MUSIC : Sax Man Is Driven by Just Playing : Veteran saxophonist-composer John Newsome considers himself semi-successful but not a star. Then again, this musician’s motive never was the money.

Want to know about the vicissitudes of the jazz life? Just ask saxophonist-composer John Newsome.

Newsome, 65, has seen some pretty good times, such as the 1950s here in Los Angeles. “There were jazz clubs everywhere,” he said. “I remember hearing Miles Davis with John Coltrane at Jazz City, at the corner of Western Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard, then going across the street to Peacock Lane and hearing Woody Herman with Zoot Sims and Mel Lewis. I even had a gig for a year downtown at the Tip Top club with pianist Walter Norris.”

These days, on the other hand, it’s not such a rosy picture for a middle-level musician such as Newsome, who makes his living not from jazz, but from a variety of commercial situations, from casual bands--which are one-time-only appearances at social events, such as weddings or parties--to playing on cruise ships.

“These recessionary times are horrible,” said Newsome from his home in Woodland Hills. “You’re lucky to get what you can get. For almost all of us, if you don’t work commercially, you don’t pay the rent. You can go on a real dumb casual and see a lot of great players. In the old days, these musicians wouldn’t accept casuals, these jobs were beneath them. Things are different now.”

But Newsome considers himself lucky. The musician, who appears Tuesday with his quintet at Jax in Glendale, has played that room twice a month for six years. The steady engagement gives him a chance to fulfill his life’s dream: to work as a mainstream-based, acoustic jazz musician. “It’s a Zen thing,” he said of his devotion to jazz. “I’m not John Coltrane. You do the best you can, reach your plateau and make the best of it. My motive never was the money. It’s the playing that drives me most.”

Newsome’s quintet, which spotlights trumpeter Steve Huffsteter and pianist Paul Moer, plays a mixture of jazz classics, great pop standards and Newsome’s own compositions, which are melodically attractive and harmonically challenging.

“John’s tunes are fun to play,” said Huffsteter, who has known Newsome for 40 years. Huffsteter was growing up in Gila Bend, Ariz., when Newsome was attending Arizona State University. “They’re almost all based on the harmonic concept of Coltrane’s ‘Giant Steps,’ ” Huffsteter said. Newsome acknowledged that he likes to write tunes from the bottom up, deciding upon the harmony--the chord progressions that underpin a song--and then adding a melody.

Heard on a demo tape, Newsome’s compositions are definitely listenable, whether they’re hard to play or not. These selections have the melodic ring of tunes from jazz’s post-bop period--from the late ‘50s to the early ‘60s. On them, he offers smooth, fluid improvisations with a bold, personal sound that resembles a mixture of sax giants Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Rollins, who are two of his heroes.

You might think that this type of subtle music, where intellect and emotion seem to be mesh perfectly, would be lost on the usually noisy clientele at Jax, but Newsome said that is not the case. “We don’t play with microphones, and the crowd kinda quiets down,” he said.

Born in Buffalo, Newsome was playing saxophone by high school, and his desire to become a jazz musician was fueled when he heard Hawkins in 1944. Later, in Chicago, he heard such other greats as Lester Young, Charlie Parker and Rollins. Parker “soared, just like a big bird,” he said. “And his sound was singing. You don’t get his vitality on records.”

Moving to Los Angeles in the early ‘50s, Newsome eventually worked with the big bands of Les Brown, Freddy Martin and the bands of Harry James and others that continued after their deaths. There has been some TV studio work, and more than a few forgettable jobs, such as playing with a German oom-pah-pah brass band. Now and then, as at Jax, he has played jazz.

Newsome said he might be a little bitter about how his life has turned out, but not much. “I’m happy with what I have,” he said. “At least I can play the saxophone pretty good. I’ve been semi-successful, but never a star. I consider myself a good player and writer, but so far the bell hasn’t rung; maybe it never will. I’ve hung in there because I just like to play the saxophone.”

Where and When What: John Newsome’s quintet at Jax, 339 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Hours: 8 p.m. to midnight alternating Tuesdays. Price: No cover, no minimum. Call: (818) 500-1604.