Bob Sheppard

It was a typical week for reed man Bob Sheppard. He arrived in Los Angeles March 24 on a red-eye flight from Maui, where he was performing on Steely Dan's Walter Becker's newest album, due out on Giant Records this summer. Then that night, he drove from his North Hollywood home to the Club Brasserie in West Hollywood, playing substantial straight-ahead jazz in a quartet led by bassist Dave Carpenter.

It's a quiet Sunday evening and the sun is falling gently over Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock. A few stragglers are typing on laptops at a corner cafe, and a steady stream of customers is visiting a nearby video store. Inside the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts, however, saxophonist Jason Robinson is calling down the heavens. Offering up throaty, impassioned improvisations that recall Roscoe Mitchell and John Coltrane, San Diego resident Robinson is working a small but devoted crowd hunched forward in metal folding chairs.

Pop/Rock Joe Henry (Largo, 432 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A., [323] 852-1073). Henry will perform songs from his 2001 release "Scar," for three nights. 8:30 p.m. Also Wednesday, Thursday. * Hot Water Music (Glass House, 200 W. 2nd St., Pomona, [909] 620-9580). The group headlines this year's "Plea for Peace--Take Action Tour," a benefit for the Hopeline Network. Thrice, Matt Skiba, Selby Tigers, Cave-In's and Mike Park open. 5 p.m. Also Thursday, 5 p.m., at El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.

Pop/Rock Joe Henry (Largo, 432 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A., [323] 852-1073). Henry will perform songs from his 2001 release "Scar," for three nights. 8:30 p.m. Also Wednesday, Thursday. * Hot Water Music (Glass House, 200 W. 2nd St., Pomona, [909] 620-9580). The group headlines this year's "Plea for Peace--Take Action Tour," a benefit for the Hopeline Network. Thrice, Matt Skiba, Selby Tigers, Cave-In's and Mike Park open. 5 p.m. Also Thursday, 5 p.m., at El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.

Bob Sheppard, who shared the bill Tuesday night at At My Place with Ray Obiedo, is the kind of solid, dependable player who--50 years ago--might have held the hot tenor chair in a big swing band. His soloing on pieces from his new Windham Hill album was articulate and to the point; his compositions were solidly within the contemporary mainstream.

Let's call tonight's appearance of trombonist Mike Fahn and saxophonist Bob Sheppard at El Matador the "On-the-Move Tour," even though it is the first and only stop for the two as a team. But the name's still appropriate. Both men have seen major advances in their respective careers recently. Sheppard's big move came late last year with the release of his first album as a front man.

It's a quiet Sunday evening and the sun is falling gently over Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock. A few stragglers are typing on laptops at a corner cafe, and a steady stream of customers is visiting a nearby video store. Inside the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts, however, saxophonist Jason Robinson is calling down the heavens. Offering up throaty, impassioned improvisations that recall Roscoe Mitchell and John Coltrane, San Diego resident Robinson is working a small but devoted crowd hunched forward in metal folding chairs.

Grammy Award-winning jazz composer and pianist Billy Childs is joined by Bob Sheppard, Larry Koonse, Carol Robbins, Hamilton Price and Marvin "Smitty" Smith, plus the Eclipse String Quartet, for an evening of concerts at REDCAT, sponsored by the Jazz Bakery's Movable Feast. REDCAT at Walt Disney Concert Hall, 631 W. 2nd St., Los Angeles. 8 and 9:30 p.m. $30. (213) 237-2800. http://www.jazzbakery.com.

Is there common turf between jazz and the symphony orchestra? Bassist Christian McBride, the L.A. Philharmonic's creative chair for jazz, thinks so.

The Billy Childs Group will perform a free concert Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Veterans Wadsworth Theater in Brentwood as part of the Jazz at the Wadsworth series. Pianist Childs will be joined by Jimmy Johnson on bass, Gary Novak on drums and guest Bob Sheppard on reeds. The group is expected to play pieces from Childs' new album, "The Child Within." The Jazz at the Wadsworth series is now in its 13th season. Information: (310) 794-8961.

It was a typical week for reed man Bob Sheppard. He arrived in Los Angeles March 24 on a red-eye flight from Maui, where he was performing on Steely Dan's Walter Becker's newest album, due out on Giant Records this summer. Then that night, he drove from his North Hollywood home to the Club Brasserie in West Hollywood, playing substantial straight-ahead jazz in a quartet led by bassist Dave Carpenter.

Let's call tonight's appearance of trombonist Mike Fahn and saxophonist Bob Sheppard at El Matador the "On-the-Move Tour," even though it is the first and only stop for the two as a team. But the name's still appropriate. Both men have seen major advances in their respective careers recently. Sheppard's big move came late last year with the release of his first album as a front man.

Bob Sheppard, who shared the bill Tuesday night at At My Place with Ray Obiedo, is the kind of solid, dependable player who--50 years ago--might have held the hot tenor chair in a big swing band. His soloing on pieces from his new Windham Hill album was articulate and to the point; his compositions were solidly within the contemporary mainstream.

Last year's debut Orange County Art & Jazz Festival put an interesting twist to the usual outdoor music festival proceedings. Held on the grounds of the American Way Cultural Center in Orange, the festival looked to the future of the music by mingling bands from area colleges and high schools with such professional musicians as saxophonist Eric Marienthal and trumpeter Tony Guerrero, who played with the band from his alma mater, Cal State Fullerton.

After a successful week with the Ray Brown Trio, Catalina has turned over the bandstand to another bassist, Charles Fambrough . A relative newcomer as a leader, he heads a sextet of local musicians that will be appearing through Sunday. Two of the members, pianist Kenny Kirkland and drummer Jeff Watts, are members of Branford Marsalis' "Tonight Show" band and played on a couple of cuts in a recent Fambrough album.