Don Rader

Don Rader can blame it all on be-bop. The colorful, complex yet very lyrical style of jazz that originated in the '40s with saxman Charlie Parker, pianist Bud Powell and trumpeters Fats Navarro and Dizzy Gillespie has been responsible for inspiring countless musicians. Rader is among those who'll tell you that "be-bop was, and is, my roots."

Cornetist-fluegelhornist Don Rader and his combo put it together, literally piece by piece, to begin their second set Saturday at Vinnie's Ristorante. The experience, for the few who were there to see and hear it, was an object lesson in how music is constructed. It started before any of the foursome--Rader, keyboard player Joe Massimino, bassist Jack Prather and drummer Jack Lecaire--even stepped into the tiny space that serves as a bandstand.

Cornetist-fluegelhornist Don Rader and his combo put it together, literally piece by piece, to begin their second set Saturday at Vinnie's Ristorante. The experience, for the few who were there to see and hear it, was an object lesson in how music is constructed. It started before any of the foursome--Rader, keyboard player Joe Massimino, bassist Jack Prather and drummer Jack Lecaire--even stepped into the tiny space that serves as a bandstand.

Don Rader can blame it all on be-bop. The colorful, complex yet very lyrical style of jazz that originated in the '40s with saxman Charlie Parker, pianist Bud Powell and trumpeters Fats Navarro and Dizzy Gillespie has been responsible for inspiring countless musicians. Rader is among those who'll tell you that "be-bop was, and is, my roots."

THOUGH I seriously commend neophytes' use of any means necessary to get "into" jazz, Don Heckman's review of "Tom Piazza's Understanding Jazz: Ways to Listen," ["Snapshots of a Great Era's Road Trip," April 30] reminded me of my trumpet-playing friend Don Rader's response to a nonmusical brother-in-law's question, "What is jazz?" The reply: "If ya gotta ask ... " MARY MARGARET MCGUIRE Palmdale

In the late '50s, Maynard Ferguson led a big band noted for the superior improvisational, composing and arranging skills displayed by its members. The band's series of Roulette records announced the arrival of a musical force with an uncommon commitment to straight-ahead blowing.

In the late-'50s, Maynard Ferguson led a big band noted for the superior improvisational, composing and arranging skills displayed by its members. The band's series of Roulette records announced the arrival of a musical force with an uncommon commitment to straight-ahead blowing.

If it seemed odd that Gerry Mulligan introduced none of his soloists Saturday at El Camino College, a good explanation would be that he didn't know most of their names. Despite the "Mulligan and His Concert Band" billing, he had left his regular men in New York and hired the drummer Frank Capp to put together a group of top-notch Los Angelenos. On the third and final night of its existence this 16-piece ensemble interpreted Mulligan's compositions with precision and confidence.

In hard times for mainstream jazz, the faithful cluster at jazz weekends--four or five sessions and 18-plus hours of music, for a hefty price. The latest, organized by Mel Fond, stomped off on the weekend at the Airport Hilton, with cornetist Ruby Braff, an infrequent visitor to the West Coast, as its principal but by no means sole attraction. At that, one of the party's great excitements was a Saturday night set featuring Braff and his fellow cornetist and pal, Warren Vache Jr.

Playing with a loose-when-necessary precision and an insistent hard-sock swing, saxophonist-composer-arranger Don Menza led his gathered-intermittently big band through originals and jazz standards at Alfonse's in North Hollywood Monday night, giving the all-seats-taken crowd a solid taste of succulent mainstream jazz.

"It was overwhelming!" That's the way trumpeter Conte Candoli, a longtime member of Doc Severinsen's "Tonight Show" Orchestra who has also played with Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars and Shelly Manne and His Men in his four-decade career, enthusiastically recounted the goings-on Sunday, when he was presented with the Los Angeles Jazz Society's 8th annual Tribute Award at a gala concert in the Pacific Ballroom of the Los Angeles Hilton Hotel and Towers.

Since Bob Boss was hired to teach jazz guitar at UC San Diego 18 months ago, he has stoked an explosion of student interest. The Oceanside guitarist recalls that at a concert by jazz students shortly after his arrival, only one student guitarist was good enough to perform. The quintet was rounded out by Boss and other professionals. Contrast that apathetic showing with this Thursday's 8 p.m. program at Mandeville Auditorium: Boss has seven guitar students ready to perform.