Leader Mulgrew Miller Puts Piano in the Foreground

While he’s made numerous performance visits to Los Angeles, when Mulgrew Miller opens a six-night stand Tuesday at Catalina Bar & Grill, it will be the acclaimed, appealing pianist’s first trip to Southern California as a leader.

“After so many years of gaining experience, you finally get to the point where you have confidence in yourself to do it,” says Miller, 38, who has been a sideman with Art Blakey, Betty Carter and Tony Williams from 1983 to 1993, when he started leading a trio.

“I wanted this major step to be a natural, evolutionary one. I was in no hurry, there was no big publicity program to push me as a leader,” he says in a conversation from his home in Easton, Pa.

At Catalina Bar & Grill, Miller will head up a threesome featuring Tony Reedus (drums) and Richie Goods (bass). Touring in support of a new Novus release, “With Our Own Eyes,” Miller says that he decided he wanted to work without a horn because the piano itself is an “orchestra.” “The trio allows me more possibilities to explore the instrument,” he says.

On “With Our Own Eyes,” Miller demonstrates that he has developed into one of jazz’s foremost pianists. Performing selections that include the gliding “Words,” the perky “New Wheels” and the somewhat edgy “Somewhere Else,” he mixes garlands of melody with more angular remarks, resulting in a style that is eminently listenable.

“I feel my playing has become smoother and more fluid as time goes on, though I don’t intend to smooth it into oblivion,” the pianist observes. “Still, I have made a conscientious effort to physically refine my playing, develop a smoother touch.”

Miller feels that jazz musicians are in an interesting position, for, in an ideal case, their wares offer listeners a provocative mixture of art and entertainment.

“I think of entertainment as something that takes you away from yourself, while art challenges you to become more aware of yourself in relation to something that’s going on at that point in time,” he says. “So part of the philosophy of the jazz artist is to challenge the audience to meet us on that ground, where we’re not necessarily making you comfortable.”

Miller, though a youthful veteran of the jazz business, is still not getting the visibility of such younger stars as trumpeter Roy Hargrove or pianist Benny Green. That’s OK, he says.

“I don’t have any bitterness with regards to the success of the younger players, though I do feel record companies have been remiss in their handling of some of the more veteran and experienced players,” he says. “But the bottom line is that I play music for the love of it, and none of that other stuff really matters. I believe in the power of the music. If the music is really strong, then all of the good things will happen because of that strength.” Information: (213) 466-2210.

Heart Attack Fells Guitarist: Sonny Sharrock, regarded as one of the most adventurous of modern guitarists, died unexpectedly of a heart attack May 26 at his home in Ossining, N.Y. He was 53. Sharrock, who recorded with Pharoah Sanders, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Mann and Material, worked outside the standard jazz style, eschewing linear solos in exchange for gritty, often stunning sonic bombast. He began recording as a soloist in 1969, and his most recent Axiom album, “Ask the Ages,” which featured Sanders, received critical acclaim. Sharrock was on the verge of signing his first major label deal, with RCA, at the time of his death.

Critic’s Choices: Boney James will represent the entertainment aspect of jazz, while the B Sharp Jazz Quartet will stand for the art side at a free concert Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Santa Monica College’s Corsair Field. Sponsored by the Playboy Jazz Festival, the event also features Cecilia Noel and the Wild Clams and Ernestine Anderson. Information: (310) 449-4070.

Seasoned master Harold Land, the delightful tenor saxophonist, holds forth tonight and Saturday at the Club Brasserie in West Hollywood, (310) 854-1111, while the powerful younger tenorman Chuck Manning appears as part of the L.A. Jazz Quartet on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Pedrini Music in Alhambra, (213) 283-1932.

Fans of Brazilian sounds won’t want to miss the wondrous Dori Caymmi, who makes a rare local appearance tonight and Saturday at Le Cafe in Sherman Oaks, (818) 986-2662.