Jazz

There are some jazz aficionados who don't agree with Leonard Feather's "The Future? Well, You Needn't Worry" (Dec. 1). He and Frank Wess seem to think that with so many young jazz musicians coming up, the music is in good hands. Decent hands would be more accurate, and certainly not profound hands , as when Armstrong, Ellington, Parker, Monk, Miles, Mingus and Coltrane were around. The young musicians now getting large recording contracts are giving us nothing but warmed-up, refined be-bop executed with awesome technical facility and tight musicianship but played with a cliched slickness.

Having long adored jazz and abhorred rock with equal fervor, and doggedly maintained that the only merit in popular music lies in the standards, I always swell with pride and vindication when a new jazz artist surfaces or an erstwhile pop-rocker sees the light. Heckman's article on the proliferation of jazz singers triggered in this retired dentist a veritable orgy of triumphant euphoria! My only criticism is his failure to cite Toni Tennille, whose statuesque beauty and magnificent voice dominated the recently closed "Stardust," a delightful revue based on the music of Mitchell Parish.

The Lakers (44-37) can lock up their playoff bid with a win Wednesday against the Houston Rockets (45-36), but they could clinch a postseason berth before tipoff. The Memphis Grizzlies (55-26) host the Utah Jazz (43-38) on Wednesday prior to the Lakers' battle against the Rockets.  A Memphis win would guarantee L.A. no worse than the eighth spot in the playoffs. Has Lakers forward/center Pau Gasol called his brother, Memphis center Marc Gasol, to ask for a little help against the Jazz?

Bump Picasso. Forget Rococo. The Quai Branly Museum, a steel-and-glass palace on the Seine River, has news for the culture world: "Three Little Bops" is art. The Looney Tunes cartoon from 1957 retells the Three Little Pigs as a jazz fable with music by trumpeter Shorty Rogers, a luminary of the West Coast school. The Big Bad Wolf is a lousy trumpeter trying to sit in with a swinging trio of pigs. He gets the bum's rush, blows down two clubs and ends up in hell after a mishap with TNT.

This post has been corrected. Please see note at the bottom for details. Going into Wednesday night's show at the Hollywood Bowl with Anita Baker and Esperanza Spalding, it was hard not to wonder if a more interesting (and surely bolder) bill could have developed if only the headliner and opener were reversed. The headliner, Anita Baker, is one of the key artists associated with the "quiet storm" sound, a smooth, down-tempo varietal of late-night R&B that became a radio format with artists such as Sade and the late Luther Vandross in the '80s.

Jazz 95, Lakers 86 (final) With the Lakers threatening, reserve guard Randy Foye converted four three-pointers in the fourth quarter to help Utah close out their second victory of the season.  The Lakers struggled to score most of the night, falling to 1-4 on the season and 15th place in the Western Conference. In their worst offensive showing this season, the Lakers gave the Jazz (2-3) a cushion that was just too big to overcome.  By the time the Lakers found their shot, their defense just wasn't up to task, giving up 30 points to Utah in the fourth quarter.

Jazz people like to brag that their idiom is "America's classical music. " But if you catch some of them in a certain mood, you'll find that they long to merge their art with what much of the Western world calls "classical music" ? the idiom that gave you Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, etc. The reverse is also true ? classical musicians who want to get down with the jazz folk, to learn their freewheeling ways or merely steal a few licks and vamps for their own purposes. Indeed, Walt Disney Concert Hall will be hosting two such high-profile fusions this winter.

What happens when a jazz piano trio releases a dance record in 2012? Before any seizure-inducing thoughts of a Swizz Beatz-produced take on "Body and Soul" come to life, listen to pianist Vijay Iyer's modern vision of jazz's body-moving roots. A head-bobbing step forward for a trio that topped year-end lists with 2009's "Historicity," "Accelerando" is a rambunctious yet nimble celebration of the groove that turns as much on the fulcrum of drummer Marcus Gilmore and bassist Stephan Crump as it does on Iyer's restlessly inventive piano.

Grammy voters might have made some baffling choices this year (seriously, Hall & Oates?), but not when it came to the jazz categories. Though there was speculation that Allen Toussaint's "The Bright Mississippi" might sneak into the major categories with its rich, reverent take on the classic sound of New Orleans, the album instead was nominated in the jazz instrumental album category. There it will compete against the John Patitucci Trio's "Remembrance" and a pair of solid if not entirely groundbreaking live albums from Gary Burton teamed with Pat Metheny, in addition to the Chick Corea and John McLaughlin reunion, "Five Peace Band Live."

Salt Lake City, again. It's bad enough that the Clippers have had their share of implosions in Utah but they had to bring it on home and put it on full display for their fans Wednesday night It wasn't quite as drastic as last month when they squandered an 18-point lead at Utah ? but in the general neighborhood. On Wednesday, the collapse seemed swifter as the Jazz rallied for a 103-95 victory at Staples Center as the Clippers squandered a 12-point lead. Al Jefferson led the Jazz with 31 points and 10 rebounds.