‘Autumn Leaves’ Fell in Right Place for Williams : Pop music: The pianist promises to play requests during his performances this weekend with the Pacific Symphony.

Roger Williams still laughs when he remembers the day he recorded “Autumn Leaves,” his first hit. It was the mid-’50s, and the then-virtually unknown pianist was struggling hard just to survive another New York City winter.

“When Dave Kapp, the producer, asked me to record the tune,” said Williams, who performs with the Pacific Symphony tonight and Saturday in Costa Mesa, “I was barely aware of it, and I thought it was called ‘Falling Leaves.’ So the first thing that came to mind was to play all those runs down the keyboard--all that baloney. I tried to make it sound like falling leaves.”

Williams had no particular high hopes when he headed home after that session. “My fondest dream for that whole thing was that it would pay the last month’s rent, which I still owed,” he said with a chuckle. “Who knew it would become a No. 1 record!”

“Autumn Leaves,” of course, was the only the start of a long string of instrumental hits. Williams went on to become the first popular pianist to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and he has performed for seven U.S. presidents.

He has recorded 106 albums and is about to begin work on his 107th. Of those, 18 have been certified gold, and 19 have climbed into Billboard’s Top 40, placing him No. 23 on Billboard’s Top 500 Album Artists of All Time.

In addition, the Billboard “Book of Top 40 Albums” ranks Williams 50th in its evaluation of the “Top 100 Artists of the Rock Era.” That places Williams--despite a tendency on the part of pop and rock observers to ignore his achievements--well ahead of such stars as John Denver, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Doobie Brothers, James Taylor and John Lennon.

With more than four decades in the business, Williams takes it all in stride--the monster hits on “Autumn Leaves,” “Born Free,” “Till,” “Almost Paradise” and “The Impossible Dream,” the endless concertizing with the nation’s top orchestras, the appearances everywhere from Carnegie Hall to Garden Grove’s Crystal Cathedral.

Born Louis Weertz in 1925 in Omaha, he was raised in Des Moines, Iowa. His musical skills were apparent almost from birth: At the age of 3 he walked up to the piano and began to play.

“I just felt at home there,” he said, so much so that his piano teacher soon realized that she could not play a new piece on the piano for him. Williams’ ear was so extraordinary that he could instantly learn it.

“She got around that by making me sight-read my lessons,” he said. “Funny thing is that I never did learn to read music as well as I can hear it. I read pretty well now, but I’m not phenomenal at it.”

Williams registered at Drake University at the age of 16 as a piano major, and was promptly booted out of the music department for the egregious sin of playing a jazz version of “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” in one of the practice rooms.

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After serving in the Navy, he acquired an engineering degree at Louisiana State University before returning to Drake for a master’s degree in music. Postgraduate work at the Juilliard School followed.

But the education Williams is most proud of is the time spent in individual study with jazz greats Teddy Wilson and Lennie Tristano. Although he is not often identified as a jazz pianist, Williams still manages to sneak a few Oscar Peterson-tinged licks into his performances.

His appearance with the Pacific Symphony will include his now-famous request segment, in which he weaves together an ever-changing medley of tunes based on titles called out from the audience.

“I take about 40 requests,” Williams said. “And I tell the musicians, ‘Don’t expect me to play these in their original keys, because if I did, I’d be modulating all night.’ I know about 10,000 different songs, so we just start, and I play steady for about 45 to 50 minutes without stopping, from one request to another. And, gee, I get calls for everything from hard rock to Beethoven sonatas. I think for the audience it’s really turned out to be the best part of the show.”

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Almost 70, Williams has the relaxed style and manner of a contented man. For 35 years, he has lived in the San Fernando Valley, where he and his wife, actress Louise DeCarlo, maintain houses directly across the street from each other.

“Our schedules are different,” he explained. “She gets up at 4 in the morning, and that’s when I go to bed. And that’s worked out great--boy, do we have wild weekends!”

In between those weekends, Williams has no plans to reduce his perpetually busy performance agenda.

“As long as I can wiggle my fingers in sequence, I’ll be out there,” Williams said. “Music’s been real kind to me. I’m a lousy golfer, and I don’t remember phone numbers too well, but I figure I’ve got this music thing down pretty good by now.”

* Roger Williams appears with the Pacific Symphony tonight and Saturday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. 8 p.m. $22 to $50. (714) 740-2000 (Ticketmaster).