Real Twin Peaks 2025 – Twin Peaks Quintet Plays at Boxley’s

Jazz and Twin Peaks go hand in hand which is why I love that Boxley’s in North Bend, Washington featured the Twin Peaks Qunitet during the Real Twin Peaks 2025 event in Snoqualmie Valley. This hour and 45-minute concert was held on Saturday, Feb. 22 in the downtown jazz club and included Brian Kirk who played on the soundtrack to David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

BOXLEY’S JAZZ CLUB IN NORTH BEND

Boxley’s Jazz Club has been a staple in the North Bend community for years. Founded by Danny Kolke, the venue originally opened down the street from its current location where the Iron Duck is now located. At age 14, Danny started playing piano with an evening big band at the local community college. When his school district went on strike for an extended period of time, he dropped out at age 16 and enrolled in Edmonds Community College full time, pursuing music. By 19, he produced his first trio album entitled “A New Meaning,” which KPLU 88.5, a local Jazz radio station, put into rotation. “Die Augen” was a popular track from that first album.

Being under 21, Danny struggled to earn a living playing jazz so he stopped playing and started a software company. Caught up in the dot com bubble of 1999, Danny still dreamed of playing jazz and opening his own jazz club. Danny shared this dream with a friend who suggested purchasing a North Bend restaurant location in 2009. Boxley’s opened and quickly became the popular spot for music, with Downbeat Magazine naming it “One of the best Jazz clubs in the world” between 2011-2016.

Boxley’s moved a few locations in North Bend, including brief stint at the former Wildflower’s 2nd Street location that is now Pro Ski and Mountain Service. In 2019, Kolke moved Boxley’s to their current spot at 228 W North Bend Way, adjacent to Hartwood Cafe. The club is part of  JazzClubsNW, a nonprofit organization started in 2010 that is dedicated to supporting live jazz performance and educational opportunities in the Pacific Northwest.

TWIN PEAKS QUNITET PLAYS ON FEB. 22, 2025

The Twin Peaks Quintet concert began at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, February 22, 2025. This was the second time this group of musicians have played at The Real Twin Peaks event. In 2024, the group was known as the Twin Peaks Quartet and their performance was an unexpected highlight of the weekend (read more about that performance in this Twin Peaks Blog article).

This year, a fifth member,Brian Kirk, joined the group on vibraphone making it a quintet. Kirk is a professor of Jazz, Electronic Music, Music Theory, Percussion at Seattle Central College, in Seattle. The son of Indianapolis Hall of Fame drummer and educator Dr. Willis Kirk, Brian grew up in San Francisco where he performed with Gladys Knight, Marlena Shaw, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Bishop Norman Williams, John Handy, and Jessica Williams.

The set list included a mix of both Twin Peaks tunes by Angelo Badalamenti and Julee Cruise along with jazz standards.

Set 1:
01. Falling (Theme to Twin Peaks)
02. Audrey’s Dance
03. On Green Dolphin Street
04. Sycamore Trees
05. Lawns (Carla Bley)
06. There Will Never Be Another You (Chet Baker)

Set 2:
01. Twin Peaks Theme (excerpt) – The Nightingale
02. Laura Palmer’s Theme
03. Strange Meeting (Bill Frisell)
04. Creep (Radiohead) meets Laura Palmer’s Theme

For a small fee, you can become a member of JazzClubs NW to view this show and many other concerts held at Boxley’s in North Bend. Since this is a nonprofit organization, your membership helps Danny fulfill his mission of bringing jazz to students in Washington state.

WHO IS THE TWIN PEAKS QUINTET?

The Twin Peaks Quintet included Andrew Glynn on saxophone, Michael Glynn on bass, Eric Verlinde on piano, Sutton Marley on drums and Brian Kirk on vibes. The four members minus Kirk played during the Real Twin Peaks 2024 event.

Scott Ryan, author of “Always Music in the Air: The Sounds of Twin Peaks” and who held a free panel conversation about Twin Peaks music during Real Twin Peaks 2025,  spoke with Brian Kirk days after his Boxley’s performance. Kirk doesn’t appear in Scott’s new book that tracks the 290 officially released tracks for David Lynch and Mark Frost’s works, so it’s wonderful to have stories shared by Kirk on video.

