Jazz Is on the Menu : Music: The Glendale Grill is part bandstand, part eatery and part arboretum, and draws a middle-class, conservative clientele.

After working through Jerome Kern’s “Long Ago and Far Away” with an economy of motion and a profusion of melody, Pete Jolly and his trio briefly tackle Tadd Dameron’s “Tadd’s Delight” to conclude their third set on a recent Friday at the Glendale Grill in Glendale.

For more than three decades, pianist Jolly--who has played and recorded with such jazz notables as trumpeters Shorty Rogers and Chet Baker and saxophonists Art Pepper and Richie Kamuca--has been a consistent performer on the Los Angeles jazz scene.

Displaying an ease of technique and a lyric warmth in the mainstream genre, Jolly is probably best-known for his work with his trio, with whom he had the minor jazz hit “Little Bird” (reissued on V.S.O.P.).

Almost always in the company of his longtime comrades--bassist Chuck Berghofer and drummer Nick Martines--Jolly has had a long and steady series of engagements in Southern California nightspots, jazz clubs and restaurants.

In the late ‘50s, Jolly could be found at Sherry’s, just around the corner on Crescent Heights Boulevard from the famed Schwab’s Drugstore in Hollywood. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, you’d find him at the Red Chimney in Silverlake and Donte’s in North Hollywood, where he was one of the debut attractions. In the ‘80s, Jolly, Berghofer and Martines were often heard at Alfonse’s in North Hollywood.

These days, Jolly and his cohorts are ensconced in a quiet corner of the Glendale Grill, a modern structure where wood, glass and plants coexist peacefully enough, just off the Ventura Freeway in downtown Glendale.

The gentlemen play the Grill--where jazz is on tap 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 5 to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays--the third Friday and Saturday of each month, and usually plenty of people pop in to see them. This particular Friday, though, the crowd had been a little thin, and there weren’t a lot of listeners waiting around for Jolly’s short, fourth set.

Those who were there turned out to be ardent fans, such as Mac and Barbara McGuire, a spirited retired couple from Glendale who have been listening to jazz throughout their 37-year marriage and who have been fans of Jolly’s for more than a decade.

“He’s never the same. He starts a tune and then takes off,” Barbara McGuire said. She was introduced to jazz by her then-future husband when he took her to hear vibist Red Norvo at the defunct The Haig (on Wilshire Boulevard, across from the Ambassador Hotel) on one of their first dates in the ‘50s.

“You can listen to him every night and not get tired,” Mac McGuire said. “He plays with so much feeling. And he swings. And I means swings with a bop feeling. I love bop!” His face breaks into a big grin.

Nancy Gale, a musician from Mar Vista, was at the Grill with her companion, Jay Rando, a producer, and Jay’s father, Arthur (Doc) Rando, M. D., a former saxophonist with Tommy Dorsey and Bob Crosby. They had chosen to sit at the bar.

“Pete’s so inventive,” said Doc Rando, who still plays clarinet in Las Vegas with the Royal Dixie band and the Las Vegas City Symphony.

With Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi, a former musician, Rando owned the Club 47 nightclub in Studio City from 1946 to 1952. “It was a hot spot,” Rando said with a gleam in his eye.

The Glendale Grill also has its points, Jay Rando said. “It has a nice look, and the sound is good, not overwhelming.”

“Yes, you don’t have to cut through a lot of noise to get to the good music,” his father said.

The restaurant is large. It seats 250, with tables on four open adjoining levels that vary slightly in height. Exposed, unfinished beams alternate with triangular glass panes. An intriguing wooden catwalk-like grid hangs over the central dining area.

Dark green wall-to-wall carpet, light green Naugahyde seat cushions and a multitude of ferns, miniature palms and other indoor plants make the room seem part-eatery, part-arboretum.

In a small six-table section above the bar area, Jolly, Berghofer and Martines have returned to what serves as the Grill’s bandstand. They play a zesty up-tempo number, a slow version of the ballad “I Should Care,” in which Berghofer plays a deft bowed solo, and the buoyant Kenny Barron original “Voyage.” There’s a smattering of applause from the 15 or so patrons who have remained to hear Jolly’s final set of the night.

“It’s hard to find these special rooms where you sit down at the piano and play. I don’t know too many,” Jolly said of the Grill in a chat after his performance.

“Most of the time, the people are pretty quiet, which is nice,” said the pianist, whose latest album is “Jems” on Holt Recordings. “People are going to talk in a club; you don’t expect a concert hall atmosphere. But most of the time it’s pretty good here. It’s the kind of room I’m looking for.”

The Glendale Grill, owned by the Stouffer Restaurant Co., opened as the Rusty Scupper in 1980 and reopened after remodeling under its present name in December, 1989. Its jazz policy was instigated close to two years ago by former general manager Elizabeth Kelly and her successor, Gail Santora.

“Elizabeth and I thought we needed some kind of entertainment here, but something that wasn’t taking over, like a big band or something loud,” said Santora, a native of West Lafayette, Ind., who has a degree in restaurant and hotel management from Purdue University.

Straight-ahead jazz became their choice, Santora said, after “we went around L. A. and looked at the jazz clubs and decided there was nothing quite like us. . . . We’re a restaurant where we wanted jazz to be a complement to dinner, as opposed to jazz being the thing that happened in the restaurant.”

Santora says such jazz artists as Jolly, Alan Broadbent, Marty Harris, John Wood, Benn Clatworthy and David Silverman, who regularly appear at the Grill, draw the kind of crowd she likes. “We attract a middle-class conservative clientele that enjoys the music, and we enjoy that.”

The Grill charges no cover for its entertainment, but it does add $1 to the price of each alcoholic beverage (usually from $3 to $4.50) bought during music hours, Santora notes. The room specializes in California wines by the bottle and by the glass; bottles average $20, glasses $3.50. Bottled beers average $3.25.

The main menu at the restaurant, which, wouldn’t you know it, features grilled items, changes monthly. Always available are fresh fish, chicken and beef in such varieties as grilled yellowtail topped with an avocado cream sauce and a grilled New York steak topped with sauteed garlic mushrooms. Also on tap are pizzas, calzones, sandwiches and an array of salads. All menu items can be ordered in the entertainment area.

The Glendale Grill, 200 Burchette St., between Brand Boulevard and Central Avenue, Glendale. (818) 241-1187. Open for lunch 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; dinner 4 to 10 p.m., 11 p.m. Fridays. Dinner only: 5 to 10 p.m. Saturdays, 5 to 9 p.m. Sundays. Stewart writes regularly about jazz for The Times.