"Velvet Smog" to drift north

Barbara Walters' father, Lou, called him "the Asian Sinatra."

He sometimes calls himself "the Velvet Smog," a tongue-in-cheek salute to his other idol, "Velvet Fog" crooner Mel Tormé.

Three nights a week, Primo Kim plays jazz in the Terrace Lounge of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle. The jazz standards, original material and other songs give travelers and locals a respite from the city's hustle.

After more than 30 years at the piano, Kim can modulate a mood better than a psychiatrist.

"If someone's rude, you can get more with honey than with vinegar," he said. "The customer is always right. That's the way business is."

But sometimes Kim steps away from the piano-bar scene to play with symphony orchestras at benefits and jazz festivals.

On Friday, in "Salute to Big Bands," Kim will sing and play piano with the Everett Symphony at 8 p.m. at the Everett Civic Auditorium. Hors d'oeuvres and a wine tasting from 6 to 7:30 p.m. will precede the concert in the nearby Monte Cristo ballroom.

Outside "The Nutcracker," pop concerts are the season's best-attended events, and this evening of big-band jazz is expected to follow suit.

"We average about 900 to 1,000 for classical concerts and 1,200 for the pops," said Mary Brueggeman, the symphony's executive director. "Clearly, there's an audience out there."

The concert will be a feast of American pop standards and even a kitschy TV-song medley. Henry Mancini's hard-charging "Theme from Peter Gunn" will start the concert.

Kim will perform eight songs with the symphony, doing piano solos and singing. Tunes are to include "I've Got the World on a String," "Just One of Those Things" and "Green Dolphin Street." He also is expected to do "For Once in My Life," the Brazilian-flavored "Love Dance" by Ivan Lins and "Here's to Life," a jazz ballad popularized by Shirley Horn.

The Primo Kim Quintet, featuring Bill Ramsay on alto sax, Randy Haberstad on piano, Chris Clark on bass and Ken French on drums, will perform with him.

The concert will feature arrangements by Milt Kleeb, Dennis Mackrel and Phil Kelly.

Born Primo Kim Villarruz in Stockton, Calif., one of nine children of German, Spanish and Philippine heritage, Kim was raised in San Jose. Though he graduated with a degree in art from San Jose State University, he had taken piano lessons from childhood. In his 20s, Kim was discovered by Lou Walters, the owner of the Latin Quarter nightclubs. Kim debuted in New York.

"They had an 18-piece big band and chorus girls. And he was looking for an Asian Sinatra," Kim recalled. "I auditioned in San Francisco with 19 other singers, and I was thrilled because I won the audition. I was the headliner for four months. Sammy Davis Jr. came to the opening."

Kim later reminisced about that heady time with TV newswoman Barbara Walters, Lou's daughter.

Now in his 50s, Kim finds pleasure in writing songs as well as interpreting standards.

"I'm a pop singer with a jazz feeling," he said. "I'm a stylist, but I lean more toward the jazz."

Kim came to Seattle in the early 1970s and has been in the area since, performing locally but also working in Las Vegas.

He sang "Come Home to Seattle" in an Olympic Hotel ballroom during Prince Andrew's visit in 1997, and in 1999 he did a show for 1,800 people at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, backed by an 18-piece band. There have been large-scale concerts at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre, Paramount Theatre and Meany Hall for the Performing Arts, too, many of them benefits.

He first began to play at the Olympic Hotel in the late 1980s and now plays from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays in the Terrace Lounge.

Playing in a lounge, Kim said, "is a whole education on how you relate to people, one to one."

The advantage of lounge playing, he said, is the freedom.

"You can play Broadway; you can play jazz; the crowd listens; it's an ambience," Kim said. "If you want to live in this town and you want to work steady, you'll take those kind of jobs and enjoy them. You can't be at the Paramount every night. You can't play with a symphony every night.

"If you want to live here, you find a comfortable job, and you use it as a home base. That's what's so nice about that job at the Fairmont. It's home."

Diane Wright: 425-745-7815 or dwright@seattletimes.com