Columnist Jerry Fink: Tropical-themed club proves to be all-inclusive

Friday, April 20, 2001 | 8:41 a.m.

Jerry Fink's lounge column appears on Fridays. Reach him at jerry@ lasvegassun.com or 259-4058.

You don't often find a traditional jazz combo performing at a club with a tropical theme that favors music described as Hawaiian reggae and Hawaiian country and western (far western).

But one recent Thursday night at the Tropics Broiler & Bar, I discovered the Raj Rathor Trio playing some of the smoothest jazz this side of San Francisco's North Beach.

The next night Danny Estocado (the Maui Cowboy) performed for a packed house of Hawaii natives. The night after that Da Blend played for an equally large audience. Da Blend alternates Saturdays with Buckaloose.

The jazz-night crowd was small. Las Vegas is not the center of the jazz universe, which is a shame because there are so many talented musicians in this city who have no place to show what they can do.

You can include the Rathor trio among the most talented.

The band consists of guitar virtuoso Raj Rathor, vocalist Diana Smith and bassist Justin Vogel, who teaches at the Family Music Centers when he isn't performing (as does Rathor).

People from the Santa Barbara, Calif., area may recognize the names of Rathor and Smith, who teamed there in 1992 and became a mainstay of the local jazz scene until they decided to move to Las Vegas about five years ago.

"We love it here," Smith said. "We feel a certain preponderance for creativity you don't find in too many other towns. There is a lot of imagination here."

Rathor and Smith recently completed their first CD, "Jazz Cat," which has been receiving good reviews from jazz stations across the country since its release earlier this year.

The only music on the CD is Rathor's guitar, accompanied by Smith's voice. That is enough.

Rathor, a self-taught musician, says the greatest influence on his style was Lenny Breau, a legendary jazz guitarist who died in 1984 at age 43.

Smith was in college studying opera when she heard jazz vocalist Nancy Wilson and decided she preferred solos to arias.

"She was my first introduction to jazz," she said.

Smith also was influenced by the late Sarah Vaughan. If you close your eyes during Smith's performance, you can almost hear the rich, vibrato sounds of Vaughan's voice.

Vogel studied music at Metropolitan State College in Denver. While there he performed with (and studied under) such jazz greats as pianist Joe Bonner ("Monkisms") and trumpeter Ron Miles.

"Ron taught me the beauty of the jazz medium, and how important it is to listen," Vogel said.

The electric-bass player moved to Las Vegas in 1999 and has performed in venues up and down the Strip, including a gig beside Calvin Brooks at Harrah's. Brooks is one of the most respected jazz guitarists in the country.

Vogel said he believes the jazz scene is expanding in Las Vegas, although slowly.

"Unfortunately music in the casinos and hotels is a secondary function, to be played while you're eating or gambling," he said. "Jazz is a form of music people sit and listen to."

Aloha, y'all

Ken Kahanu (aka, the Big Kahuna) is the brains behind the Tropics, which opened about two months ago at South Decatur and Oakey boulevards.

Anyone who yearns for Hawaiian ambiance can get a fix here. There is a taste of the islands in the menu and the drinks as well as the music.

Judging from the predominantly Hawaiian clientele, Kahanu has succeeded in reaching a core of supporters. But he wants to appeal to the mainlanders as well, which is why he brought in the Raj Rathor Trio.

"I want diversity," Kahanu said. "I don't want to be known as the Hawaiian bar."

Just as he is experimenting with his menu to see what sells, he is experimenting with a variety of music. So far the Hawaiian country, reggae and pop have worked best. Wednesday night karaoke also is big.

"I'm looking down the road at possibly having Salsa and Blues," he said. "I may be having jam sessions -- all kinds of jams, including jazz."

Kahanu was finance director of Desert Dodge until he began to miss the food and beverage business and found a couple of investors for the Tropics.

Eventually he hopes to have a variety of live music seven days a week and to be a springboard for up-and-coming groups.

Kahanu said he learned the bar and restaurant business in Hawaii, where he was the food and beverage manager of the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

For a change of scenery he moved to Los Angeles in the early '90s, but the 1994 earthquake in Southern California convinced him the scenery was better in Las Vegas.