270px, This 1916 photo of First Avenue in Seattle shows the Kenneth Hotel just left of center; the building is now replaced by multi-story parking lot. The Penthouse was a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

club in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, most remembered for

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Born and raise ...

's performance there in September 1965. The Penthouse opened in 1962 in Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood, founded by Charlie Puzzo. Over the next seven years, Puzzo presented such artists as

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...

, Bill Evans,

The Montgomery Brothers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, Stan Getz, Anita O’Day,

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...

, Little Richard and Aretha Franklin. The club was on the ground floor of the Kenneth Hotel at 701 First Avenue, near the corner of Cherry Street, a building originally built as the ''Safe Deposit Building'' after the

Great Seattle Fire The Great Seattle Fire was a fire that destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington on June 6, 1889. The conflagration lasted for less than a day, burning through the afternoon and into the night, and during the same sum ...

of 1889, replacing the 1884 ''Merchant’s National Bank Building'' on the same site. Jim Wilke hosted Thursday night broadcasts from the club for

KING King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

radio. Steve Griggs: ''Live From Seattle, It’s Thursday Night! - 1960s Broadcasts from The Penthouse''/ref> The saxophonist

performed at the club September 30, 1965, with a sextet consisting of Coltrane on

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

and soprano saxophones, Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone,

Donald Garrett Donald Rafael Garrett (February 28, 1932, El Dorado, ArkansasAugust 14, 1989, Champaign, Illinois) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played double-bass, clarinet, and flute. Biography Garrett, who preferred to be called Rafael, was ...

on clarinet and

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

McCoy Tyner Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet (from 1960 to 1965) and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Master and five-time Gram ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, Jimmy Garrison on double bass and

Elvin Jones Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004) was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. Most famously a member of John Coltrane's quartet, with whom he recorded from late 1960 to late 1965, Jones appeared on such widely celebrate ...

on drums. They were also joined on '' Afro-Blue'' by

Joe Brazil Joseph Brazil (August 25, 1927 – August 6, 2008) was an American jazz saxophonist and educator. Local musicians and touring acts performed in his basement. He taught jazz at Garfield High School (Seattle), Garfield High School, co-founded the Bl ...

and

Carlos Ward Carlos Ward (born May 1, 1940 in Ancón, Panama) is a funk and jazz alto saxophonist and flautist. He is best known as a member of the Funk and disco band BT Express as well as a jazz sideman. Biography Ward was raised in Panama City, and at a ...

and a third unidentified

alto saxophonist The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

and on another piece by an unidentified thumb pianist. Much of the session was issued 1971 in by

Impulse! Records Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record company and label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positiv ...

as ''Live in Seattle''; other portions including Coltrane's last performance Billy Strayhorn's '' Lush Life'' appeared later on the album ''The Unissued Seattle Broadcast'' (RLR Records, 2011). See the Jim Wilke page for information on more recent releases from the 1960s material. ''The Penthouse'' closed in 1968; the building was demolished shortly thereafter, replaced by a multi-story parking lot. Seattle music historian Paul de Barros described The Penthouse, along with Pete's Poop Deck and Dave's Fifth Avenue as one of Seattle's "first true modern jazz clubs".Paul de Barros, ''Jackson Street After Hours'', Sasquatch Books (Seattle, 1993), . p. 194

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penthouse (Seattle)#The 1960s in Seattle 1962 establishments in Washington (state) 1968 disestablishments in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Seattle Culture of Seattle Former music venues in the United States Hotels in Seattle Music venues in Washington (state) Pioneer Square, Seattle