Venerable musicians to play out the old

We have no shortage of New Year’s Eve entertainment options — from the Disney in downtown L. A. to Disneyland itself. A couple of closer-to-home attractions, though, promise a mix of both musical excitement and heritage. Trombonist Steve Johnson leads his Jazz Legacy band at Jax in Glendale, and blues harmonica ace Rod Piazza convenes his Mighty Flyers at the Arcadia Blues Club.

For the past couple of years, Johnson’s quintet is one of the pillars of the monthly music schedule at Jax. His music career is a nod to the adage that the race is not always given to the swift; providence might also be another relevant concept.

As a student player in the 1960s, he devoured an instruction book by the late pianist Frank Strazzeri (1930-1914) as he studied at the old Dick Grove Workshop in Hollywood. “Strazzophonic” is a pianist’s manual for playing fourth intervals and augmented chord voicings, and Strazzeri’s insight into modern harmony profoundly affected Johnson. The book brought Johnson up to speed on what cutting-edge players like John Coltrane and Freddie Hubbard were playing.

As well as a broadened harmonic palette, it gave Johnson a deep reverence for Strazzeri’s special genius for composition and arrangement. It also showed him that even though Strazzeri was of the earlier bebop generation, his writing was perennially modern and timeless.

Johnson’s quintet has a tenor sax-and-trombone front line with a rhythm section. He made a career as a high school counselor but always kept his hand in music — playing occasional gigs, participating in rehearsal bands and, of course, hearing some of the live jazz banquet that SoCal offered. He spent many nights hearing Strazzeri in the band of alto saxophonist Art Pepper and with the informal group co-piloted by trumpeter Conte Candoli and trombonist Frank Rosolino at Donte’s in North Hollywood. Their routinely brilliant displays of craft, technique and ongoing emotional expression were, in many ways, a graduate course for Johnson.

Johnson took Rosolino as his prime instrumental inspiration. He was the clown prince of trombonists, an innovative master. Rosolino’s originality, technical supremacy, sense of swing and fluidity have remained Johnson’s idea of how the trombone’s musical business should be conducted.

Some years ago, Johnson engaged Strazzeri for some casual jobs and began their professional relationship. The subsequent Jazz Legacy band has shown unusual insight into Strazzeri’s music, which combines an introspective delicacy of themes with strong rhythmic components. The passing of the great pianist/composer earlier this year has made Steve Johnson’s Jazz Legacy the living memorial to the music of Frank Strazzeri.

New Year’s Eve at Jax may deal with cool jazz textures and temperatures, but it’s a different story at the Arcadia Blues Club. No matter what the tempo, the intensity of Rod Piazza’s harmonica, and that of his crack band, is all about musical heat.

Like Johnson, Piazza is a long-distance runner; only he’s spent his life on stages all over the world. It’s a band in perpetual motion but the Arcadia Blues Club serves as home base for the Mighty Flyers. It’s not only one of the most consistently strong working units in the blues (a notoriously unpredictable genre); it’s something of a blues university. Piazza and company have groomed many current blues stars over the years — from guitarist Rick Holmstrom to drummer Dobie Strange. His wife, the versatile keyboardist Honey Piazza, is an invaluable member of this relentlessly rewarding band.

The late George ‘Harmonica’ Smith (1924-83) was a musical father to many of the current generation of blues harp royalty (James Harman, Kim Wilson and the late Louie Lista among them), and Piazza is perhaps his greatest student. Aside from mind-bending technique and microphone effects, Piazza wields the large chromatic harmonica in much the same way that Erroll Flynn handled a sword in any number of classic movies.

Hot or cool, you choose on New Year’s Eve.

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What: Steve Johnson’s Jazz Legacy

Where: JAX Bar & Grill, 339 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale.

When: Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Cost: No cover.

More info: (818) 500-1604, jaxbarandgrill.com
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What:Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers

Where: Arcadia Blues Club, 16 E. Huntington Dr., Arcadia

When: Wednesday, 7 to 11:30 p.m.

Cost: $25 to 50

More info: (626) 447-9349, arcadiabluesclub.com
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KIRK SILSBEE writes about jazz and culture for Marquee.