicians, issues can get a bit fuzzy. What’s sure is that this: His Latona Pub residency, which started on a weekly foundation someday within the aughts, has grow to be an absolute Seattle fixture. It’s not only a boon for the neighborhood. On some Fridays, it feels prefer it is the neighborhood.
Tonight the band is a rhythm-heavy trio of Sparks, Cornish professor Greg Campbell on drums, and Seattle standby Leif Totusek on guitar. With Totusek enjoying the melodies, they hum by a traditional first set. Thelonious Monk’s “Let’s Cool One,” Sonny Rollins’s “Oleo.” Regardless of the pub aesthetic—the room’s non secular crux is a Mariners-capped pig head—Sparks’s music provides the area a dinner-club atmosphere. It’s loud sufficient to set the temper however quiet sufficient for dialog, simply how the band prefers it.
The gang is essentially of Sparks’s era and leans gray-ponytail-Folklife. It’s crammed out with some attentive younger jazz artists and {couples} on dates. Passersby see the nice time by the home windows and swing by, squeezing into standing room—tables are inclined to fill early with regulars like Stetson-wearing Paul Zemtseff, who migrates between his group and the entrance of the viewers to take movies when one thing catches his ear.
“I’ve seen Phil a whole bunch of occasions,” Zemtseff says, earlier than placing a hand to his chin and questioning, truthfully, “Perhaps a thousand?” This sounds absurd, but it surely’s not inconceivable on condition that Sparks has plugged away right here each week for one thing like 20 years.
Sparks organizes his Latona calendar every year primarily based across the availability of standard bandmates like Totusek, who claims he’s performed right here some 300 occasions. He additionally has a prolonged backlog of alternates to be referred to as at a second’s discover. In a music-rich metropolis like Seattle, throwing collectively a jazz group isn’t probably the most troublesome factor on the earth. However doing it each week for 20 years? That’s each a monumental feat of perseverance and a real service to the group.
Sparks says he’s obtained “many feedback” through the years about how essential the gig has been in fostering native id. Wherever he performs in Western Washington—Everett, Snohomish—folks acknowledge him from Latona Pub. “I’ve been very fortunate to have a number of common gigs through the years,” he says. “I performed with [saxophonist] Floyd Standifer on the New Orleans for over 20 years. And with [vibraphonist] Susan Pascal for 10 years at Plymouth Congregational Church.”
Throughout extended musical residencies, a venue can tackle the facet of its sitting band, and vice versa. Suppose the Beatles on the Cavern Membership, or Duke Ellington on the Cotton Membership. Together with his soft-spoken aura and mellow instrumental tone, Sparks is each icon and avatar at Latona Pub. “Friday is one thing folks stay up for,” says pub proprietor Brenlin. “Phil is an inspiring expertise. Folks come from throughout to play with him.”
As for the central query: How lengthy, exactly, has Phil Sparks Friday been a factor? The bass participant ponders it for a bit and guesses 2009. However then he remembers that Hadley Caliman, who handed away in 2010, was once an everyday bandmate. “In order that’s not proper.” Totusek pegs it at 24 years. Ish. Sparks waves the guitarist off, not out of disagreement along with his reply however with the query itself.
“I strive to not nail it down,” he decides with a smile. “It’s unhealthy luck.”
