It was a marvelous night for a moon dance and I knew I was in for a great night when the band kicked off with the classic Van Morrison tune. Gary Winston & The Real Deal showcased their blues-with-a-touch-of-jazz sound last Friday at Sapolil Cellars downtown at 15 E. Main Street.
The band members have diverse backgrounds but their sound melds perfectly together. Erika Ingersoll, the lead vocalist for the band, met Gary Winston, the bands leader and namesake, at church where he was playing in the church band.
One of the highlights of the evening was a guitar solo by Gary to a B.B. King song, I don’t know if Gary has named his guitar like B.B. but she can sure “sing!”
Sapolil is a perfect venue for small bands like Gary Winston’s. The listeners were an assorted group of locals and visitors lead by Bill and his daughter Abigail Schwerin the owners of Sapolil Cellars. I have a sneaky suspicion that they host bands strictly for their own enjoyment but I guess we are fortunate that they let us sit in on their “private show”.
Sapolil host bands every Friday night from 8-11 p.m. Some require a cover charge, but a lot of them are at no charge. They serve their own wines by the glass or bottle and a terrific wine inspired drink called the winearita. This was right up my alley with all the citrus of a margarita and the smoothness of a Sapolil’s crisp, un-oaked chardonnay. Abigail wouldn’t give up the secret recipe but they were making them all night so maybe next time I’ll watch a little closer and see if I can figure it out!
The wines and the drinks were perfect pairings for the small plate pizzas they were serving made fresh from Merchants, Sapolil’s neighbor on Main Street. Merchants created the “Sapolil Special” pizza for the evening which seems to be another secret since we were told that no one had any idea from order to order what would actually come out.
This coming Friday Sapolil will be hosting The Fat Tones, co-sponsored by the Walla Walla Blues Society. There will be a $5 cover charge for this band and they will be playing from 8-11 p.m.
Saturday night Sapolil is one of the host venues for “A little Jazz & Wine Among Friends”. A $20 ticket covers four venues throughout downtown Walla Walla.
Gary Winston and The Real Deal consist of: Gary Winston; lead guitar, Erika Ingersoll; lead vocalist, Pete Crawford; slide trombone, Ken Wilson; keyboard and sax, Glenn Ayers; drums, and Marcel Fowler; base guitar. They play at venues throughout Walla Walla, so be on the lookout for this group – they really are the “real deal.”
Sapolil Cellers is open daily for tasting 11-4 daily and Friday evenings until 11pm.
