By Michael Ko
Seattle Times staff reporter
On Sunday at the Triple Door, a Seattle music club, Avi Allison played stand-up bass at a local jazz festival alongside David "Fathead" Newman, a saxophone player for the great Ray Charles.
It's not where you'd usually find one of the state's best prep tennis players, especially a few days before the district tournament.
Allison, a senior at Garfield, defies easy categorization — even by the standards at a high school known for its rigorous academics and globetrotting jazz band.
In addition to being the school's top bassist, Allison is a 4.0 student with a heavy load of advanced placement classes, a four-year student of Latin, an officer with the school's outdoor club, a pianist, a member of the school's soccer team and a Bar Mitzvah tutor.
His tennis is pretty good too.
On Thursday, Allison will be the No. 2 seed in the Class 4A District 2 tournament at the Nordstrom Tennis Center. He lost just once this year and led the Bulldogs to a perfect 10-0 record and their second KingCo 4A Conference title in three years.
"He is the most accomplished high-school student I've ever come into contact with," says Garfield tennis coach Ira Moss.
Born and raised in Seattle, Allison, the middle child of three, says he prefers the bass because it's not an "upfront" instrument. It "fits my personality," he says. "I like the feel of holding things down in the backbone."
As for tennis — which he picked up early from his dad Tony, a top player at Roosevelt in the early 70s — the 5-foot-11 Allison hopes to reach state for the third time. He lost in the first round in singles as a sophomore and finished sixth in doubles as a junior.
His future is bright — he's considering attending Columbia University, Brown, Pomona and Stanford — and his schedule is busy.
"I enjoy doing all those things," Allison says. "I've never really gotten that stressed out. ... It's helped a lot to keep me from getting burned out on one thing."
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