Seen and Heard

Ace bassist John Heard appears with his trio Friday and Saturday nights at Charlie O’s Bar & Grill, a convivial joint in Valley Glen that features live music four nights a week.

Heard led a trio with guest tenor saxophonist Pete Christlieb one week ago.

The musical fare was solid, straight-ahead jazz, nothing too fancy but good, way-down deep.

A slow bossa version of “Limehouse Blues,” set up by a tight rhythmic hookup between Heard and drummer Roy McCurdy, rocked the place. A finger-popping “Love for Sale,” taken fast, was exhilarating. The luxuriant ballad “I Should Care” found Christlieb, pianist Ed Vodicka and Heard telling stories packed with feeling.

“Our job is to make the soloists sound great,” said Heard, acclaimed for his work with such jazz notables as Count Basie and Oscar Peterson. “So far we seem to be batting a thousand. The players want to come back, and that’s the highest compliment you can get.”

In the few months since they have been spotlighted on Fridays, Heard and company have backed such stalwarts as Christlieb, saxophonist Bill Perkins and trumpeter Conte Candoli. Tonight you can hear the bebop-minded tenor saxophonist Ray Reed, and Feb. 23 the modern-leaning tenorman George Harper.

Heard performs Saturday nights at Charlie O’s--named after affable owner Charlie Ottaviano--with McCurdy and Vodicka.

“It gets a little tighter every weekend, “ said Heard, who lives in the San Fernando Valley. “It’s a serious-minded little trio. We’re not just jamming. We have meetings, talk about tunes. I’m kind of hard-nosed about that stuff.”

Expect anything, from a classic by Thelonious Monk or Duke Ellington to delicious standards such as “You Must Believe in Spring” and that killer “Limehouse Blues” when the trio gets together.

Heard also leads another threesome with pianist William Henderson on Wednesdays at Spazio’s in Sherman Oaks, (818) 728-8400.

Charlie O’s has live music Thursday nights with drummer Earl Palmer leading a jam session. Students from Cal State Northridge play on Wednesdays. In March, Ottaviano plans to expand his calendar to six nights a week with guitarist Ron Anthony on Mondays.

Even when no one is appearing, the room offers A-1 sounds from a jukebox that sports discs by Monk, Clifford Brown, Ella Fitzgerald and Charlie Parker.

BE THERE

John Heard appears with his trio Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. at Charlie O’s Bar & Grill, 13725 Victory Blvd., Valley Glen. No cover, no minimum. Call (818) 994-3058.

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