Spontaneous Combustion Is 40 Years in the Works : Jazz veterans: Pianist Gerald Wiggins and saxophonist Bob Cooper appear--together for the first time--at Maxwell’s on Friday and Saturday.

It’s been said that jazz is the sound of surprise, and pianist Gerald Wiggins agrees.

“I don’t like to rehearse,” said Wiggins, 70, by phone from the home in Woodland Hills he shares with his wife, Lynn. “Then it’s controlled. I think jazz should more or less be spontaneous.”

Spontaneity will be the watchword when the pianist and saxophonist Bob Cooper appear at Maxwell’s on Friday and Saturday with bassist Jim de Julio and drummer Jimmy Dee. Strange as it seems, Wiggins and Cooper--both of whom have been active on the Southern California jazz scene for more than 40 years--have never played together before.

“He was into one thing; I was into another, so we never had a chance to do something together,” Wiggins said.

In a way, the fact that the two players’ paths never crossed is understandable, given the dissimilitude of their individual careers. Manhattan native Wiggins has worked mostly in public, backing such singers as Lena Horne, Kay Starr and Helen Humes and touring with Benny Carter.

Cooper, 66, received renown for his late ‘40s-early ‘50s stints with Stan Kenton and the Lighthouse All-Stars and then mostly disappeared from the jazz limelight to earn a living as a top studio musician. It’s only in the past few years that the reed man has resumed his jazz career, appearing in several Los Angeles area big bands and with the re-formed Lighthouse All-Stars.

“He’s something else,” Wiggins said. “I had to tell him once that I had no idea he was as good as he is. That was sort of scary, because it made me feel like I hadn’t been listening to what’s going on.”

The pianist, whose most recent album is “Live at Maybeck Hall” on the Concord Jazz label, often shows up at Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood or at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City to keep up with what other musicians are doing. He cites pianist Tommy Flanagan as one of his current favorites but also extols the virtues of such youngsters as Eric Reed, the Los Angeles resident who has played with Freddie Hubbard and Wynton Marsalis.

Even though Wiggins and Cooper aren’t going to rehearse--”We’ll talk things over when we get there,” said Wiggins--and will call tunes on the spot, Wiggins anticipates smooth sailing when he and Cooper team up at Maxwell’s. “Bob plays my kind of horn,” he said. “I know what he’s playing. He’s not trying to confuse me. He’s not going somewhere I never been and don’t intend to go.”

Wiggins’ concept of spontaneity in music permeates his practice sessions as well.

“I’m still struggling to find out what the piano is all about, but I practice it in my own way,” he said. “I don’t try to work things out, because then it’s like playing the classics, where you’ve got things down note for note and it doesn’t give you room to grow.”

The pianist said he continues to expand his musical awareness through lessons he occasionally takes with Lyle (Spud) Murphy, with whom he’s been studying off and on since the late 1940s.

“Spud’s a genius, and whenever I make enough money, I take some more lessons,” quipped Wiggins. “These days I mostly work in voicings and new ways of chordal movement. He helps me. His theory is that if something sounds bad, don’t play it. But if it doesn’t, and even if nobody else agrees, play it anyway.”

* Gerald Wiggins appears Friday and Saturday at 8 and 10 p.m. with Bob Cooper at Maxwell’s by the Sea, 317 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach. $5 cover, plus $7 food or drink charge, per person per show. (714) 536-2555.