Patrick Hogan

Patrick Hogan: Skyrocketing into the Stratosphere

BY KENDALL HARDIN

The Las Vegas entertainment industry is fierce and unforgiving—totally savage to has-beens and second-rate attempts. And as cut-throat as the fashion world—one day you’re in, and the next day you’re out.

So imagine the odds of a single performer crashing through the vortex of this white-hot creative cauldron before his 25th birthday. That’s the happy predicament of Patrick Hogan, UNLV master’s student by day and professional performer by night. He’s starring at the posh Mayfair Supper Club at the Bellagio, headlining at The Vegas Room and The Nevada Room, and appearing in limelighted gigs all over town like the Underground Speakeasy series at The Mob Museum.

Tom Michel, president of The Vegas Room, describes Patrick as a jazz wunderkind and musical savant. “Mix his compositions and performance renditions with the giants of the 30s, 40s, and 50s, and you really can’t pick him out,” marveled Michel, shaking his head. “He’s an old soul in a really talented body.”

Patrick Hogan

This time, the superlatives keep coming from Dave Loeb, who has headed up the UNLV Jazz Studies Program since 2002. “Patrick has a profound knowledge of the whole spectrum of classic jazz, whether it’s Frank Sinatra and Cole Porter or Bobby Darren and Ella Fitzgerald. But he also grasps the brilliance of arrangers like Nelson Riddle and Don Costa. He has a deep appreciation of every note. That’s what makes him so phenomenal.”

Loeb should know—himself a keyboard legend with a mile-long resume, who’s performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Las Vegas Philharmonic and played on such television series as “Family Guy” and “Quantum Leap,” as well as for the Emmy Awards and feature films like “Ted,” “The Birdcage,” and Disney’s “Pocahontas.”

So how did such a musical superpower get baked into Patrick’s DNA? “My parents were music lovers, so recordings always filled the airwaves,” he mused.

Growing up in the small town of San Juan Bautista in California, Patrick absorbed the sounds of Miles Davis, the Beatles, Sinatra, and an endless parade of artists performing popular American standards and strains of new wave jazz.

It was Patrick’s mother who randomly suggested piano lessons when his home-school curriculum required learning a musical instrument at age ten. After a year-and-a-half of keyboard basics with his first teacher, he gravitated toward jazz. He found several supportive coaches along the way, culminating in mentor Paul Contie, who introduced him to The Next Generation Jazz Festival, under the arc of the iconic Monterey Jazz Festival.

When it came time to think about college, Patrick narrowed his sights on the Berkeley School of Music and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, both touting world-class jazz programs. It was Paul Contie, however, who re-connected Patrick with Dave Loeb and UNLV.

“I came to Las Vegas and auditioned for Dave Loeb, who introduced me to the honors rehearsals so I could experience first hand how the program worked,” Patrick recalls. With a generous scholarship package and the option to join the honors program from the start, UNLV proved the right fit in a world-class city boasting a legion of potential performance opportunities.

From Left: UNLV Honors Jazz Quartet – Angelo Stokes/drums, Patrick Hogan/piano, Molly Redfield/bass, Jorge Machain/trumpet

How did he get along with his new musical family in Vegas? “I’d run through a brick wall for Dave!” he laughs. “I’ve learned so much from him, about the music and the business. He’s taken me under his wing much like an agent or manager.”

Patrick’s days are spent writing multiple ensembles for UNLV’s award-winning Jazz Ensemble I and Honors Trio. He squeezes in time to compose lyrics and music for original songs like the playful “Cat and Mouse” and the plaintive “I’ll Never Understand,” slipping them in between sets of timeless classics in his piano bar appearances at The Nevada Room. His renditions always bear an original stamp, like his syncopated male take on Lerner and Lowe’s “I Could Have Danced All Night.”

Wednesday through Sunday, he performs as the principal pianist at the Bellagio’s plush Mayfair Supper Club that debuted on New Year’s Eve in 2019. How did he get such a coveted gig? “Actually, I didn’t audition for the job,” he grinned. “I was number two, and when number one had to cancel, Andrea D’Angelo, the band’s (famed) drummer, vouched for me, and on I went.” The rest, as they say, is history.

“Patrick is just unbelievably talented,” exclaims vocalist Jassen Allen, who also performs at the Mayfair. “He gets behind the piano, and the guy’s a terror. There’s not a genre or musical style he can’t play like gospel, blues, 50s rock, or swing. We wonder where all this powerhouse genius comes from at his age. It’s just mind-boggling. He must be an alien!”

“To top it off,” Allen underscores, “he has a personality on stage not only as an artist and performer but as a true entertainer who wows the audience with his music, words, and feelings. You can see it in his body language, which takes most performers years to develop. I really think he is the next breakout artist in the evolution of pop in the tradition of Frank Sinatra and Michael Bublé. Those standards live forever.”

“He’s the ‘real deal’—a complete package with both looks and talent,” echoes Frank Leone, former president of the Las Vegas Musicians Union and musical director/pianist for A-list entertainers spanning the last five decades.

“Patrick is a consummate pianist who composes songs, writes lyrics, arranges music, and orchestrates, like Cole Porter and Irving Berlin. But unlike Porter and Berlin, he is also a master performer who can sing and light up a stage. His songs seem like unknown gems from the epic traditions of the Great American Songbook, but they’re not. They’re uniquely his—brand new, sophisticated, and fully formed.

“However, he’s far too young and innocent to have been burned by so many women, as reflected in those soulful lyrics of his,” joked Leone.

Patrick has one year left to earn his master’s degree, which establishes his pedigree to work in academia. But his future career trajectory will most likely include signing on with an international management agency to sky-rocket into recording, guest appearances, tours, and perhaps even television and film.

From Left: UNLV Honors Jazz Quartet – Patrick Hogan/piano, Michael Hoffman/drums, Ruben Van-Gundy/bass

Patrick is very self-aware, in charge, and laser-focused on his future. “What good is your music if you can’t share it with more and more people?” he asks. “I’m impatient. I want to arrange for larger ensembles. Perform with large orchestras. Carve out my place as a performer.”

Like any serious artist, he constantly hones his craft. In his time off, he’s a normal GenZ-er who likes to unwind with video games and check-in with pals on social media. He admits a flair for fashion and a fondness for men’s porkpie hats in both felt and straw, which often accompany his gigs and complement that come-hither Brad Pitt smile of his, down to the dimples.

But his ultimate gift as an artist lies in his uncanny ability to romance the audience. When he takes the stage, he spins a savvy musical spell over the room. His songs astonish and seduce with effortless charm. He lets that easygoing, shiny talent of his ooze through the audience and leaves everyone breathless … wanting more, much more.

For those who believe youth is wasted on the young, Patrick Hogan proves just the opposite: You’re never too young to change the world—even if it includes a world of music beyond the Las Vegas Strip!

Best to catch him now before he flies way off into the stratosphere!

Patrick Hogan