washingtonpost.com: Entertainment Guide

Play It Again, and Again By Eric Brace Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, January 11, 2002; Page WE32

Ephraim Wolfolk and Hilton Felton at Kinkead's. Long on the piano room scene, Felton even turns up in some Alex Cross mysteries. (Photos by Mark Finkenstaedt for The Washington Post)

In the world of the piano lounge, Herman Hupfeld is king.

He's beyond Gershwin, beyond Cole Porter, beyond the Beatles. This man from Montclair, N.J., 50 years dead, is known to piano players everywhere for this: In 1931 he wrote a catchy tune called "As Time Goes By" for a Broadway revue called "Everybody's Welcome." It was enough of a hit that Rudy Vallee promptly recorded it and had an even bigger hit.

Eleven years later, "As Time Goes By" became the signature tune of the film "Casablanca," when Dooley Wilson crooned it from behind the piano at Humphrey Bogart's Moroccan gin joint, Rick's. It's the song that -- by the reckoning of most pianists who play the area's piano rooms -- gets requested and performed the most.

When folks ask Hilton Felton to play "As Time Goes By" at his piano in the bar at Kinkead's restaurant in Foggy Bottom, they're doing the same thing that Bogie's old flame Ingrid Bergman was doing in "Casablanca," when she said, "Play it once Sam, for old times' sake." They're hoping to recapture a fleeting moment with a melody.

"That song can make you feel good," says Felton, who has been playing at Kinkead's since it opened nine years ago. "But it can make you feel kind of sad at the same time, in that nostalgic way. It's got everything in it."

Felton is one of dozens of pianists who play at piano bars and lounges throughout the area. Most are attached to restaurants and hotels. In some, the music is background noise to power cocktails, in some it's a rousing accompaniment to a loose chorus of singers.

I've been spending time at several of these piano rooms over the past few weeks, and I've found that while some hotel bars have had to cut back on their live music schedules, most piano bars in town are as busy as ever. People are singing along to familiar hits from years past, but it's not just older generations leaning on the pianos and belting out tunes.

"Some of these young couples, they're practically kids," Felton says. "They know the words, too. You can look at them and tell they think it's romantic, hearing these songs. It's different from what they hear on the radio."

Felton can't count the number of times he's played "As Time Goes By," and similarly romantic numbers like "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "My Funny Valentine" at his piano, squeezed into a corner between the bar and the few tables downstairs (the main dining room is upstairs). He's played those songs for crime writer James Patterson, whose fictional D.C. police detective Alex Cross goes to the bar at Kinkead's to hear his favorite piano player, Hilton, when he needs to relax.

"Now that's an honor, what Mr. Patterson wrote," Felton says. "He put me in three or four of his books." Felton deserves the attention. He's been playing music in Washington since the early '60s when he came to town to attend Howard University. Over the years, he's toured with the likes of George Benson and Jimmy Witherspoon, as well as putting in time on the ivories at the Mayflower, 21 Federal, Charlie's Crab and Mel Krupin's.

He still performs five nights a week, along with his bassist of seven years Ephraim Wolfolk (Vince Evans performs on Sundays and Mondays), and has been around town long enough that he's now playing for the children of his old regulars: "They come in and show me pictures of their parents, telling me they met at a place I was playing, and things like that."

At Mr. Smith's in Georgetown -- more saloon than restaurant -- Dan Burbine provides the entertainment five nights a week, something he's done on and off (but mostly on) since 1993. The scene at Mr. Smith's is much younger and more interactive than the one at Kinkead's: With a dozen bar stools around Burbine's piano, people belly up to his baby grand as well as the bar itself. If you sit at the piano, though, you'd better be prepared to participate. Burbine has his own microphone to sing into, but he always assumes his customers will join in.

"People make the requests that they want to sing," Burbine says. "I can make you a list of 12 songs that everyone wants to sing, and I could make a living just playing those 12 songs over and over." He pauses, then laughs hard. "Some nights, that's pretty much what I do." He recites the list off the top of his head, and yup, "As Time Goes By," is right up there. But at the top are "American Pie" and "Piano Man."

"Those two I sometimes play three or four times a night, and that gets rough," Burbine admits, "since they're both such epics. That's a long way to a buck." He's referring to the single bill most people toss into the tip jar that sits on most pianos in town after their request is played. "But I learned a long time ago you can't refuse to play a song," he says. "That's when you're out of work."

So how does he deal with the songs he despises? "I turn it around and learn to love them," Burbine says. "I read where 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco' was Tony Bennett's favorite song. He knew he had to sing it every night, so he just made it his favorite song."

