In the Mood

When pianist Joel Scott plays, he feels the music and moves with it. His head bobs up and down and turns side to side, his shoulders hunch this way and then that, his feet pat and he’s almost always smiling. Watching him can be as intriguing as listening to the spirited notes he issues.

Scott has been in demand in the worlds of both jazz and pop for 20 years. He has backed such pop notables as the Jackson 5, Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls and Dionne Warwick, crafting a new arrangement of her hit “Always Something There to Remind Me” on her 1998 album “Dionne Sings Dionne.”

“It sounds very African now,” Scott said.

In the jazz realm, Scott has worked with many A-1 singers, among them Marlena Shaw, Carmen Bradford and O.C. Smith. He also played the jazz piano parts that Jeff Bridges rendered in a nightclub scene in the movie “The Fabulous Baker Boys.”

On Saturday, Scott will lead a trio at Spazio in Sherman Oaks, where he will mix things up, offering music for listening and dancing that includes anything from Duke Ellington and Herbie Hancock to classic pop standards and disco.

“I love the rhythm, I love the pulse,” he said. “It allows me to use a lot of color.”

Scott called standards, “Living, breathing music. The way those guys wrote those songs, it’s like someone talking to you.”

Scott, who will be joined at Spazio by singer Avis Harrell, started out in the classical regimen but thought he was better-suited for other musical worlds. He keeps active in the classical idiom and is practicing Handel preludes.

While he names jazz giants such as Wynton Kelly, Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans as key influences, Scott’s classical background permeates his jazz.

“When I play bebop, I try to make it sound like Bach, if he were me,” he said.

ALSO NOTEWORTHY: An acclaimed funkmeister, organist/keyboardist Ronnie Foster holds forth Saturday at 9:30 and 11:30 p.m. at La Ve Lee, 12514 Ventura Blvd., Studio City. $10 cover and two-drink minimum. (818) 980-8158.

BE THERE

Joel Scott plays Saturday from 8 p.m. to midnight at Spazio Restaurant, 14755 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. No cover, no minimum. Call (818) 728-8400.

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