McLean Still Flying With the Spirit of Bird : Charlie Parker has ‘never left my life,’ says the renowned alto sax player, who’s at Catalina next week.

Jackie McLean’s stomach was doing flip-flops when he entered the recording studio in New York back in 1951. He had reasons: The now-renowned altoist was just 19 and this recording session--led by Miles Davis, and including such soon-to-be-giants as tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins and drummer Art Blakey--was McLean’s first.

McLean says he looked around the room and he almost froze: Sitting on a chair in the background, minding his own business, was his idol, the alto genius Charlie Parker.

“Of all the people! His presence made me even more nervous,” McLean recalled in a telephone conversation this week from New York. “But Bird came over, took me into a corner, and talked to me, telling me he was there for me, that this was a great moment for me, and that relaxed me. Though I was still nervous, simply because of the recording.”

McLean, who appears with the Cedar Walton Trio Tuesday through July 17 at Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood, is now one of jazz’s most significant artists, a man with a tone that both caresses and sears, a style that leaps from lyrical be-bop phrases to angular, modernist bursts, and never stops swinging. But through all the curves of his career, he’s maintained his affection for Parker.

“He’s never left my life,” says McLean, 62. “I always have him in my spirit. I wear two neckstraps: one for me, one for him. I love Bird deeply.”

These days, McLean is honoring Parker by performing portions of one of the altoist’s most poignant solos: “Loverman.” The selection was recorded by Parker in Los Angeles on July 29, 1946, when he was under the influence of both alcohol and barbiturates and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Just weeks later he would begin what was to be a six-month stay at Camarillo State Hospital.

“I don’t know how Bird managed to create that solo in that moment,” McLean says. “But from the very first note he uttered, it was gorgeous. I start with his solo, and then segue into my own things.”

Chances are good that McLean will play more than one tribute to Parker at Catalina, where he’ll rejoin some of his oldest compatriots: pianist Walton and drummer Billy Higgins. Bassist David Williams completes Walton’s trio.

McLean first worked with Walton’s trio in Italy in 1989 for just a few weeks. But his association with Higgins and Walton goes back almost four decades.

“I first heard Billy in Los Angeles in 1957, when I was playing at Jazz City,” the altoist recalled of the now-defunct club that was located at Western and Hollywood. “I was with Art Blakey and Billy was working opposite us” in another band, McLean added. “He had me salivating but I couldn’t let Art know. He got mad if you looked at other drummers,” he said with a laugh.

McLean employed Higgins for such 1960s Blue Note albums as “Let Freedom Ring” and “Consequence” and used the drummer in his bands in 1966-67. Higgins, he said, is the epitome of what an accompanist should be. “Billy has something original that resides only in his heart , that you can’t find anywhere else,” McLean said. “You see the joy on his face when he plays. And he’s not just a be-bop drummer, but a be-bop-friendly drummer. He goes beyond be-bop, as do I, so we’re perfect together.”

Walton, who has released more than 30 albums in his career, gets similar acclaim from the altoist. “He’s one of the greats, a man like Herbie Hancock,” McLean says. “And besides having a wonderful pianistic concept, he’s a superb writer.”

Though McLean mostly appears with his sextet, he relishes ad hoc appearances like this engagement with Walton, whose latest release is “Rhythm of the Earth.”

“We won’t have time for rehearsals,” he says. “We’ll get in the mood right up there on stage. Then the people in L.A. will get the true improvisational spirit of the music.”

* Jackie McLean appears with Cedar Walton’s trio Tuesday through July 17, 9 and 11 p.m., at Catalina Bar & Grill, 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. $12-$15 cover, two-drink minimum. Information: (213) 466-2210.