Almario’s Odyssey to Southland : Music: The Colombian-born saxophonist-flutist cites American influences and his Latin roots for his sound.

It’s been a long road to Southern California for Colombian-born saxophonist-flutist Justo Almario. “I was born on the Caribbean coast where a lot of African-style percussion is played. My father played congas and other percussion and that’s what I wanted to do.”

But at age 11, Almario, who leads a quartet Saturday at the San Juan Capistrano Regional Library, was influenced by his father to take up the piccolo.

“He wanted me to play something more involved with melodies,” Almario, 40, said this week from his home in Los Angeles. “He felt that the percussion players weren’t as important as the horn and string players.”

It was an American--alto saxophonist Julian (Cannonball) Adderley--whose recordings brought the young musician to the saxophone and jazz. “Around the age of 14, I had an opportunity to hear Cannonball in Colombia and was impressed the way the sax was played--it was so free and fluid. I thought, ‘I want to play like that, like this music from the U.S.’ And I wanted to go.”

His chance to visit this country first came in 1967 while traveling with a Colombian folk band that toured Florida. Back in Colombia after the tour, he applied to the Berklee School of Music in Boston and was accepted.

It was in 1971, while still at Berklee, that he received the phone call that would change his life.

“It was about 6 p.m. one evening and I got a call from Mongo Santamaria,” Almario recalled. “He was opening in Boston that night, and his saxophonist had missed the flight. He wanted to know if I could fill in.”

The famed Afro-Cuban bandleader was so impressed with the young Almario that he offered him a permanent job.

Before long, the saxophonist, now living in New York, was writing and arranging for Santamaria, who named him director of his band, a position he held for five years.

Living in New York provided plenty of additional opportunities. During time off from Santamaria’s band, he played with the Latin orchestras of Machito and Tito Puente as well as saxophonist Frank Foster’s big band. Respected bassist and composer Charles Mingus brought him into his group for a three-week East Coast tour.

In 1979, Almario and his wife, Barbara, an L.A. native, decided to make the move West. He hasn’t regretted it. “I’m really happy about being in L.A. I always had a good time musically in New York, but we have things happening musically here that don’t happen in New York: television, movies. The industry here affects the whole world.

“We also have an incredible amount of talent here that keeps me humble and drives me to practice. I gain inspiration from the great musicians I’ve found here. It’s a great town to share what you have, and the music needs to be shared, always.”

In addition to the studio work he’s done (recent credits include NBC’s “Dear John” and ABC’s forthcoming series “Equal Justice”), Almario has spent a couple of years with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s band, recorded with up-and-coming talents such as vocalist Dianne Reeves, led his own groups in local clubs and continues as a member of the Latin-influenced jazz-rock ensemble Koinonia with drummer Alex Acuna and bassist Abraham Laborial.

“I like studio work, but I’d rather play live in front of an audience,” he says. “They give a better view of your musical expression.”

Almario’s first solo album, “Interlude,” was recorded for his former boss Ayers’ Uno Melodic label in 1980. Two more recordings, “Forever Friends” and “Plumb Line,” followed for Sparrow Records’ all-instrumental Meadowlark label.

His most recent effort, 1988’s MCA recording “Family Time” (which includes guitarist Larry Carlton and drummer Alex Acuna), has Almario playing soprano, tenor, flute and wind synthesizer in a melodic fusion of Latin and rock rhythms with jazz and even classical sensibilities. His reputation as a composer has steadily grown since his days with Santamaria.

“I’m influenced by Cole Porter, Billy Strayhorn, Gershwin--I really like that period of music. Also the great composers from Brazil, as well as Bach, Bartok and Mozart. I like the structure Cole Porter gave to a song, his music has a beginning, a middle and an end that’s a recapitulation of the beginning. It’s like a painting, you can hear the perspective. It’s got all the important aspects--great rhythm, it swings hard, the melody. And, on top of all that, the lyrics.”

Reviewers often compare Almario’s tenor sound to that of John Coltrane, while his soprano work is graced by a full, almost glowing tone.

“I want to tell a story in my improvisations, give a feeling of continuity and, hopefully, a feeling of beauty. That’s really important to me. No matter what style of music I’m playing, it’s the beauty that I love. I’m always willing to incorporate that into my vocabulary.”

Justo Almario appears Saturday, with bassist Abraham Laborial, guitarist Ricardo Silveira and drummer Joe Taylor at the San Juan Capistrano Regional Library, 31495 El Camino Real, San Juan Capistrano, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Donation of $2 suggested. Information: (714) 493-3984.