Captivatin’ Rhythm

There’s a darn good reason why pianist Marty Harris has kept such good company in the jazz and pop worlds, working with everyone from bandleader Woody Herman and trumpeters Clark Terry, Conte Candoli and Jack Sheldon to singers Tom Jones and Diana Ross: He’s got a feel for the beat.

“Rhythm’s my strongest aspect,” said Harris, who as house pianist appears with guest vocalists Wednesday through Saturday at Ca’ Del Sole in North Hollywood.

That driving pulse in jazz-based and blues music is what drew Harris to the piano, and what’s kept him there. Initially, he said, it was the compelling throb of boogie-woogie that hooked him.

“After school, I’d go to the department store and listen to records by [boogie-woogie pianists] Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson,” said Harris from Burbank home. (Harris was born in New Jersey and raised in Florida but has lived in the Valley since 1961.)

“I liked the beat; it just felt good. Then someone showed me how to play a little bit, and I got to be pretty good.”

Harris named several fine jazz pianists who influenced him, among them Wynton Kelly, Red Garland, Cedar Walton, singling them out for their way with the beat. But he also said that British singer Jones, for whom he was musical director from 1980-83, knew how to swing.

“He had terrific rhythm,” said Harris. “The night went by fast because he was happening. It was the same thing when I played with Bob Cooper,” the superb ex-Stan Kenton, Lighthouse All-Stars tenor saxophonist who was a central cog in the L.A. jazz scene for decades.

“Every night was like magic, he was so great to play with. When you’re on the bandstand with somebody that good, it doesn’t matter what kind of music it is because it’s challenging and fun.”

Harris has similar feelings for some of the singers he accompanies at Ca’ De Sole. Of Dewey Erney, with whom he works on Wednesday, the pianist said, “We’re in sync because his beat is just where you want it to be. Same with Stephanie Haynes,” whom Harris backs on Oct. 15 and praised for her intonation and swing. “They’re so good, you don’t have to work at it.”

But rhythm isn’t the only quality that Harris appreciates. For example, he said that Pamala Feener, with whom he appears tonight, “is very musical and she chooses songs you don’t always hear.”

At the NoHo eatery, where music is heard in the cozy lounge six nights a week, Harris has a lot of flexibility because he’s the lone instrumentalist. “The duo allows for the element of surprise,” he said. “We can go in and out of tempo, do things spontaneously, which would be harder with a bass and drummer.” The pianist said that his role in a duo is to keep the sound full, yet not get in the way.

Besides Ca’ Del Sole, Harris’ regular engagements include Sundays at Miceli’s in Hollywood and a teaching spot, along with reed man Buddy Collette, bassist Richard Simon and others, at Washington Irving Middle School in Atwater Village. The thing about the music life he likes the most, he said, is its unpredictability.

“You never know when the phone rings where you’re going or what you’re going to have to do,” he said. “That makes it interesting.”

* Marty Harris works Wednesday through Saturday, 8 p.m. to midnight, at Ca’ Del Sole, 4100 N. Cahuenga Blvd., North Hollywood. No cover, no minimum. Call: (818) 985-4669.

Swinging Hearty: Louie Bellson is the last great drummer of the swing era. He played with the masters, from Benny Goodman (his first pro job at age 16), Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie and, his favorite, Duke Ellington. In the ‘50s, Ellington recorded what became two Bellson-composed classics: “The Hawk Talks” and “Skin Deep,” featuring the first recorded solo of a drummer using two bass drums simultaneously.

Bellson has never stopped swinging. He’s still amazingly vigorous and dynamic at 73 and always worth hearing. He plays a rare local engagement with his orchestra on Tuesday, at 8 and 10 p.m., at the Moonlight (13730 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks; $13 cover for 8 p.m. show, $9 cover at 10 p.m., $9.95 food or drink minimum; (818) 788-2000.