Burbine just celebrated 40 years of playing professionally. Besides playing at Mr. Smith's, he also puts in three happy hours a week at the Marriott Wardman Park. He's 51 and began by accompanying his father, who played piano bars in Boston's North Shore suburbs. "We used to go out and do shows together," Burbine says. "He'd bring me along starting when I was 10, and I'd play during his breaks."

He says that while the most-requested tunes haven't changed much over the past couple of decades, since Sept. 11 there's been a shift in his requests. "The patriotic songs are huge now," Burbine says. "They'll call out for the 'Star-Spangled Banner' a lot these days."

Ramon Ballve says the events of September affected his repertoire as well. "Before 'Auld Lang Syne' on New Year's Eve this year, we did 'America the Beautiful,' and everyone was singing along," says Ballve in his elegant Argentine accent. "It was very moving. Also, 'God Bless America' wasn't something we'd done often, or 'Battle Hymn of the Republic.' '' Now, he says they're frequent requests.

Ballve performs six nights a week at the Prime Rib in downtown Washington, where the grand piano has a nice feature: a clear plastic lid that allows the dinner patrons to see Ballve and bassist David Wondrow from every angle. It's a fancy place, and on my first visit I've neglected to wear a jacket and tie. Heather in the cloakroom hooks me up with a jacket that almost fits and a tie that's not that bad, and I proceed to the bar, where several diamond-encrusted women are discussing holiday plans. A couple of them laugh when they realize the ballad they're hearing is a gorgeously reworked "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."

"I try to reinterpret all the songs I play every time I play them," Ballve says, "especially holiday songs in December. I don't want to get bored!" The music he tries to keep fresh comes from what's known as the Great American Songbook -- the works of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George Gershwin and other great composers from the '20s, '30s and '40s -- and from his native Argentina (he loves a tango). Ballve doesn't pay too much attention to contemporary music but says the imminent arrival in town of "Mamma Mia," the Abba musical, has lead him to study up on the Swedish pop group's oeuvre.

Pianist Lizbeth Flood says the fact that she's got a teenage son has led her to add works by British rock band Coldplay and even some Britney Spears to the list of songs she performs two nights a week at Marcel's and two just across the street at the Library in the Melrose Hotel near Georgetown. "I learned 'Oops, I Did It Again' and the audience loved it when I sang it," says Flood, who also sings almost her whole repertoire.

"I take a lot of pride in being able to play almost every request. People ask me for 'Stairway to Heaven' or 'Freebird' and I'll play them. With things like that they usually say they're just kidding, but I'll go ahead and play them just to show I know them." Once she even accommodated a joker's request by performing Iron Butterfly's epic psychedelic rock song, "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida," including the drum solo.

"But the thing I always hear is, 'They don't write songs like they used to.' And it's true, I think," says Flood. "I can't think of any contemporary rock songs that have that kind of classic feel to them." That doesn't stop Flood from composing her own tunes, some of which she's released on her CD "Flood of Emotion," and another batch of which she'll record and release this spring.

While Flood says she, too, gets lots of requests for patriotic songs, she's also suffering another of the consequences of the Sept. 11 attacks. "I was playing at the Shoreham's Marquee Lounge until Sept. 11, but they lost so much business the musicians were the first to be let go," she says. "I'm really hoping January will be busier, with lots of conventions rebooking so that I can get hired back."

Many hotel piano rooms have been dark recently, including the one at the Washington Court Hotel, where Robin Miller has been the regular pianist for years. I kept popping my head in to see if she was there and finally asked the bartender, who said that when occupancy is below 50 percent, there is no piano music scheduled in the lobby lounge.

At the Four Seasons Hotel, where Louis Scherr has played for more than 22 years and Dennis Kaspar for 20, there's now music only on weekends, down from the usual seven nights a week. "About a week after Sept. 11, the management came to me and told me how much business they'd lost and asked if I'd mind being cut back," Scherr says. "So I've got two shifts now -- the afternoon tea on Saturdays and Sundays -- down from six shifts."

One song Scherr didn't feel like playing much after Sept. 11 was "New York, New York." "It was a hard one to play, but I reworked it and found a way to play it with more feeling," says Scherr, who usually starts his sets with classical favorites, but whose jazz chops are first-rate. "I play it as a ballad now, and people really listen to it."

Kaspar, who plays Friday and Saturday nights at the Four Seasons and on Sundays (brunch and dinner) at the Bombay Club, says he knows he's lucky to have the two part-time gigs these days. "Some pianists in town are still waiting to get a single shift back," he says. "We're all keeping our eye on the convention business."

