Safe and Sane Jazz Pianist Tries It Solo : Music: After years of making a living by playing with the greats and not-so-greats, Terry Trotter wants to be more than a well-kept secret.

Thirty years ago, pianist Terry Trotter got a phone call about a job.

With trumpeter Miles Davis.

Trotter, a Glendale native, 21 at the time and one of the key players in the burgeoning Los Angeles jazz scene, was asked by Davis to fly to San Francisco to audition for the piano chair that was soon to be vacated by Victor Feldman. Feldman, who died in 1987, had recommended Trotter to Davis and told him to call the trumpeter, who died last month.

When Trotter called, he turned Davis down.

“It was a decision I had to make. Even though I was interested in staying in the jazz field full time, the lifestyle--the nightclubs, the drugs--was not to my liking,” says Trotter, now 51.

So he opted for another, seemingly more pleasant world, that of studio and commercial music.

For 30 years, Trotter, who was capable of brilliantly inventive jazz improvisations as well as crisp readings of classics, made a very comfortable living. And stayed out of the limelight.

Trotter played for the greats and the not-so-greats. He made records with Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, did TV shows with Glen Campbell and Cher, and, for most of the last decade, toured regularly with pop music veterans Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, and jazz-blues-rock guitarist Larry Carlton. He even made the occasional jazz recording session--with such artists as saxophonist Phil Woods and vibraphonist Charlie Shoemake.

True, these various artists provided Trotter with some excellent musical moments, not to mention steady employment. Some still do: He continues to work about three months a year with Lawrence and Gorme and performs occasionally with Carlton. But he found he missed the nourishment of making your own art.

Trotter, who lives with his wife in Studio City, will co-lead a quintet with fellow keyboardist David Garfield on Friday at the Room Upstairs at Le Cafe in Sherman Oaks. He figures that, after years of just riding the carousel, it’s time to reach out and make a grab for the gold ring.

“Though I don’t regret the things I’ve done, including turning down Miles, I’m tired of just doing commercial work, full-time at least,” the pianist says. And he would like to stop being thought of as a well-kept secret, he says.

“I want to get the minor solo career that I have at this point in my life off the ground,” he adds. “I’m looking for avenues to express myself. I feel, since my strong areas are jazz and classical music, I want to find various ways to play both.”

In the jazz realm, besides infrequently appearing with Garfield, Trotter sporadically leads his own quartet or quintet. On one occasion at Le Cafe last year, his band included Carlton, who sounded just fine in a rare strictly jazz performance. Trotter plans also to perform unaccompanied, and with a trio.

He says stepping out under his own name is difficult after years of functioning principally as an accompanist.

“I’m finally getting to the point where I have enough confidence,” he says. “I’m so used to being with other people, accompanying them, you get in that frame of mind. The spotlight on you can be so intimidating. Now it’s not.”

With Garfield--who has played with Freddie Hubbard and George Benson and is known for his stylistically diverse performances at the Baked Potato in North Hollywood, where he appears every Tuesday--Trotter explores a personal brand of contemporary jazz.

“We do some standard jazz tunes, like Sonny Rollins’ ‘Airegin’ or Miles Davis’ ‘Nardis,’ but we also do contemporary originals, some Pat Metheny tunes, some sambas,” Trotter says.

Though admitting that he’s not completely enamored of the rock-influenced modern idiom that’s often called jazz-fusion, he does respond to some of it.

“I like to have various contexts to work in; I like to mix things up,” he says. “That makes me think and hear differently. I have found a way of expressing myself through a medium like, say, jazz-funk, and still be honest, still be myself.”

Trotter says he plans to record his first solo album in December. It will be produced locally and feature ensembles of various sizes, including a two-piano piece featuring one of his longtime inspirations, pianist Clare Fischer. Trotter does not have a label deal at this time.

In the classical arena, Trotter, who plays the acoustic piano exclusively, has begun an association with Thomas Stevens, principal trumpeter with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The two recorded a duo album of classic pop standards called “Philharmonic Standard Time” on Crystal Records and are preparing to make another album that will include contemporary classicist Kent Kennan’s “Sonata for Trumpet and Piano.”

“We are planning to do some concerts, with classical works in the first part, and more jazz-slanted pieces afterwards,” Trotter says.

The two worlds of jazz and classical music have long been at the forefront of Trotter’s musical thinking. He started classical piano lessons at age 6, then heard his parents playing jazz records at home, and became interested. He has been a professional since he was 15, and has taught piano since he was 18.

When he went to a concert at the Philharmonic Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles, then on Grand Street near the Biltmore Hotel, and heard the English classical pianist Solomon Cutner “that changed my life,” he says. “He had a sound and a presence that was mesmerizing. From that day on, I have tried to create that kind of feeling.”

Trotter’s ears were further opened by Pete DeSantis, with whom he began jazz studies at age 13. “He guided me, showed me how to play over chords and showed me a lot of music I hadn’t listened to. That’s when I knew I wanted to play music for my living.”

Saxophonist Charles Lloyd--noted in the late ‘60s for his tune, “Forest Flower” and then a student at USC--heard Trotter at a dance job, and took him under his wing. Soon Trotter was performing with such now-notables as vibraphone player Bobby Hutcherson, trumpeter Don Cherry and bassist Charlie Haden.

As time went on, Trotter gained a reputation as one of Los Angeles’ top players, working with Lloyd, Ornette Coleman, the Lighthouse All-Stars with Conte Candoli and Art Pepper, drummer Lenny McBrowne and many others. He was on the verge of the jazz big time when he declined to audition for Davis.

Looking back, Trotter isn’t that displeased. “I’ve learned from everything I’ve done, even the mistakes, and I’m still fortunate that I can make my living in music,” he says. “I’m surviving. And I’m playing more of the music I want. And while I’m not going to break records financially, I’m happier than I was making a lot more money.”

Pianist Terry Trotter and keyboardist David Garfield will co-lead a quintet 9:15 p.m. and 11:15 tonight at the Room Upstairs at Le Cafe, 14633 Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks. Cover charge $10.00 plus two-drink minimum. Call (818) 986-2662.