Reedman LaMarca Knows What It Takes to Survive : Reedman Frank LaMarca is a survivor.

He showed early promise, growing up in Pittsburgh alongside pianist Erroll Garner, bassist Ray Brown and the horn-playing Turrentine brothers, trumpeter Tommy and saxophonist Stanley.

By the mid-1940s, LaMarca, who plays the Marquis Public Theater at 8 tonight for the Ruse’s weekly jazz series, was living in New York City, playing tenor, alto and soprano saxes, flute and clarinet with a variety of bands. During the 1950s, he even learned new things from the master--on two different occasions he shared a stage with Charlie Parker. Unfortunately, music wasn’t the only thing the two saxophonists had in common.

“When I was at the age where I should have been working on my career, I got involved with drugs, and it took years to get away from them,” said LaMarca, 65, who began abusing heroin and cocaine in 1945 and cleaned up 20 years later at Synanon, the drug-treatment house in Santa Monica where he lived for five years. Saxman Art Pepper was kicking a drug habit there at the same time, and in 1968 and 1969, LaMarca and Pepper played together in the Synanon house band, which a few years earlier had starred guitarist Joe Pass.

“Then I came to San Diego in 1970, and this is a whole different thing. It’s not like Los Angeles or New York. Here, you just get in the scene and make a living.” Although he’s recorded only two albums--sessions in the 1950s with saxman Larry Elgart’s Big Band in New York-- LaMarca has always earned his living from music.

He doesn’t sound bitter about his lost youth and opportunities, just thankful for survival. “It’s so great not to be worrying about drugs,” he said. “If I ever made an album of my own, it would not be to make an impact on the music world, just to put something down for posterity. I don’t have any hopes of ever being some kind of big commercial success. I’m just a journeyman musician, making a living, and I like to play jazz.”

LaMarca backs name acts such as the Temptations, the Four Tops and Steve Allen when they come to town, and he plays a lot of convention dates.

He laughs when he thinks of the lavish musical productions put together by companies such as Coca-Cola and American Express, with gung-ho corporate lyrics put to the tunes of popular songs. Once, he rehearsed for four days just to play a one-night American Express show.

Tonight, his repertoire will include Sidney Bechet’s “Petite Fleur,” as a tribute to San Diego clarinetist Jimmy Noone, who died two weeks ago. The song was one of Noone’s favorites.

Backed by drummer Ron Ogden, trombonist-pianist Bob Holtz and bassist Rob Thorsen tonight, LaMarca also will tackle a variety of jazz and popular standards.

San Diego saxman Paul Sundfor, who plays the U.S. Grant Hotel’s “Celebrity Jazz” series Sunday night from 6 to 10, is a musician’s musician who names Charlie Parker, Paul Desmond, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Phil Woods and Michael Brecker as influences.

“Paul has a very advanced harmonic concept and a really mature sound,” said fellow saxophonist Steve Feierabend, who is choosing the performers for the series. “I think it’s a shame he doesn’t get to play more jazz in San Diego, or anywhere, because he’s definitely a heavy player.”

A graduate of Kearny High School and the excellent jazz program at Cal State Northridge, Sundfor, 35, met Feierabend when the two were in a San Diego group called the Blue Note Band in the early 1980s. That band also included pianist Rob Schneiderman, who has since moved to New York and made a name for himself.

Sundfor, who earns a significant portion of his living playing non-jazz dates with the San Diego Symphony (he handled the clarinet parts on a Mahler program two weeks ago), the Starlight and elsewhere, has lent his appreciable alto chops to two jazz recordings: pianist Mike Wofford’s 1987 “Funkallero” and bassist Andy Simpkins’ 1989 “Calamba.”

The U.S. Grant will be his first jazz date in months, and possibly his last for some time. He has no appearances booked for April or May, says he has soured on the music industry and is even considering alternative careers.

“Personally, I love jazz, but I don’t like much of what’s going on. When I turn the radio on, I turn it off real quick. But then, I’m just kind of a picky guy. I’m not saying I do a great job when I play either, but I like ‘Trane and the rest of the good stuff.”

Sundfor has been doing carpentry and said he is considering that line of work as an option. Perhaps the U.S. Grant appearance will rekindle his jazz flame.

On Sunday, Sundfor will team with Feierabend on some of the classic alto-tenor duos of Adderley and Coltrane, including “Wabash” and “Grand Central” plus a variety of standards. Besides Feierabend, the house band, Common Ground, includes pianist John Opferkuch, bassist Dave Marr and drummer Tim McMahon.

RIFFS: Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’ show Sunday at the Culbertson Winery in Temecula is sold out. . . .

The U.S. Grant Hotel has expanded its Friday night jazz to run from 5:30 to 12:30, instead of 6 to 10. And there will be two bands instead of one. The new format begins Friday with Rosie’s Ragtime Review, assorted members of the late Jimmy Noone’s band led by singer Rosie Tatum, from 5:30 to 8, and Tobacco Road from 8:30 to 12:30. . . .

After the Concord Picante label hit the press with news of percussionist Tito Puente’s 100th album, “Out of this World,” released last month, Puente apparently took a second, closer look at his long recording career. “Tito now feels this was his 99th album,” said a note penned by a publicist on a recent press release. But Puente’s memory returned too late for Downbeat magazine, which announces Puente’s 100th release on the cover of its May issue. . . .

Reel to Real plays the Catamaran tonight at 8, with Hollis Gentry up Thursday night at 8. . . .

Saxophonist Frank Morgan plays “Night in Tunisia,” “Helen’s Song,” “Flower is a Lovesome Thing,” “Footprints” and other tunes on KPBS-TV’s “Club Date” jazz program Saturday night at 8:30, repeating Monday at 1:30.

CRITIC’S CHOICE: BOBBY WATSON COMING TO ELARIO’S

First there were beboppers, then hard boppers, now along comes alto saxman Bobby Watson, a veteran of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. By the time Watson left the Messengers in 1981, his playing already was becoming idiosyncratic--he practiced by imitating bird calls on his sax, and incorporated a variety of unconventional sounds in his solos. On “Post-Motown Bop,” his 12th album as a leader, Watson’s fresh approach can be heard on a mix of standards and originals. He appears Wednesday through Sunday at Elario’s.