"Still, it's a shame that musicians have to be worrying about those sorts of things," says Scherr. "In a perfect world, everyone would want music around them all the time. Who doesn't want to hear these great songs?"

Some of the piano rooms mentioned above:

Four Seasons Hotel -- Garden Terrace (2800 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; 202/342-0444)

Kinkead's (2000 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; 202/296-7700)

Marriott Wardman Park Hotel (2660 Woodley Rd. NW; 202/328-2000)

Melrose Hotel - the Library (2430 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; 202/955-6400)

Mr. Smith's (3104 M St. NW; 202/333-3104)

Prime Rib (2020 K St. NW; 202/466-8811)

Washington Court Hotel (525 New Jersey Ave. NW; 202/628-2100)

And here's an annotated list of some more piano rooms in the area:

Banana Cafe (500 Eighth St. SE, 202/543-5906) -- This is one of the best places for Cuban and South American food in town, and if you walk upstairs to the second floor bar, you'll find one of the city's most colorful and refreshing piano bars. Painted in bright yellows, oranges, blues and greens, and decorated plentifully with potted palms, the Banana Cafe's piano room is a perfect place to chill out with a mango margarita and listen to Deena Jabor playing standards and show tunes (lots of show tunes turn into sing-alongs in this predominantly gay club). The drum machine that accompanies Jabor is a constant annoyance, but her voice is enough to make me stay. You can also order excellent food like empanadas and calamari upstairs from a short version of the downstairs menu.

Bombay Club (815 Connecticut Ave. NW; 202/659-3727) -- You can see and hear the pianists (Dennis Kaspar, Vincent Franco, Bob Murat) from both the dining room and the bar area, which has nice small tables for sipping tea, cocktails or some of the restaurant's delicious mulligatawny soup on a cold night. It's an elegant place where jacket and tie are "suggested," and bartender-waiter Norm makes you feel as if you're a guest at his home.

Le Canard (132 Branch Rd., Vienna; 703/281-0070) -- On the bar side of this French restaurant, pianist Michael Terence is a little heavy on the keyboard, pounding out standards with gusto if not finesse before a loyal following six nights a week (the mono-named Reinhart plays on Monday nights). The regulars sit on the stools around the piano, reading from the notebooks of lyrics Terence supplies. On Wednesdays, there's a showcase for a single vocalist for about an hour, but most other nights, folks sing along karaoke-style, with Terence ending most tunes with a dramatic flourish and much applause.

Fish Market (105 King St., Alexandria; 703/836-5676) -- Daryl Ott has been playing weekend nights upstairs at this Old Town restaurant for more than 20 years. Beneath 10 ceiling fans hanging from the pressed-tin ceiling, he plays his upright piano in a rowdy saloon style. Ragtime dominates the start of any set, and "Happy Birthday" is a frequent number throughout the evening. Ott knows endless tunes and speeds through them all, even those that may need a more relaxed treatment. There's a $3 cover charge after the first set, which begins at 8 p.m. The blue-and-white-checked tablecloths are quaint, but for a place called the Fish Market, the kitchen should do a better job broiling its haddock.

Flaming Pit (18701 N. Frederick Rd. [Route 355], Gaithersburg; 301/977-0700) -- Cigar-smoking, martini-drinking regulars sing along to songs like "Crazy" and "Give My Regards to Broadway" in this low-ceilinged bar attached to a restaurant. One recent Monday night, Bud Studley is playing "Anchors Aweigh" without looking up (there's a different pianist almost every night), while a fire blazes nicely in the fireplace. One patron, Joe Hebert, steps up to the piano with his chromatic harmonica in hand and joins Studley on several tunes -- "As Time Goes By," "Cold, Cold Heart," "Blue Bayou." "I'm here every night, just about," Hebert says. "It's my watering hole." He's a fine harp player, and he animates Studley's performance as the two trade licks, smiling and laughing late into the night.

Marcel's (2401 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; 202/296-1166) -- This beautiful restaurant's piano room is in the front bar, whose vaulted ceilings and standing suits of armor make you think of a medieval castle in the south of France. Pianist Alex Jenkins plays Tuesday through Saturday (with Lizbeth Flood playing Sundays and Mondays), and he swings through such songs as "Take the 'A' Train" and "Autumn Leaves" with great flourishes and octave runs. He's created CDs to accompany him, with computer-generated drums and bass, but they distract from his piano playing, which is superb. The room, with its terra cotta tile floor and plaster walls, is lively and loud, and bartender Norm can supply you with a yummy "Kentucky Toddy" on a cold night (it's got bourbon in it, that's all I know). Chef Robert Wiedmaier's Franco-Flemish food is some of the best in town and can be ordered from the bar, too.

