Columnist Jerry Fink: Winett finding success in Southern Nevada

Friday, July 23, 2004 | 8:38 a.m.

The broad sidewalk outside Milo's Best Cellars restaurant in Boulder City is crowded with folks sitting at tables, dining, sipping wine, listening to the soothing sounds of veteran jazz flutist Bob Winett and guitarist Tyler Ure.

It's mid-evening, the sun is setting. The weather is warm, but not stifling. A perfect day to relax in this quaint town a few minutes southeast of Las Vegas.

The eatery at 538 Nevada Way is a popular place to hang out, not unlike the jazz cafes and clubs in Copenhagen, where Winett lived for four years in the late '70s, joining a large contingent of expatriate American jazz musicians who found more acceptance in Europe than in their own country.

"I heard about all these musicians moving to Denmark," Winett, a native of Los Angeles, said. "So I went there."

Winett was a late bloomer, musically.

He didn't buy a flute until he was 18. When he first entered college, he was a psychology major -- until he heard the legendary saxophonist and flutist James Moody perform at an LA jazz club.

"I was taking a jazz appreciation class and so I went to the Lighthouse to hear Moody," Winett said. "He broke me down. The music was so beautiful, I was crying, like a girl at a Beatles concert."

Moody spoke to him afterward and invited him to bring his flute to the club.

"I'd had the flute for four years and I couldn't play the scale," Winett said.

But Moody saw some potential there and sent Winett to Bill Green, one of the great studio musicians who could play 28 instruments and was a teacher.

Through Green, Winett met Buddy Collette, internationally acclaimed pioneer of jazz flute, a master at reeds, a prolific composer and a teacher.

"I played with Buddy for years," Winett said.

Eventually, Winett became a teacher, passing along the knowledge he had gained from the masters to aspiring young students.

"Not just the music, but how to deal with the pressures of the business," he said.

When Winett landed in Copenhagen, he almost immediately began teaching.

"So many things came together quickly," he said.

The first week there he had a student. The second week he had three.

"Before I knew it, I had students all day long," Winett said. "I was in demand. Students kept calling, calling, calling.

"At that time it was good to be an American in a foreign country."

One of his closest friends in Denmark was jazz drummer Ed Thigpen, who played with most of the greats, including Ella Fitzgerald.

"He was good to me," Winett said. "He still lives in Denmark."

Winett's father died suddenly and so Winett returned to the United States, settling in Seattle for 21 years -- teaching and performing -- until the rain and the gray got to him.

"I like sunshine," he said.

That's what drew him to Vegas two years ago.

Vegas isn't exactly the jazz capital of the world, but Winett has spent the two years networking, making contacts, playing at jams, making himself known.

The work is beginning to pay off. He's beginning to get more gigs.

He and the Bob Winett Quartet will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Reed Whipple Cultural Center, part of its Straight Ahead Jazz series. Tickets are $7. Call 229-6211 for more information.

He has the gig at Milo's Best Cellars two or three nights a month. He does corporate events, private parties and other occasions. He's working on a couple of CDs.

"My work comes from the universe," Winett said. "I can go anywhere and find work, which often comes in the most unconventional ways -- I can go to a dentist and run into someone who owns a restaurant.

"As long as I get out of the house, something's going to happen. Someone said 90 percent of success is being there."

Lounging Around

Check out the Wednesday night jam sessions at the Bond-Aire Club, 284 E. Tropicana Ave. Don't let the small, nondescript, cinder-block building fool you. The place may be humble, but the music is good, and it's loud. Red Michaels and his group have been heading up the session since February.

Don't miss BluesStorm, one of the state's hottest-rockin' blues bands, at Jillian's, 450 Fremont St., from 9 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 14. The four-piece band, based in Las Vegas, has performed at The House of Blues at Mandalay Bay and most recently at the "Blues, Brews, and BBQ Festival" at The Cannery Casino.

Jazz saxophonist Tommy Alvarado and his group are drawing big crowds at the Hurricane Bar & Grill, 10420 S. Bermuda Road, with their jam sessions starting around 8 p.m. Sundays.

Alvarado also will be at Gordon Biersch, 3987 Paradise Road, from noon until 3 p.m. Aug. 8.