Valley Weekend : Veteran Guitar Player Mixes Magic, Melody : Ron Anthony’s career has included work with Sinatra and Shearing. Tonight he’ll join a pianist and bassist at Monteleone’s West.

Ron Anthony was 15 and living in Homewood, Pa., the first time he picked up a guitar. The feeling, he said, was magical.

“I started to play it immediately,” said Anthony, who now resides in Burbank. “I knew this was what I had to do with my life.”

Anthony, who plays tonight at Monteleone’s West, has gone on to have a successful career as a guitarist, racking up two very prestigious positions along the way: working in George Shearing’s quintet, and with Frank Sinatra.

The musician joined Sinatra in 1986, when the singer was still very active and “was sounding nice, sounding good,” Anthony said during an interview in a Westside home.

Anthony’s reputation was well-established after two stints with British pianist Shearing, for whom he played from 1962-64 and 1971-75. “After that, it was much easier to get other jobs,” he said.

Shearing also influenced Anthony, who works with a clear, ringing sound and a flowing, melodically based improvisational style. “George played like a whole orchestra, mixing in elements of Debussy and Ravel with stuff that sounded like Art Tatum and his own thing,” Anthony said.

Shearing also encouraged Anthony to compose. “He gave me constructive suggestions and said that since the music was lyrical, I should add words,” said Anthony. “That led me to eventually collaborating with Sammy Cahn,” the famed lyricist.

Anthony’s major effort with Cahn was “It’s Always Four A.M.” Anthony will sing his own version of the piece at Monteleone’s.

* Ron Anthony appears tonight, 9 to 1:30 a.m., at Monteleone’s West, 19337 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana. No cover, without dinner two-drink minimum. Information: (818) 996-0662.