Egan's little club with big dreams of nurturing young musicians

Have you been to Egan's Ballard Jam House yet?

From what I'd heard, I somehow had the impression it was some scrappy, makeshift loft.

Au contraire. Egan's is a cute little nightclub with a dozen, low-lit cocktail tables, a baby grand piano, ample stage and New Orleans menu.

The major operative word here is "little" — the place accommodates no more than 50 customers, max — which may ultimately prove a problem.

But check out this little jewel (1707 N.W. Market St.; 206-789-1621 or www.ballardjamhouse.com). You can't miss it. There's a marquee from when the place used to be a dry cleaners, and a big gold saxophone sign above that.

At 7 tonight, guitarist Rik Wright performs; at 10 p.m. Saturday, it's the weird and wonderful Reptet; ex-Garfield High School sax man Dylan Heaney is on at 6 p.m. Thursday, with vocalist Karen Shivers' holiday show following at 9. The cover runs $5-$10 (charged separately for each show, if two bands play).

Egan's is the brainchild of jazz mom Suzanne Weghorst, whose son went to Ballard High School and now plays tenor saxophone at North Seattle Community College.

"With all the high-school kids here who are good musicians," said Weghorst, "where is there a place for them to play and learn from the pros?"

Quite new to the club business, Weghorst is assistant director at the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Laboratory (the well-known "HITLab").

"If I had known ahead of time what I was getting into, I might not have done it," said this expert in virtual — if not actual — reality.

The club opened last summer with a sold-out concert by the all-female saxophone group the Tiptons, but since then, business has been iffy.

Weghorst hopes to add a sidewalk cafe and a hard-liquor license. Presently, Egan's is an all-ages beer and wine cafe, open for lunch and dinner, with espresso and desserts a mainstay and the major menu items prepared off-premises.

"You can only survive as a 'best-kept secret' for so long," says general manager Ben Sweeney. "But the jazzers are clamoring to keep this place alive."

A painless way to help out with that might be to check out Wright tonight. Known originally as an experimentalist, particularly through his record label HipSync, Wright recently made a profound turnaround.

"I felt like I was basically sounding like Sonny Sharrock or James 'Blood' Ulmer," said Wright, referring to two avant-garde guitarists. "But my real guitar heroes were always Kenny Burrell and Wes Montgomery."

One night two years ago at the Midtown Manhattan club Iridium, Wright had what might be called a born-again musical revelation.

"I went to see Pat Martino and Joe Lovano," he recalled. "Lovano was about 3 feet away, literally sweating on me. I had listened to these guys for years, but with the live experience, I suddenly realized, 'That's what I want to do with my playing.' "

Since then, Wright has been delivering bluesy, straight-ahead bop, with a nice contemporary edge. His new album, "After the Storm" (HipSync), features funky swingers "Lush Money" and "Thinking of the North Side," as well as romantic ballads like "The Nearness of You" and "When Sonny Gets Blue," the latter with a lovely solo guitar intro.

Wright's band tonight features Tony Grasso (trumpet), Birch Pereira (bass) and Jeremy Jones (drums).

Hope to see you there!

Paul de Barros: 206-464-3247 or pdebarros@seattletimes.com