I captured a few screencaps from the JazzClubs NW member video which includes multiple shots of the band playing music.

An aerial shot of Brian Kirk playing the vibraphone.

San Francisco native turned Seattleite Sutton Marley playing drums.

Highly trained piano accompanist Eric Verlinde on piano. Look closely and you’ll see the sheet music to “Audrey’s Dance”

BRIAN KIRK SPEAKS ABOUT SYCAMORE TREES

With Brian Kirk joining the group, the band added Jimmy Scott’s “Sycamore Trees” to their show. What a treat to hear a live performance of such a memorable tune from Twin Peaks episode 2.022. It’s also briefly heard in the latter part of Lynch’s 1992 film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me when Leland Palmer enters the Red Room to see The Little Man From Another Place and Mike, the One-Armed Man.

The track was recorded in Excalibur Studios in New York possibly at some point in late 1990 or early 1991. One enduring mystery from Scott Ryan’s book is the actual date of recording is not 100% known.

Angelo Badalamenti and Kinny Landrum played keyboards while Vinnie Bell was on electric and bass guitars. Alvin Flythe Jr. played saxophone along with Ron Carter on bass. Ken-Ichi Shimazu played piano while Jimmy Scott performed vocals. Brian Kirk took the place of Grady Tate on drums. Tate played most of the percussion heard throughout the Twin Peaks soundtracks.

During a break between numbers, Kirk shared stories of his experiences working with Lynch and Badalamenti. While Brian was attending graduate school at New York University, he received a call from Hillard Green who invited him to join Jimmy Scott’s East Coast band, The Jazz Expressions. They produced an album on Aug. 15-16, 1990 titled, “Doesn’t Love Mean More.” Musicians on the album included Kirk on drums Alvin Flythe, Jr. on saxophone and Ken-Ichi Shimazu on piano who would also play on “Sycamore Trees.”

The band did a lot of private events including one night at Club 55 where Brian recalled seeing Little Richard and David Lynch. Kirk, however, was unfamiliar with the director or the television show Twin Peaks. He does remember receiving a call from Green in 1990 saying they were to record music for Lynch and Mark Frost’s television show.

“When we get into the studio in midtown Manhattan, there was David and Angelo sitting in the corner,” Brian shared. “Angelo and David were quietly whispering to each other. Before we did the take of ‘Sycamore Trees,’ I looked at David sitting down and said, ‘David, what’s the movie about?’ [Audience laughed] That’s a wrong thing to say. I had no idea.”

Kirk says they looked at him for about a minute and a half, looking back at each other and to Brian before David responded, “Well, there’s a Red Room.”

“Cool,” Brian replied, but didn’t know what he was talking about until “maybe six to eight months later.”

Kirk was excited to meet legendary bass player Ron Carter who was “bowing on ‘Sycamore Trees.’ Unfortunately, the encounter didn’t happen as Carter just had oral surgery which kept his mouth wired shut.

Angelo and David also recorded sound effects during the same recording session. Kirk took a bow and ran it along four or five cymbals. He also dropped cymbals on the ground which was used as transition sounds from scenes in the film.

“What would happen if you take that big ol’ cymbal and drop it on the floor?,” Kirk recalls a question from David Lynch. “I was like, ‘Are you serious? but I realized I needed to get paid so I wasn’t going to make a big fuss about it.”

There was carpet in the studio so Lynch had Kirk drop the cymbal on flooring near the studio door.

“That’s great,” Lynch exclaimed. “Can you do it again?”

Angelo then looked at David to imply “I think we got it.”

All said, it was wonderful hearing stories from Kirk who worked on a soundtrack that I adore. Moreover, I’m so happy the Twin Peaks Quintet returned to the Real Twin Peaks event this year. It’s important to keep this music in the air for all to hear.

Thank you to JazzClubsNW, Danny Kolke and the musicians who played that night in downtown North Bend. Hope they will be back in 2026!