Jazz Handled With Soft Touch at Drake’s in Glendale

It was very quiet at Drake’s Restaurant in downtown Glendale a Thursday or so ago, as guitarist Sid Jacobs and bassist Ken Filiano reached the middle of their second set.

Customers occupied only three of the room’s 10 green Naugahyde booths, and there were only a few patrons at the small bar. And the customers hardly spoke above a whisper, if they spoke at all. You might not have been able to hear a pin drop, but it was close.

Drake’s is a medium-sized restaurant and bar that features duos and trios, often with singers, Wednesdays through Saturdays. Jacobs and Filiano, who are the regular Thursday night feature, worked in the center of the room in front of a shiny baby grand piano and only a few feet away from some of the listeners. The pair responded to the semi-silence of their audience by performing at a very subdued volume.

After a spirited yet hushed romp through “It Could Happen to You,” the duo tackled “Alone Together.” Here Jacobs, 37, was a straight-ahead artist who revealed influences ranging from Jim Hall and Wes Montgomery to Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. He seemed barely to touch his strings, so sotto voce was his sound.

A soft tone proved no inhibition to a fully realized exploration of the pop standard, and his tender treatment of the melody led to a complex solo. Dazzlingly fast runs led to passages where Jacobs tempered his considerable technique. He dropped in a twangy chord now and then, as well as the occasional blues-based idea, but mostly his improvisation was concocted of tuneful, mellifluous ideas.

After a solo by Filiano, known for his work with adventurous saxophonist Vinny Golia, the pair improvised simultaneously. Their keen interaction, born of a musical relationship that has been developing for five years, resulted in the weaving of a multicolored quilt of sounds.

Even between tunes, after the enthusiastic, if sparse, applause subsided, the clientele at the cozy Brand Boulevard nightspot talked softly.

The set also included an invigorating Parker blues number, “Billie’s Bounce,” as well as “Darn That Dream,” taken only slightly faster than a crawl. Afterward, Jacobs--whose debut album, “It’s Not Goodnight,” has been released on Best Records--said the attentiveness of the listeners makes Drake’s his favorite performance space.

“Intimate is a good word for this room,” he said, sitting with a guest in one of the booths, which are lit by overhead Tiffany-style lamps. “Even earlier tonight, when there were a lot more people than are here now, it was like you’re having a conversation with them. I get that feeling of communication that you don’t get in a lot of places that have a stage, and you’re separated from the audience. . . . Even when people are talking, we can play really quietly, and that way I can hear myself.”

That characteristic was what drew some of the listeners to Drake’s, where the green of the booths and contrasting brick walls and structural pillars give the room a New York City look.

“Most clubs, you have trouble hearing everything. Not here,” said Jeff Lavener, a 37-year-old stockbroker from Glendale.

“I come here for the music. Nothing’s miked, so they get a really natural sound.”

Jacobs had other fans in the room. One booth was occupied by Tuppo Orrenmaa, 30, from Tampere, Finland; Tomas Janzon, 33, from Stockholm, Sweden, and Lawson Ward, 28, from Bel Air. The trio are Jacobs’ students at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood. Jacobs, who lives in the Hollywood Hills, also teaches privately and at Grove School of Music in Van Nuys.

“He’s inspiring,” Ward said. “He’s devoted so much of his solitude to the instrument, and has become a master.”

The next day, Drake’s owner, Violet Muselli, also had kind words for the guitarist. “He’s a nice person, and his music is from his heart,” Muselli said. Muselli, who was born in Egypt and has lived in the United States since 1974, has owned Drake’s and a Roundtable Pizza parlor two doors away for five years with her husband.

Speaking of Drake’s, she said, “Last night, business was very, very slow. Today, there’s been so much I can hardly handle it. It drives me nuts.” She laughed lightly.

Still, she has no plans to change her entertainment policy, which started about three years ago when she met singers Louis and Monique Aldebert.

“They called me and wanted to try working here, and I loved their music. I had wanted music in here to make it a little different. And different from Jax, the jazz club that’s across the street that has bands,” Muselli said.

The Aldeberts introduced Muselli to singer Cathy Segal-Garcia, who booked the room for a while as did another singer, Julie Kelly. Then Muselli took over.

It’s a job the owner relishes. “I love talking to the musicians, listening to what they do, how they make a living. The musicians that work here are all my friends,” she said.

Jacobs concurs. “When I met Violet, there was instant rapport,” he said. “She made me feel very comfortable, not like a lot of club owners, where you are just hired help.”

Muselli opted for jazz simply because she liked it. The current lineup includes singer Mary Ekler on Wednesday; Jacobs and Filiano, all Thursdays except Nov. 14, when singer David Basse appears with pianist Milcho Leviev; the Ben DiTosti-Roger Bissel-Roy Scoutz trio, all Wednesdays in November except Nov. 13, when Basse and company arrive; singer Ruth Price and pianist Alan Broadbent, Friday; David and Suzanne Miller, Saturday; pianist Joanne Grauer, Nov. 9; and drummer Wally Stryk’s band Flight, with pianist Don Preston Nov. 10.

There’s no cover at Drake’s. “I tried that once, but people didn’t like it,” Muselli said. There is a two-drink minimum. Beverages are priced inexpensively, from $2.25 for bottled beer and $3.25 for wine by the glass and premium bar drinks to $4 for cognac. Wine by the bottle is available.

The restaurant serves a variety of continental cuisine, from pasta and fresh fish to steak. Dinners range from $11.95 to $17.95.

Drake’s, 330 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. (818) 246-6954. Entertainment , 7 to 11 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. Lunch 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; dinner, 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Sunday brunch, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Closed Monday.