About The Music: Name of new jazz club says it all

People have asked Doron Raphaely why he wants to open a jazz club — why he would welcome that sort of "headache."

Loved ones have told the Israeli psychologist to stop daydreaming.

Some have used the "I" word: Impossible.

But Raphaely will open the doors to About The Music in Georgetown Nov. 23, anyway. His faith in the club's success lies in his love for jazz and in the hope that people will support a business that is "about the music."

Going against the wisdom and warnings about the difficulties of running a jazz club, Raphaely will not serve dinner and hard liquor at his club. He will concern himself only with light snacks, bottled beer and luxuries, including a masseuse in the green room for performers.

The dream of this longtime jazz fan, who grew up in Tel Aviv but says he learned English through reading liner notes to albums and listening to Frank Zappa records, is to one day ask Herbie Hancock if he'd like something to drink.

"I think that would be such a rocking thing," said 44-year-old Raphaely. "And there's no grandeur in that. It's not about making money."

There's little grandeur in the location.

Sharing a neighborhood with stretches of Boeing Field, not to mention yards stacked up to there with parts of cargo trains and former 18-wheelers, About The Music resurrects what used to be management offices for an ice factory. There are vaults inside the space, where payroll administrators stored their money. Raphaely and his business partners sarcastically kid each other about keeping their money in there too.

After a month of remodeling, the inside of the club now bears the elegance of an old-school dean's office and maybe a bit of a Victorian home. The wood is mahogany, the ceilings are high, and romantic second-floor balconies look out over the space below.

Raphaely chose Georgetown because he wanted an area with enough of its own noise and out-of-way-ness to allow jam sessions at 3 a.m. He also wanted an area that could draw on a diverse clientele. In his heart is a desire to create a place that's welcoming for the black community.

"There's so many people who have been supporting me and so many musicians, particularly local musicians from the black community, that really have not had a venue that invites them to come in and show their stuff," he said.

His plan is to present mostly jazz, but also any sort of music that strikes him as worth hearing. The schedule includes national acts four times a week and local acts on Tuesdays and Fridays.

"There was a Seattle sound long before Nirvana showed up," Raphaely said. "There are cats in town in their 40s and 50s and older who can play at a level that can look anybody in the eye and not flinch."

Raphaely has also garnered support from upcoming performers. Grammy Award-winning bassist Stanley Clarke will open on the 23rd.

The club will also present its house band every night, led by club music director Dennis Blackmon, in the hopes of starting a tradition of free-flowing jam sessions.

Herman Brown, a guitarist who leads a band called Fettimus, said venues featuring local acts are much needed.

"It's not around like it was back in the day," Brown said. "There's not a lot of places to play that will pay you a decent wage."

A long shot?

But John Gilbreath, executive director of the Earshot Jazz Society of Seattle, says Raphaely will have competition and faces a tough road ahead.

"There is one place that attracts national acts," he said, referring to Dimitriou's Jazz Alley in downtown Seattle. "All the rest give local performers a chance to perform."

Gilbreath, whose group produces Seattle's annual Earshot Jazz Festival, also wonders how About The Music will fare financially without food sales to supplement its revenue. He worries that being located away from jazz hubs like New York will cause a financial strain on Raphaely, as the owner will have to deal with transportation and lodging expenses for visiting artists.

The audience for jazz has been historically small, and being in Georgetown won't help either, he added.

"I think you have to want to go there. It's off the beaten path," Gilbreath said. "But anybody who presents jazz music deserves all the support and encouragement they can get."

Raphaely has tested the norm before.

A maverick

He decided not to enroll at Berklee College of Music in Boston, for which he had originally moved to the United States from Tel Aviv in 1981. Family and friends doubted he'd achieve his new goal of going to medical school. He had been known, in Israel, as the kid who was into music and not school. He eventually studied at Boston University and today has a practice on Capitol Hill.

He also bucked the odds by serving his mandatory duty in the Israeli military — as a guitar player. The last thing he had wanted was to engage in combat. He had also been told that only a few get chosen to join the military as a musician.

"I really don't think that odds is the thing to go by," he said. "I think it's much better for us to go by our passion."

His passion made him want to live in the country that jazz calls home. He says the art makes him feel, but also think. He says About The Music is about all that, and not about business.

"From a financial standpoint, I'm a physician, I have a good job," Raphaely said. "It's a labor of love."

Young Chang: 206-748-5815 or ychang@seattletimes.com.