Listen Up--It’s a Lounge, but Pianist Isn’t Lounging

The piano lounge isn’t what it used to be. More to the point, the music put forth there, which is often more sophisticated than it’s been given credit for, is being subjected to a new phenomenon--an attentive, listening audience.

Just ask Gil Rosas, one of the most reliable lounge champions on the regional scene, and a gifted purveyor of song who draws on his classical training. Rosas has put decades of practice into his art--yes, art--and far from being jaded, he seems to be maturing. And so do his audience members.

“People come into the lounge and they tend to listen more now than they used to,” the affable pianist said. “They’ll maybe have a couple of glasses of wine and they’ll enjoy the music. I think I have more of a listening audience now than I ever had.”

Drinking habits have changed, as have cultural attitudes, especially at a time when lounge music is being rediscovered for both its camp qualities and its musical riches. “Remember, in the old days, people would come in and drink martinis and get very loud. People don’t do that as much anymore.”

These days, you can catch Rosas holding court at the Pierpont Inn on weekends. On Sunday mornings, he can be heard playing the organ at Trinity Lutheran Church. Last Sunday, though, Rosas was heard in Ventura’s Church of Religious Science. The concert (a setting that he’s been more and more involved with in recent years) was a benefit for New West Symphony.

Rosas, who was born in Santa Barbara, is a veteran of the local lounge wars, having played for decades in such spots as the Somerset and the Olive Mill Bistro--which he co-owned at one point. He moved to the Port Royale in Oxnard for 10 years of service there, and then moved his home base to the Pierpont. He now has a room with an ocean view from which he can spin through his repertoire of what he says is 4,000 to 5,000 songs.

But Rosas wants to extend the range of his work to include concertizing, where he’s “able to elaborate” on his arrangements. “I do light classical and what I call traditional pop--anything from Irving Berlin to Cole Porter to Richard Rodgers. Some of these, I embellish.”

Apart from his classical conditioning, studying at the Music Academy of the West with Reginald Stewart among other academic connections, Rosas’ Latino roots also are evident in his musical tendencies, he said.

“I have a very strong feeling for the sound of thirds and sixths, which represent my culture,” he said. “I utilize that a lot, with a little bit of a modern touch.”

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In addition, Rosas said, he is affected by the things that Liszt did--when he would take an opera and make a transcription for piano. Rosas will take on themes from musicals--”Show Boat,” “South Pacific” or “My Fair Lady,” for instance--and weave them into suites. “My audience seems to like that sort of thing. They like very strong melodies. That also allows me to become inventive. I have carte blanche.”

Stereotypes notwithstanding, there is plenty of creative license in the lounge, by whatever name it’s called. “At one time,” he said, “it would make me angry when people would say, ‘Well, he’s a cocktail pianist,’ but the demands that are upon you when people are surrounding you, asking you to play practically anything, are heavy.

“When I’m playing something, there is something there to be heard, and it’s much more than just background cocktail music. I’m not jazz, and I’m not rock. I’m not new age.”

Who is Gil Rosas, and where does he fit into the musical cosmos? “It’s hard for me to find a category,” he said, laughing. “I hate to say after all these years that I’m looking for an identity, but I’m trying to find a niche where I fit.”

It may be enough to say that he belongs in the general world of music, available for listening on almost any given weekend, at a lounge near you.