Sax man Robbie Klein gets by with a little help from his friends

Sax player Robbie Klein says he has reached the stage in his career when he doesn't want to play just for money.

"I just want to have fun and not worry," the jazz player from Bethel Park says. "Life's too short. You gotta play."

That means jazz fans might be seeing him more at gigs of the music they love rather than at weddings or private parties. For instance, every Thursday night he and his band lead the jam session at the James St. Restaurant, North Side.

"If it's a jazz wedding, and I can play my stuff, I'll do weddings," he says. "That's cool. But I don't want to do just the average event."

And he still does parties, too. Just not as many. He want to be "Robbie Klein, the jazz man" instead of "Robbie Klein, the everyday sax player."

Roger Humphries, the drummer who leads the big band in which Klein plays Wednesdays at Dowe's on 9th, Downtown, sees the difference in his playing.

As the big band has begun concentrating on jazz instead of dance music, Klein's playing has improved, too, Humphries says. "It's like one affects the other — and you can hear it."

Klein, 51, says that solidity is because he is focusing on playing the best he can rather than just playing to pay the bills.

Having a flock of 38 private students offers a steady side to his musical income, Klein says. "I like teaching. It's fun to show someone how to read music. You know — now that you can read the instructions, you can just do it."

That allows him to dedicate his performance time to gigs with Humphries' big band or his band, Robbie Klein and Friends.

Klein is a familiar local musical face because he has been performing for a little more than 30 years. After starting to play sax when he was 9, he says, he began playing in rock bands in Bethel Park Area High School.

When he was about 20, he recalls, he started playing flute and got interested in jazz through the work of Herbie Mann and Hubert Laws.

He played mostly flute for several years, he says, but then went back to sax because it's an instrument that fits more jobs. That's the case these days, too, even though he says wistfully, "I just love the flute."

He's also focusing on the music he loves — mainstream jazz — even though he says it's sometimes hard to find enough people enthusiastic with it. For instance, he says, this area has one jazz radio station, WDUQ-FM (90.5), and that limits broadcast variety.

Even worse is the situation on other radio stations.

"Airplay is dictated by computers and what is popular, not what is good," he says. "There's no individualism."

But at this point, he says, he can stay with the music he loves because even if the audience isn't the biggest, it's loyal.

"If they love jazz, they're going to love jazz," he says.

Craig Poole, owner of the James St. site, says Klein's focus on the mainstream sound is one of the reasons he chose the performer as the new leader of the jam sessions.

"He's a known figure, and people know the music they're going to get," he says. "Plus, he's a good businessman."

That musical reliability is a plus.

"I have a lot of respect for Robbie," drummer Humphries says. "He has been there playing for a long time — a long time."