Born to Be-Bop : With dozens of albums to his credit and decades of performing, pianist Frank Strazzeri still embraces the ‘40s jazz style he grew up playing.

GLENDALE —  For connoisseurs of wine, 1945 is considered a great year. Bottles of that annum from such fabled French chateaux as Lafite-Rothschild, Margaux and Latour are regularly sought out as treasures.

1945 was also an extraordinary year for jazz, as be-bop innovators Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell began making the giant musical strides that have had an impact on all forms of jazz and popular music since.

One disciple of that period who still embraces the style is Frank Strazzeri, the excellent pianist who leads his trio at least twice a month at Jax--he’s there Monday and Feb. 20.

“I play more like Bud Powell than anybody,” says Strazzeri, a native of Rochester, N.Y., who has lived in Southern California since the mid-’60s. “And I played that way because that music, be-bop, was in the air. Those were the tunes we played.”

Until recently, however, Strazzeri says he never studied Powell. Then he got an assignment from Toshiya Taenaka, owner of Interplay Records, to make an album of music by the piano master known both for his exquisite improvisations and compositions and the emotional disturbances that landed him in mental institutions.

“That was the biggest challenge of my life,” says Strazzeri of the album, which has been released in Japan and is due in the United States this spring. “I finally learned what be-bop is all about.”

That’s a strange admission from the highly respected artist who says he’s “always been a be-bopper.” Strazzeri, who turns 65 in April, has played piano with such notables as trumpeters Chet Baker and Kenny Dorham, saxophonists Harold Land and Bill Perkins and drummer Louie Bellson. He’s also a musician described in Richard Cook and Brian Morton’s “The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP or Cassette” as playing “with a delicacy that makes all his solos flow evenly across each chorus.”

The pianist is asked for an explanation.

“When I actually analyzed be-bop, and Bud in particular, I saw that it’s a particular study of music, just like Bach or Chopin,” Strazzeri says during a phone conversation from his home in Sun Valley. “I used to just play with a certain sort of feeling. Now when I play specific chords, I know lines that really fit with them and I hear those same lines coming out of all the be-boppers. So I grew a lot, musically, because of the album.”

Strazzeri has always included tunes by Powell in his repertoire. Just back from a weeklong gig at a hotel near Paris, he says that while there he played several numbers by the pianist, and on his recent “Frank’s Blues” CD, he included “Budo” and “Bouncin’ With Bud,” two classics from the ‘40s.

But prior to the all-Powell album, Strazzeri had never devoted an entire evening to the pianist until January, when he gave a performance at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City.

“That was the hardest thing I ever did live,” he says. “I could hardly move my hands afterward, I was so tired. Many of his tunes have these great melodies, and he soloed after that, and I had that ringing in my ears, trying not to copy, but instead trying to keep that intensity he had, that passionate way of playing that was astounding.”

And while Powell may be at the core of Strazzeri’s art, Strazzeri is quick to insist that that’s not all he’s about. “I don’t ever want to be pigeonholed,” he says. “I like good music in general and it comes in many packages. I love (Vladimir) Horowitz, Chick Corea, Kenny Barron, Benny Green, McCoy Tyner,” he says, referring to the renowned classical performer and four greats of contemporary jazz piano.

Strazzeri took up piano in Rochester as a teen-ager, and soon was working in a house band there that backed such greats as Billie Holiday and trombonist J. J. Johnson. Next came stints in New Orleans and Las Vegas with the likes of Al Hirt and Elvis Presley before he finally landed in Los Angeles.

After years of scuffling, and extended periods of sideman work, Strazzeri seems to finally be coming into his own. By his count, he has appeared on 50 to 60 albums in the past five years, many for the Barcelona-based Fresh Sounds label. He’s also formed a sextet called Woodwinds West, which appears Feb. 17 and 18 at the Club Brasserie in West Hollywood. He feels a sense of artistic freedom he’s long awaited.

“Now I’m just playing jazz piano and that’s really me,” he says. “I’m much more happy, playing better music, and making better bread. I’m finally ahead of the game.”

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WHERE AND WHEN

Who: Frank Strazzeri. Location: Jax Bar & Grill, 339 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Hours: 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday and 9 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Feb. 20. Price: No cover or minimum. Call: (818) 500-1604.