He’s Taking His Grand Piano and Going Out on a Limb

Thin, goateed Alan Pasqua bends over a shiny new Yamaha grand piano in the showroom of David L. Abell’s Fine Pianos on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles and plays a few decidedly melodic, jazz-based runs.

“You see how it sings?” he asks, turning to look at a reporter. “Sometimes you have to coax out the notes, but this instrument is very willing.”

Pasqua’s been fond of acoustic pianos since he started playing at age 7 in Roselle Park, N.J. He made his early impact in jazz circles, however, while playing synthesizer with drummer Tony Williams in 1975-76. Over the years, he’s made most of his income playing keyboards--some plugged-in, some not--with the likes of Bob Dylan and Carlos Santana. He’s also worked in Los Angeles’ many film and recording studios, most recently on the soundtracks to “Nixon” and the upcoming “Mulholland Falls.”

Given a choice, Pasqua would take one grand piano over a room full of synthesizers. The piano has elements that simply can’t be found in an electronic instrument, he says.

“There’s a tactile sensation,” he says, chatting in a back room at the Abell store. “I touch the key, press it down. I hear the hammer hit the string, and when I hear the string vibrate, I also feel this resonance through the key. The piano becomes alive. There’s almost a spiritual connection with the pressing of the key and achieving the sound and the accompanying feeling of the sound resonating through the key back into me. It’s a complete circuit.”

The 43-year-old Pasqua will express his passion for the grand piano when he appears Sunday at the First Lutheran Church in Glendale. There, Pasqua will perform unaccompanied in a completely spontaneous program.

“I’m walking in cold. I’ve never played the piano there and I’m not playing any tunes,” he says. “I thought I’d really go out on a limb: I’ve played solo but never without tunes, but I welcome the whole experience. I think it will be interesting and fulfilling for everybody.”

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By playing in this unaccompanied, song-free format, Pasqua draws an inevitable comparison to Keith Jarrett, the man whose solo, jazz-based improvised piano performances essentially established the genre. And while Pasqua says he’s not Jarrett, Pasqua loves Jarrett’s work and feels they share some qualities--such as patience.

“Like Keith, I feel that if I paint myself into a corner, I can stay there, be patient and wait for the transition to the next logical musical event,” says the Sherman Oaks resident, whose latest release is “Dedications” on Postcards Records. “I feel I’ve become more patient in recent years by paying more attention, listening more to things as they are happening, giving up preconceptions, preconceived ideas. It’s the old Zen thing--just being part of the moment, whatever it is.”

To be successful on Sunday, Pasqua says he’ll really have to be open to what’s going on around him, and within him. “I’m going to have to feel out the room, the audience,” says the artist, who attended the New England Conservatory of Music and Indiana University. “I can’t be completely absorbed in the music. I’ll have to both get inside the music, and still be aware of what’s happening around me.”

Asked what music has given him, Pasqua says, “a tremendous sense of peace, given me my best friend, given me a safe haven, a sanctuary that I can always go to.”

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SHORT TAKES: The Estrada Brothers, featuring vibist Ruben Estrada, play Latin jazz in the vibrant Cal Tjader mode when they perform on Friday at La Ve Lee, 12514 Ventura Blvd., in Studio City. Call (818) 980-8158. . . . There may be jazz trombone players around as good as Andy Martin, but none better. Hear his buttery sound and smooth way with melody tonight and Friday at Monty’s, 5371 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Woodland Hills. Call (818) 716-9736. . . . Jazz with a heavy dose of foot-tapping soul emanates from reed man Charles Owens, who holds forth Saturday at Chadney’s, 3000 W. Olive Blvd., Burbank. Call (818) 843-5333.

DETAILS

* WHAT: Alan Pasqua.

* WHERE: First Lutheran Church, 1300 E. Colorado St., Glendale.

* WHEN: Sunday at 6:30 p.m.

* HOW MUCH: Free. Donations accepted.

* CALL: (213) 245-4000.

* FYI: April 25, Pasqua will play selections from “Dedications,” with bassist Dave Carpenter and drummer Joe LaBarbera, at 7 p.m. at Tower Records in Pasadena, 310 S. Lake Ave. Call (818) 584-7110.