He’s the Son of Zydeco’s King, but He’s Not Thinking About the Crown : Music: C.J. Chenier, son of zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier, decided that the best way to live up to the name is to be himself.

If ever a musician had cause to feel beleaguered, it would be C.J. Chenier, son of the late Clifton Chenier. He has quite a bloodline to live up to.

The elder Chenier pioneered zydeco music in the ‘50s, his accordion-fired stew of Cajun and R&B; virtually defining the form, and the invention and zeal of his performances setting a nearly unattainable standard. Universally hailed as the King of Zydeco, Chenier often wore a crown during his performances--and it looked good on him.

But as his health failed in his last years--he lost a leg to diabetes and required kidney dialysis--and before his death in December, 1987, various zydeco upstarts had begun proclaiming themselves the new king.

But rather than feel that he is responsible for the burden of a legacy or is in some kind of contest with other zydeco players, C.J. (Clayton Joseph) has decided that the best way he can live up to his father’s name is just to be himself.

“I think the way he’d have wanted it--he wanted for me to play accordion, but he didn’t want me to imitate him,” Chenier, 32, said by phone Monday from a Colorado tour stop. “I think he’d have wanted me to just do what comes naturally to me, and that’s what I do.”

Zydeco wasn’t always the younger Chenier’s natural element. Growing up, he lived with his mother in Port Arthur, Tex., while his father spent much of his time in French-speaking Cajun country. He didn’t see that much of his father, only had one record of his music, and his friends ridiculed the zydeco style.

“There was one song on the album I was crazy about, called ‘Hot Rod’ (it’s the title track of C.J.’s next album). And sometimes he’d come by and pick me up, and I’d go to the club with him and listen to them playing. And I always found myself tapping my foot and really jumping around in the chair, even though that type of music wasn’t really high on the list back then where I come from. But it’s always been that kind of happy, make-you-move music.”

By age 20, Chenier was already adept on sax and keyboards and playing James Brown and Commodores covers in a funk band when his father asked him to join his Red Hot Louisiana Band on sax in 1978. The band, which plays Bogart’s on Friday, currently features C.J. on vocals and accordion, Joseph Edwards on drums, Harry Hypolite and Joseph Chavis on guitar, Wayne Burns on bass, Wilbert Miller on sax, and R. C. Carrier on washboard. The original rubboard player, Clifton’s 63-year-old brother, Cleveland Chenier, retired recently.

“I just got this call: ‘Pack your bags. You’re going to California,’ and that was it,” he recalled. “That first trip was rough. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know the songs, didn’t know the music, didn’t know the guys. I was just brand new to everything and had to start from scratch. And he left it up to me to get my own kind of feeling. Only every now and then did he tell me: ‘It goes like this’ or ‘Put this in there.’

“Fortunately, zydeco comes kind of naturally, and even though I didn’t know it to start out, it’s really a big part of me now.”

After four years, Chenier was made band leader, and shortly after that his father taught him to play accordion so that he could take some of the performance load off the ailing musician.

“There were a lot of nights when before the show he was real, real sick, but he didn’t want to stop. He was happy on stage. He was quite a person.”

Although Chenier inherited his father’s accordion, he has no intention of donning his crown. To him, the question of who is the current reigning player is moot.

“Guys go around wearing the crowns and capes and all of that, but the music is the thing that’s got to speak anyway. . . . And from my experience when I travel around, everybody I’ve come in contact with still calls Clifton Chenier the King of Zydeco.”

He said he doesn’t worry about planting his feet in such large footsteps.

“I kind of like it because it makes me work harder. And we’ve been getting pretty good results. Like I said, I’m not trying to imitate him, and people notice that. They tell me I have my own style.

“I don’t try to play like a traditional accordion player. I’m a saxophone player, and I’ve still got saxophone licks in my head, so they just come out of my fingers on the accordion keyboard now instead.”

His goal for the music is fairly direct.

“I just want to make the audience feel like getting up and dancing. When we have an audience that doesn’t get up and start moving, I really don’t feel like I’ve done my job that night. Even in these places where they say there’s no dancing allowed, they’ve got to get up and dance.”

C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band and Chris Gaffney & the Cold Hard Facts will play Friday at 9 p.m. at Bogart’s in the Marina Pacifica Mall, 6288 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach. Tickets: $13.50. Information: (213) 594-8975.