Friday, Aug. 19, 2005 | 8:29 a.m.
There was an inspired movie in 1989 written and directed by Steven Kloves titled, "The Fabulous Baker Boys."
The film starred real-life brothers Beau and Jeff Bridges, along with Michelle Pfeiffer.
The story was about two fictional brothers, Jack and Frank Baker, who had been performing in lounges across the country as a piano duo for several years when they decided to hire a female vocalist to spice up the act.
The motion picture garnered four Academy Award nominations -- for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Pfeiffer), Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Music, Original Score
The story delves into the world of lounge entertainment -- its frustrations, its ennui, its trials and tribulations and uncertainties -- and into the lives of the Baker Boys.
While the film was fiction, there are two real-life Baker boys.
Chicago natives Howard Baker, 47, and his older sibling, Phillip, 53, have been performing together for more than 30 years and are well known among purveyors of lounges in different parts of the country -- especially in their native Chicago (where some of the movie was shot) and Florida (where they spent a decade in high-end lounges).
"If you knew us and saw the movie, the first thing that came to mind was that it was about us -- but it wasn't," Howard Baker said.
The fact that the film was about two brothers named Baker who have been performing together in lounges most of their lives was a coincidence.
The Bakers made no money off the movie.
"The script wasn't written about us," Baker said. "We were performing at the Drake Hotel in Chicago when we ran into a few guys involved in making the movie. They had their own script. We told them our story, and I think some of it got in, some of it didn't."
Baker said sometimes fans mistakenly believe the film is about them.
"It isn't," he emphasized.
But it might have been.
"It was written about two brothers who argue all the time," he said. "Some of the parts happened to my brother and myself. We have had our arguments, some reflections on the lifestyle.
"Baker is our real name, but the most important thing about me and my brother is we play from coast-to-coast, Florida to Chicago. We have worked in so many different places people know us all over."
Although the Bakers might have received some publicity because of the film, it didn't affect their careers.
"It didn't make it pop," Baker said. "Me and my brother's talent is what brought us success. We perform for the customers. We play what people don't hear a lot of anymore, like George Gershwin and Cole Porter."
They say they don't have a set act.
"We ask customers what would they like to hear, which is the reason we've been playing for so many years because we always play for the customers. We never put an act on. The way we were onstage, that's the way we were offstage.
"We're down-to-earth guys."
The boys have been playing the Parasol Lounge at Wynn Las Vegas since the venue opened April 28.
They have a female lead singer -- Kim Styles.
She is a better vocalist and more beautiful than Pfeiffer, her film counterpart.
"That was Steve Wynn's idea," Baker said. "She's a great singer, and a knockout. Plus she has the Baker boys behind her -- it was a great idea."
The trio -- with Howard on drums and Phillip on keyboard -- performs from 4 p.m. until 8:45 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and 5 p.m. until 9:45 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Next week they will move from the Parasol to the B Bar.
"We came to Vegas from Florida last year and worked for a year at the Stirling Club at Turnberry Place," Baker said. "We met Steve Wynn when we played a party for him there.
"His musical director, Tim Sage, was impressed with us. He came back to hear us again and invited us to perform at the hotel when it opened."
Meanwhile there was a change in management at the Turnberry and the brothers moved to the lounge in the Ritz in Newport Beach, Calif.
"We were there for three months," Baker said. "We were the talk of the town, doing very well and thinking about relocating there permanently when Tim Sage invited us to Vegas to audition."
Baker said they had to audition because Wynn wanted to make sure "fit musically and in appearance."
"We auditioned on a Tuesday and started on Thursday," Baker said.
Baker (who plays drums, bass and piano) was about 16 when he and his brother (who plays piano and sings) teamed professionally.
"Our dad is a professional violinist and when we were growing up we played with him a lot, so it was only natural for us to become musicians," Baker said.
Their first gig was at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri in the mid-'70s. From there they travelled a bit before ending up in New Orleans for four years.
"We had more of a jazz flavor to our band then," he said.
Then they went to Chicago and eventually ended up in Florida for 12 years.
"When we moved to Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) we had a three-month engagement at a club called Septembers -- we stayed for six years," Baker said. "It was the hot spot."
From there they performed at at a club in West Palm Beach, Fla., for six years.
"Our jobs have always been upscale resort hotels," Baker said. "Never dives."
Lounging around
John Kaye & The Overlords will perform at the historic Pioneer Saloon in Goodsprings tonight and Saturday and on Aug. 26.
Frank Sinatra tribute artist Gary Anthony, backed by keyboardist Dennis Mellen, is still doing it his way at Sonny's, a neighborhood casino/ restaurant at 4145 S. Grand Canyon Dr.
Vegas jazz saxophonist Rocky Gordon was chosen to be one of 15 musicians from around the world to be in the Saxophone Master Class 2005 conducted by jazz great Dave Liebman earlier this summer in Stroudsburg, Pa.
Liebman has performed with such legends as Elvin Jones and Miles Davis.
Professional jazz musicians attended the one-week, intense study of Liebman's saxophone music theory techniques and philosphy on jazz.
Since 1987, each class is a list of who's who of famous jazz musicians.
Gordon also was a featured soloist with Liebman's band one night at the Deer Head Inn in Stroudsburg.
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