Lehigh Valley favorite Dave Roper returns to Rodale Community Room for the “Jazz Upstairs” series, 7:30 p.m. June 15, Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown.

The popular jazz pianist will be joined by long-time bandmates Paul Rostock, bass, and Gary Rissmiller, drums. Tommy Crist will add a vocal or two.

Asked about his start as a pianist, Roper says, “We had a piano in the house. I started playing with it at age five. My mother noticed that I seemed to like it so she started me on piano lessons at six.”

From there it’s been decades of playing. After graduating from Lafayette College in 1960, Roper played at the Cellar Door in Allentown and later had a steady gig at the historic King George Inn in Allentown for 15 years. His day job was teaching English at Emmaus High School.

Now retired, he and his trio have been playing on the first Thursday of each month at Hotel Bethlehem, dating back to 2004.

Asked what keeps him going after nearly six decade of playing, Roper replies, “It’s a pleasure, something I love to do.”

Roper enjoys the rapport he’s developed over the years with Rostock and Rissmiller. “In my fifty-plus years, I’ve only had three different bass players. Gary’s been with me about eight and Paul about the same. Gary’s my third drummer.”

Speaking of the ease with which Rostock and Rissmiller take whatever musical direction his playing heads, Roper says, “They read my mind.”

That tight rapport shows itself in the trio’s performances quite readily. Asked what makes the trio so unique, Roper says, “I suspect it’s because we really play a mix of things. We’re not altogether a jazz trio. I occasionally insert some classical music. We play a lot of music from the ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s, music from the Great American Songbook.”

Rostock and Rissmiller are Lehigh Valley music icons in their own right. Rostock has recorded with Nellie McKay, Nancy Coletti, Urbie Green, Maynard Ferguson, had a long association with the late Frank Sinatra, Jr.

Rissmiller has recorded with Skip Wilkins, Bill Watrous, Rob Stoneback and Tony Gairo.

Both are on the music faculty at Moravian College and assist in the summer jazz camp there.

Of Tommy Crist, Roper says, “Years ago he started singing ‘Georgia On My Mind’ with us at Hotel Bethlehem. He sits in every once in a while. That’s his number.”

Asked what to expect on the set list at “Jazz Upstairs,” Roper says, “I haven’t quite figured it out yet. There’ll be a few new tunes added in. Of course, we’re almost obligated to play ‘Rhapsody in Blue.’”

Tickets: Miller Symphony Hall box office, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown; allentownsymphony.org; 610-432-6715