He's in a new stage of life

Saxophonist Stan Strickland has been a mainstay of the Boston jazz scene for more than 30 years. He may be on his way to becoming a mainstay of its theater scene, too.

``Coming Up for Air: An Autojazzography, a one-man performance piece starring Strickland, previews tomorrow night at the Boston Center for the Arts and runs through Oct. 14.

``I really felt the need to do this one-man show," Strickland says. ``Just to stand and play the saxophone didn't feel like it was all my authentic self."

So in ``Coming Up for Air" he acts, sings, and dances, too. Conceived by Strickland, the piece was written by Jon Lipsky, who's also directing it.

``We're old friends," says Lipsky, who cast Strickland as Dr. Sax in a 2002 production of his play ``Maggie's Riff, an adaptation of Jack Kerouac's ``Maggie Cassidy. " Strickland had previously acted in the Boston Art Group's 1987 production ``Harlem Renaissance" and a 1999 production of ``Crossing John at the Crossroads" at Northeastern.

Impressed with Strickland's stage presence, Lipsky said he'd like to do another play with him. Strickland mentioned that he'd been toying with the idea of a one-man show.

Lipsky had the idea of Strickland doing his own life story. They started talking about Strickland's past, going over it in detail. One incident stood out. On Jan. 2, 1989, Strickland was body surfing in Hawaii. He almost drowned when a pair of rogue waves hit him. Lipsky realized this near-death experience was an ideal event around which to organize an autobiographical piece.

``I knew he'd had this accident," Lipsky says. ``He told me how his life literally flashed before his eyes and these two thoughts entered his head as he was drowning: `Look for the light' and `What a shame not to have had a hit CD.' I thought that was a wonderful basis to tell the tale."

Strickland agreed, though as he laughingly says of the accident, ``At the time, I wasn't thinking of doing a show about it!"

``Coming Up for Air" has a dozen characters, all played by Strickland. It lasts about 80 minutes, roughly half of which consists of Lipsky's script (taken from Strickland's words), and half is music Strickland improvises. It started as a workshop production at the Vineyard Playhouse in March 2005. Strickland and Lipsky have kept tinkering with it since, through several other workshop productions in Boston and on the Vineyard.

``The wonderful thing about working with Stan," Lipsky says, ``is that almost everything he did he did in terms of storytelling about his life. I could ask him to put in a musical beat or phrase or tone or rhythm, and he could find it."

Strickland, who jokingly says he's ``more than 50," was born in Springfield, Ohio, a small town about 80 miles from Cincinnati. He began singing as a child, picked up trombone in grade school, and started playing flute and saxophone in high school. He began on tenor sax, but also plays soprano and alto.

At Central State University in Ohio, he majored in chemistry, but music was his true love. All sorts of music: ``I was very much influenced by [John] Coltrane and Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman and James Brown and Ray Charles and Nat King Cole," he says.

Strickland joined a band called Brute Force that played what might best be described as avant-garde R&B. ``Our music was a cross between Pharaoh Sanders and Sly Stone," he says with a chuckle. The group signed a recording contract with flutist Herbie Mann's Embryo label, but eventually broke up.

The band had toured a lot in the Northeast during its two years' existence. That's how, in the early '70s, Strickland ended up in Boston. Except for a couple of years in New York during the early '80s, he's been here ever since.

``I don't know if one can survive just playing jazz in Boston -- or most any city," Strickland says. ``Well, there are some people, mostly people in rhythm sections. But everyone I know teaches." Strickland teaches at Berklee, Longy, and Tufts. He's also codirector of a North Shore program for at-risk youth, Express Yourself.

Although this wasn't the intention, the title ``Coming Up for Air" applies equally well to his hectic schedule as to his predicament in Hawaii. ``Sometimes it's a bit much," Strickland says. A sentence he uses to describe the transcendence he strives for in his music would seem pertinent, too. ``It's like trying to get to a place on a ladder where ladders are not allowed," he says.

"Coming Up for Air: An Autojazzography" runs tomorrow through Oct. 14 at the Boston Center for the Arts, Plaza Black Box. 617-933-8600, www.bostontheatrescene.com

Mark Feeney can be reached at mfeeney@globe.com.