MUSIC : VALLEY WEEKEND : Embracing Be-Bop’s Most Difficult Music : Pianist Claude Williamson performs the exhilarating, challenging notes of the late Bud Powell.

In the world of mountaineering, one of the ultimate challenges is to reach the summit of Mt. Everest in the Tibetan Himalayas, at 29,028 feet the highest mountain on Earth.

In the world of be-bop piano, the practice and performance of the exhilarating, difficult music of Bud Powell could be likened to climbing Everest.

And while such an arduous and physical task might be better suited to a younger man, Claude Williamson, now 69, couldn’t care less. About a year ago, the Studio City resident and Powell-based stylist went into Sage and Sound Studio in Hollywood and documented his career-long affection for Powell.

The first-rate result, “Hallucinations” on V.S.O.P. Records, is getting a lot of airplay and is generating considerable interest in Williamson.

“This was an album I really wanted to do,” said the pianist, who appears Wednesday at Chadney’s in Burbank. “I did a similar one in 1981 for a Japanese label. It should have been a powerhouse but I wasn’t ready.

“I had just come out of a 13-year job playing rehearsal piano at NBC. I wasn’t in the shape pianistically that I am in today--one reason is that I have been out performing.”

Plenty of preparation went into “Hallucinations,” which includes six succulent Powell compositions and six others--both standards and originals--associated with the innovative master who, while musically gifted, was afflicted with mental illness. He died at age 43 in 1966.

“For six weeks before the recording sessions, I played four to six hours a day--scales, arpeggios, some Mozart, Bach, that for my left hand,” said Williamson. “So by the time I got to the tunes, my fingers were really in shape and everything came out fine.”

Abetted by the ace pair of Dave Carpenter (bass) and Paul Kreibich (drums), the leader scheduled three rehearsals--”The guys didn’t get paid for these, they just wanted the album to be as good as possible”--and then made the recording. A self-effacing guy, Williamson allows “this is the best I’ve played in years.” He’s right.

At Chadney’s, the pianist works with Richard Simon (bass) and Dennis LaPron (drums). There he’ll pick selections from such familiar Powell songs as “Hallucinations” and “Parisian Thoroughfare,” lesser known numbers including the complex “John’s Abbey” and standards Powell enjoyed: “Polka Dots and Moonbeams,” “Embraceable You.”

The source for the arrangements was the man himself. “I transcribed everything off Bud’s records, even the mistakes,” Williamson said. “As drummer Max Roach once told, ‘Well, those are the notes he picked.’ ”

Williamson, a native of Battleboro, Vt., has lived in Southern California since the early ‘50s. He played for a short time with Roach, while both were members of Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars in 1953, then later with Bud Shank. He first heard Powell while studying at the New England Conservatory of Music.

“I traveled to New York and went to 52nd Street, stopping in almost every club,” recalled the pianist. “Bud was playing with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and, after that night, he became my strongest influence. Little by little, I changed my whole way of playing. As I developed, I tried to work my way through Bud to me. Hopefully, I have succeeded.”

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Claude Williamson appears Wednesday, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., at Chadney’s, 3000 W. Olive St., Burbank. No cover, no minimum. (818) 843-5333. He also plays Thursdays through Saturdays with Danny Pucillo’s trio at Monty’s Steakhouse in Woodland Hills. (818) 716-9736.

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Keeping Busy: Saxophonist Louis Taylor Jr. has really been at it lately, chalking up gigs with Jimmy and Jeannie Cheatham’s Sweet Baby Blues Band, guitarist Marc Antione’s group, Gerald Wilson’s Orchestra and Charles Watts and the 103rd Street Band. So when it comes time for him to put on the leader’s cap, he enjoys combining all these different experiences.

“I’m a Gemini. I like variety,” said the man who can be heard tonight with his quartet at Bjlauzezs in Sherman Oaks and Friday at Jax in Glendale. “I feel fulfilled tapping into all these areas, and people seem to like it, too.”

Taylor said he, Jane Getz (piano), Nedra Wheeler (bass) and Michael Barsimanto (drums) will do everything from blues to acid jazz--”Nedra really captures that beat well”--but the accent will be on modern jazz typified by the early ‘60s playing of John Coltrane. “I grew up on that,” said Taylor, 41, a Salt Lake City native whose family moved to Los Angeles when he was a teenager. “That music attracted me, made me feel good. It’s meaty and it grooves.”

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Louis Taylor’s quartet plays tonight, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., at Bjlauzezs, 14502 Ventura Blvd., at Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks. $5 cover without dinner. Information: (818) 789-4583. The band also appears Friday (and Dec. 28), 9 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., at Jax, 339 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. No cover, no minimum. Call: (818) 500-1604.