Getting Back the Beat

Jon Mayer’s hiatus from the jazz business is over, and how.

In the late 1950s and early ‘60s, the Harlem-born Mayer played and recorded with such jazz greats as saxophonists John Coltrane and Jackie McLean. He went on to back singer Sarah Vaughan and work with the Manhattan Transfer, among other posh assignments.

“Playing was my raison d’etre,” said the musically engaging pianist.

Then in the late ‘70s, the bottom dropped out for Mayer, as personal problems superseded his career. When he moved to Los Angeles in 1991, he was determined to turn things around. He has. His second album, “Do It Like This” (A Records), was released earlier this year, he has a teaching post at Santa Monica College, and he has found fairly steady work with his trio.

“It feels good to be playing again,” he said.

Mayer, along with the ace rhythm team of bassist Andy Simpkins and drummer Paul Kreibich, appears Wednesday at Cafe Cordiale in Sherman Oaks. He extolled his partners.

“They call Andy the human steamroller: If you can’t get with the program, get out of the way,” Mayer laughed. “And Paul is just superb. We have a great time together. The fit is very comfortable.”

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A fan of such renowned pianists as Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly and Horace Silver, Mayer likes to establish moods that make both listeners and musicians feel good. He does this by playing numbers that swing, such as Cedar Walton’s “Firm Roots” or his own “Rip Van Winkle.”

“That’s a throwback,” he said. “It sounds like something you’ve always heard but really haven’t.”

Mayer will also play a few love songs from the ‘30s and ‘40s.

“That’s my favorite time,” he said, admitting that he “lives for ballads.”

“There’s something magical about tunes like ‘If You Could See Me Now,’ which I consider a classic and a privilege to play,” he said.

At Cafe Cordiale, Mayer will play a new electronic piano called the Yamaha Touch Grand, which will be amplified through the house’s public-address system. “That way, you get a clear acoustic grand piano sound that you don’t hear in most club environments.”

Good Pair: Guitarist Jon-Pall Bjarnason is a guitarist who likes to assemble strings of pretty notes and buoy them with rhythmic charge. Flutist-saxophonist Sam Most is a wondrous jazz veteran who mixes light humor into his hard-swinging improvising. The pair hold forth tonight, 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., at Rocco, 2930 Beverly Glen Circle, Bel-Air. No cover, no minimum. Call (310) 475-9807.

BE THERE

Jon Mayer’s trio plays Wednesday, 9:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m., at Cafe Cordiale, 14015 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. No cover, no minimum. Call (818) 789-1985.

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Zan Stewart writes about jazz for the Valley Edition. He can be reached at Zansky@aol.com.