Monarch Hotel (2401 M St. NW; 202/429-2400) -- The Lobby Lounge of this hotel lacks coziness, but somehow the combination of thick square pillars and lots of potted greenery is not uncomfortable. The wide armchairs and soft couches are perfect for daily happy hour lounging, which is when you'll hear pianist Jon Lackey do his best to make the terribly out-of-tune piano sound adequate to the task. The repertoire is mostly classical, and the cocktail list is long.

Morrison House (116 S. Alfred St., Alexandria; 703/838-8000) -- This boutique hotel is a gem of Old Town, and its piano room and bar always seem filled to bursting Thursday through Saturday with folks in red leather armchairs eagerly listening to the pianist, known simply by her first name, Patricia. You can sit at the piano on comfortable stools or sit in those plush chairs. It's the perfect place for a late-night dessert -- the French apple tart and the fruit and cheese plate are superb, as is the list of sherries, ports and dessert wines. With fine oil paintings on the walls and fresh cut flowers on every table, it's jarring when some drunk revelers insist on yowling along to "Piano Man," even though vocal participation is encouraged.

Pistone's Italian Inn (6320 Arlington Blvd., Seven Corners; 703/533-1885) -- Pianists Marty Fahey, Art Beverage and Karen Chase each take two nights of the week. That leaves Sundays, which are "open mike" nights when folks come in and sing along to whichever pianist is covering that week. There's frequently a drum machine accompanying the pianist, a pretty annoying touch, but the food is wonderful in that old-school Italian American kind of way (heaping portions of pasta and roast beef, amazing salad bar, huge servings of cake and pie). The bar is in the hands of Billy Graham, who, with a wave of his hand over the regulars on their stools, jokes that this is indeed his flock. Don't miss the prime rib sandwich, and definitely grab a stool at the piano if you can.

Ritz-Carlton (1150 22nd St. NW; 202/835-0500) -- The piano sits in the hallway between the two halves of the hotel's elegant lounge. Gaynor Trammer, Christopher Linman and John Nichols share the musical duties on the beautiful-sounding instrument. Linman keeps a steady left-hand bass line going while his right unleashes flourishes on top of familiar standards. Trammer is a more stately player but not afraid to embellish simple melodies. The bar menu is simple and excellent (the roast potato soup one cold December day was the perfect dish), and the list of premium bourbons, scotches and cognacs is impressive.

Serbian Crown (1141 Walker Rd., Great Falls; 703/759-4150) -- The list of 30 kinds of vodka alone would make this bar (attached to a very nice Franco-Russian restaurant) worth a trip, but the bound notebook titled "Rockin' With Richard at the Serbian Crown" that pianist Richard Wilkins passes out from 10 p.m. 'til closing on Fridays and Saturdays really makes it a fun visit. It's a book of lyrics to some 350 songs, and titles like "Sweetheart of Sigma Chi" and "Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey" give you a clue to the place's demographics. Regulars even have song-and-dance routines they launch into (duets on "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and the like) using felt top hats that bring down the house. The Serbian plum brandy slivovitz will warm you up if the music doesn't.

701 Restaurant (701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; 202/393-0701) -- On quiet Sundays and Mondays, it's easy to get a table by the piano in the bar area of this upscale restaurant. That's fine, as those are the nights when Vincent Franco performs on the Yamaha grand, its notes resonating nicely off the restaurant's hardwood floor (the instrument could stand a tuning, however). "I try to put in lots of feeling and harmony," says Franco, and he succeeds. But there are limits. When a little girl in a red velvet dress marches up to Franco and asks if he'll play something from a Disney movie, he apologizes and offers up some other lively tune. The caviar list is long, and at "Mo's Bar" Mo himself mixes a long list of custom cocktails. (Greg Lamont plays Tues.-Sat.)

La Tomate (1701 Connecticut Ave. NW; 202/667-5505) -- Seated at the white piano, Francis Reich tosses off excerpts from well-known tunes like the theme to "The Godfather," creating a seamless 30-minute medley. He's a subtle and tasteful player who has seemed a little bored the few times I've stopped in. And while the bar area is in one of the nicest spaces I know (a stretched-out V of a street-level room with windows everywhere), the place too often smells like some kind of cleanser. And what's with management tolerating a jewelry salesman unfolding his pouch of goods on the bar top, as if setting up at a market?

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