Origin Artist

If a lifetime of soulfulness, joy and good karma could be distilled into a single recording, it would sound exactly like this.
- Tom Stevens, Maui News

August 19, 1938 - October 20, 2023

A Tacoma native, Gene left the Pacific Northwest in his early 20s to gig in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and points west. The westernmost of those was the Hawaiian island of Maui, Gene's home since 1982. Maui is a hip and lovely place, but it is very small. That Gene has earned a living there for over 30 years playing jazz attests to his talent, versatility and open heartedness.

As both leader and "house pianist" for countless club gigs, Gene backed all the visiting class acts who came through; recording stars Branford Marsalis, Emil Richards, George Benson, Bill Perkins and Steve Gadd; as well as fellow islanders Gabe Baltazar and Henry Allen. Whether on piano, keyboards or his beloved B-3, Gene distils the full quantum of beauty and passion in his performances.

From After Jackson Street: Seattle Jazz in the Modern Era (History Press of Charleston, S.C.), by Paul de Barros:

Back in the early '60s, pianist Gene Argel was roaming the halls of the University of Puget Sound practice rooms when he heard something unusual—jazz piano. UPS was a citadel of classical music back then and jazz was frowned upon.

"It was Butch Nordal," recalled Argel, sitting in his apartment in Wailuku, Maui, after playing his weekly Friday night Hammond B3 gig at the Wai Bar, a few miles away. "That was the end of my classical career. All I wanted to do after that was play jazz."

Born in 1938 in Tacoma and raised there, Argel was groomed as a classical pianist, starting with his first lessons at age six. That brief exposure to the soon-to-be-heralded arranger and pianist Nordal (which included a lesson on how to play the blues like Horace Silver) changed his life. Argel didn't waste time. He played his first jazz gig shortly thereafter, in Bremerton, with legendary Tacoma bebop trumpeter Neil Friel.

"Neil was hilarious," recalled Argel. "He used to do Jonathan Winters skits between songs."

Argel was a regular with saxophonist John Lewis at the Colony, at Fourth and Virginia, a club opened by Seattle impresario Norm Bobrow in 1955. Over the years, the Colony showcased players such as Overton Berry, Red Kelly, Walt Tianen, Bud Schultz, Joe Brazil, and many others. Lewis didn't have a bass player, so Argel played an Organo bass attachment, a skill that later came in handy when he took up the Hammond B3, of which he is stone soul master. Argel attributes his feeling for soul and swing to one person on the Seattle scene.

"Dean Hodges," Argel said emphatically of the drummer. "Anything I know about soul, I learned from Dean."

Soul music was much in demand in the '60s and players such as Argel, Thomas, Nordal, and Larry Coryell supplemented their jazz gigs with plenty of it. Argel, who is half Native American (on his mother's side; his dad was Filipino), was lucky enough to hang out and play with one of the future legends of soul from this area, Pete DePoe, a Native American drummer whose "King Kong" beat had a huge influence on Tower of Power drummer Dave Garibaldi.

The Penthouse jazz club on First and Cherry was in full flower when Argel was coming up and he was there for John Coltrane's famously-recorded 1965 set, as well as for Miles Davis and Oscar Peterson.

"Oscar was like 20 minutes late," said Argel, "and Ray [Brown] says, 'You want to play some songs before Oscar comes?' and I go, 'Let me think about that for a minute.' I only knew three songs—'Autumn Leaves,' 'Green Dolphin Street,' and the blues— but I knew I could play. And with Ed Thigpen and Ray you're going to be fantastic, anyway. So I said, 'OK, let's go.' But right then, Oscar walks in."

Argel would have plenty of other chances to play with well-known musicians, particularly at Blackie's in Lahaina, Maui, where he has backed up Howard Roberts, Emil Richards, Conte Candoli, and many others. He was also pleasantly surprised when Branford Marsalis tapped him to play with him at a private engagement.

Though Argel played on the local scene for just a few years, he has maintained deep ties with Seattle players such as Jay Thomas, Gary Steele, Chuck Deardorf, and John Bishop. In 2015, Argel released Luminescent, on Origin, which features an ear-tickling set of alternate chord changes to "If I Loved You" (inspired, he says, by Aaron Copland).

He has fond memories of his early days in Seattle. "I always felt it was a very welcoming scene," he said.

RECORDINGS FEATURING Gene Argel

Gene Argel

Luminescent

Origin 82682