Reaching for the Octaves : Hard work has helped Eric Johnson emulate the guitar style of his idol, the late Wes Montgomery.

Remember Wes Montgomery, that fabulous jazz guitar player who died unexpectedly at age 45 in 1968? This artist was famed for his gleaming yet soft sound and his way of making both jazz numbers and such pop songs as “Eleanor Rigby” and “Windy” breathe with vitality.

Naturally, Montgomery has had plenty of guitar-playing admirers through the years, among them such notables as George Benson, Pat Martino and Lee Ritenour.

You can add Eric Johnson’s name to that list. The native of Pittsburgh, who has lived in Southern California for about a year, fell in love with Montgomery’s music when he was a teen-ager.

“His version of ‘Tequila’ just blew me away. Here was a guy who communicated so powerfully that even a non-jazz fan could get with it,” says Johnson. A former member of bands led by organist Jack McDuff, trumpeter Jimmy Owens and saxophonist Willis Jackson, Johnson is now an active member of the L.A. jazz scene. He plays Thursday at La Ve Lee.

One of the more alluring aspects of Montgomery’s artistry was his ability to play two notes in different octaves simultaneously. Few of the master’s emulators offer this difficult but deliciously appealing approach, but Johnson is one. His recent “Bumpin’ in L.A.” CD on Clarion Records spotlights octave playing on most tracks.

“It’s unexplored territory,” says Johnson, an animated man with a fleshy oval face and bright brown eyes. “It’s not something many can do. And before the album, I couldn’t either. So I practiced extensively, switched to heavier gauge strings, and after some time, I could hear the difference.”

William Jemison, who co-produced “Bumpin’,” says he was delighted with Johnson’s Montgomery-esque approach. “I thought it was beautiful that he could play those fat octaves like Wes,” says Jemison.

But sounding like Montgomery and playing octaves isn’t all Johnson is about. He’s a very lyrical player who gives standards such as “Am I Blue” a singing quality, and he adds plenty of blues whammy to the melodic bent that underpins his numbers. “Oh, man, melody is everything,” he exclaims. “I try to be melodic in my solos, instead of playing a lot of dry patterns.”

Johnson, who gives his age as “not old enough to be a grand master and not young enough to be a young lion,” plays La Ve Lee with pianist Wayne Peet and drummer Russell Bizzett. He also performs with them on May 21 (and June 4 and 18) at the Baked Potato in North Hollywood, on May 25 at Chadney’s in Burbank and on May 26 and June 2 at Club Deja Vu in Glendale. He says his object in a jazz solo is to make perfect musical sense.

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“I try to remain logical and not ramble,” he says, “to resolve ideas and not just leave you hanging, to try and raise the level with each chorus so that I reach a natural climax. Then I’m happy, and the people are happy.”

There’s no shortage of hard-driving swing in Johnson’s work, either. This comes as no surprise when you consider his background. Given a guitar by his father when he was 13--”He just told me I looked like I could play it,” he recalls--Johnson got his first big-league job in 1971, when Benson, who is also from Pittsburgh, recommended him to McDuff, one of the premier jazz organ players.

“We worked coast to coast on what was called the Chitlins Circuit,” says the guitarist, referring to an unaffiliated string of U.S. jazz clubs that catered to organ groups in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s. “We had two tenor players, and a lot of people would sit in, like Paul Gonsalves, the Ellington saxophonist, or Sonny Stitt.”

Next came a two-year stint with renowned altoist Lou Donaldson, which preceded Johnson’s moving to New York in 1979. There he was active with Owens (who also took him on a State Department-sponsored tour of Africa), Jackson, one of the best of blues-based jazz tenor saxophonists, reed man Sonny Fortune and many others.

Johnson left New York in 1986. “My wife hated it,” he says. When they separated in 1989, he began to make trips to Los Angeles to visit his hometown buddy, solid sax man Dale Fielder. “I thought the jazz guitar field was wide open here, so I moved,” he says.

He’s found his life in music to be, above all, very therapeutic, Johnson says. “It keeps you out of trouble, keeps you young, gives you something to live for so that each day you can be a better artist, a better person.”

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WHERE AND WHEN

Who: Eric Johnson’s trio.

Location: La Ve Lee, 12514 Ventura Blvd., Studio City.

Hours: 9:30 and 11:30 p.m. Thursday.

Price: Cover charge, $5, two-drink minimum.

Call: (818) 980-8158.