By CLAYTON PARK

Sometimes seeing is believing, but in the case of Barrie Vye, a jazz pianist who, along with an assortment of bandmates, has been entertaining patrons at the Latona by Greenlake pub on Friday evenings for the past 12 years, the believing comes when you stop to listen.

At age 75, Vye, and his current bandmates - drummer Murray Sennett, 82, and vocalist/clarinet-and-sax player Ronnie Pierce, 70 - may not look like they're capable of rocking the joint, but make no mistake: this trio can swing.

They can also bebop, cook up a little Dixieland, sprinkle in a few showtunes and just about anything else they feel like playing when the mood hits them.

The trio generously pepper their sets of popular jazz standards with lively improvisational instrumental breaks that showcase their musical chops.

There's Vye, hunched over his piano, passionately pounding the ivories like the second coming of Fats Waller. Next it's Pierce's turn, blowing his clarinet in an upbeat, swing-style that would make Benny Goodman proud.

The show-stopper this evening was the sight of Sennett launching into a thundering drum solo a la Big Band great Gene Krupa that lasted several minutes, to the cheers of the audience. And Sennett, an octogenarian, didn't even break a sweat.

Amazing.

"We still get a thrill performing," says Vye, who acknowledges that he never knows how a gig with his bandmates will turn out, even after all these years of playing together. The trio never plays a song exactly the same way twice, particularly the solo breaks, and that's what makes it so fun. "Sometimes it turns out wonderful, sometimes hideous," he says, "and every once in a while the thing gets up and walks and we go, 'Wow, THAT'S why we're here!'"

"It depends on the band and it depends on the audience, too," he adds.

Vye began playing at the Latona 12 years ago with a trumpet player who went by the stage name of "Boots" Houlihan ("He was nicknamed after the family dog," explains Vye).

Houlihan, whose real first name was Richard, was a couple years older than Vye, and a fellow member of the Rainy City Jazz Band, a Dixieland jazz band that played on weekends. Vye had been a member of Rainy city since the early 1980s.

Vye was a former electrical contractor, who decided to make music his fulltime profession upon retiring, and Houlihan ran a family-owned business that made bricks and concrete blocks.

They recruited Sennett, who was also a member of the Rainy City Jazz Band, to play drums with them at the Latona. Latona owner Bob Brenlin was so impressed, he offered them a weekly gig, playing during the pub's "happy hour" - from 5:30-7:30 p.m. every Friday night.

Brenlin billed the trio as "Boots, Barrie and Murray," and the name stuck.

Houlihan, who had been the trio's frontman, became ill a little over two years ago, which forced him to periodically miss gigs. Vye asked Pierce, another member of Rainy City, to fill in. When Houlihan died, Pierce became a permanent member of the trio. "Boots played up to within a few months of the end," said Vye.

As a musician, Houlihan wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Likewise, neither Vye nor his current bandmates have any plans on retiring from playing music - ever.

"We're all pretty damn lucky," Vye figures. "The alternative (to performing) is that you can sit in a wheelchair drooling in front of a television set in a nursing home!"

"There are some of us who are extremely lucky because we're doing things we love doing and we can't stop," Vye adds. "Are we having fun? Oh yeah! For me, this is one of the high points in my life."

The Latona by Greenlake is located at 6423 Latona NE, on the corner of Latona and NE 65th.