John Pisano

Guitarist/composer John Pisano likes to joke that his particular affinity for Brazilian music stems from his having been a Brazilian in a former life. "I was in Brazil with Sergio Mendes a few years ago and when I started playing, people would look at Sergio, point at me and ask, 'Brasileiro? ' 'Is he Brazilian?' " the 57-year-old musician recalled at his Studio City home. "I've just had a feel for it (Brazilian music). I can't put my finger on why. The feeling's been there a long time."

Now in its 29th year, the Los Angeles Jazz Society's Tribute Awards Dinner and Concert is the only celebration of its kind for the city's fertile jazz scene. Hosted by Leonard Maltin, this year's event will feature performances by honorees John Pisano, Denise Donatelli, Jamael Dean Dana and the great Wayne Shorter. What do you think the odds are that he'll be joined by longtime collaborator Herbie Hancock as the piano great serves as the evening's honorary chair? Only one way to find out. Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City, 555 Universal Hollywood Drive.

It was one of those cultural juxtapositions, like the kosher burrito, that we in Southern California have come to expect. This time it was Brazilian jazz being played in a Mexican restaurant. The occasion? New York-born guitarist John Pisano joining bassist Luther Hughes' trio Friday and Saturday nights for their regular weekend appearance at El Matador restaurant in the Huntington Harbour Mall.

Fred Katz What: In concert with flutist Hyman Katz, bassist Richard Simon, guitarist John Pisano and vocalist Jeanne Pisano. Where: Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles When: 4 p.m. Sunday Price: $15 Information: (310) 440-4500 or http://www.skirball.org

The way John Pisano loves Brazilian music, you'd think he was born in Rio de Janeiro instead of Brooklyn. "When I was playing with Sergio Mendes in Brazil a few years ago," guitarist Pisano recalls, "people would look at Sergio and point at me and ask, 'Brasileiro?' 'Is he Brazilian?' My main energy has been into Brazilian stuff for years."

Jeanne and John Pisano have a wonderful aspect to their thriving, 18-month marriage: The singer and guitarist, calling themselves the Flying Pisanos, have a tidy little band offering everything from originals in the Brazilian mode to natty versions of classic standards such as "My Ship." Funny thing, though. The Pisanos didn't really investigate their potential for musical affinity when they were falling in love.

Fred Katz What: In concert with flutist Hyman Katz, bassist Richard Simon, guitarist John Pisano and vocalist Jeanne Pisano. Where: Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles When: 4 p.m. Sunday Price: $15 Information: (310) 440-4500 or http://www.skirball.org

Now in its 29th year, the Los Angeles Jazz Society's Tribute Awards Dinner and Concert is the only celebration of its kind for the city's fertile jazz scene. Hosted by Leonard Maltin, this year's event will feature performances by honorees John Pisano, Denise Donatelli, Jamael Dean Dana and the great Wayne Shorter. What do you think the odds are that he'll be joined by longtime collaborator Herbie Hancock as the piano great serves as the evening's honorary chair? Only one way to find out. Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City, 555 Universal Hollywood Drive.

The jazz revival of the '90s has been notable on several counts, not the least of which has been the arrival of a gifted young generation of players. Despite the enormous skill level of the music being played, however, the one weak point has been the relatively small number of genuinely original voices--instrumental approaches possessing the kind of uniquely identifiable sound and style that makes a player almost immediately recognizable, regardless of the setting.

An unfunny thing happened to Peggy Lee on her way through a week in Las Vegas. As she put it Tuesday, during her capacity-house opening at the Pasadena Playhouse, it was "a little accident but a big break." An on-stage trip resulted in a trip to the hospital with a fractured pelvis; but Lee has long since made a habit of rising above adversity. This time she achieved it by doing her show from a carefully camouflaged wheelchair, on a stage festooned with clusters of big balloons.

SOMETHING amazing happens every Tuesday night in Sherman Oaks. In the elegant but cozy upstairs atmosphere of Spazio jazz supper club, you will hear a continuing parade of the world's finest jazz guitarists. Week after week, host John Pisano showcases marvelous musical conversations -- all spontaneous -- between his guitar and those of players of every style and manner. Tuesday night offered a particularly appealing combination with the presence of New York-based Joe Beck.

One of the great pleasures of John Pisano's weekly Guitar Night programs at Spazio in Sherman Oaks is their utter unpredictability. Some evenings, the emphasis is on the delicate, laid-back interweaving of two acoustic guitars. Other evenings feature brisk, straight-ahead, electric guitar swing. Still others showcase the blues, in all its infinite, colorful variety. But, even given that wide range of possibilities, Tuesday night's program was a one-of-a-kind event.

John Pisano's guitar nights are high on the list of Southland jazz pleasures -- a series of musical encounters that have sequenced their way through at least three different jazz rooms over the last seven years. Regardless of the setting, the game plan has remained constant: an intimate evening of improvisational interaction between Pisano and another well-known jazz guitarist.

If the name Pisano registers only mildly to some, it resonates fairly significantly in the world of jazz guitar. Nimble Los Angeles-based guitarist John Pisano was a frequent collaborator with no less a guitar hero than the late great Joe Pass for many years. More recently, Pisano was responsible for organizing a concert series at the old Brentwood location of Rocco's.

The best jazz bargain in town--John Pisano's guitar jams at Spazio in Sherman Oaks--was especially rewarding Tuesday night. The ever-energetic guitarist, his versatility well-established over the years via gigs ranging from the Tijuana Brass to Joe Pass, was accompanied in the front line by the equally gifted and experienced Brazilian artist Oscar Castro-Neves.

John Pisano, a jazz guitarist who wrote some minor hits while a member of Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass in the '60s and later worked with jazz guitar great Joe Pass, loves his chosen instrument. "The guitar fascinates me," Pisano said. "There are so many directions you can go. There's always something to do, something to learn." If there's one thing Pisano cares about as much as picking up a guitar, it's listening to colleagues play it.

Laurel Masse still occasionally listens to the rock and pop music that she enjoyed as a teen-ager in the '60s, but that's about as far as her affection for those styles goes. "Those songs are nostalgic for me, but I couldn't sing them now because they don't mean anything to me," says Masse, 39, one of the original members of the Manhattan Transfer. She makes her first Los Angeles appearance in five years tonight and Saturday at Lunaria in West Los Angeles.

If the name Pisano registers only mildly to some, it resonates fairly significantly in the world of jazz guitar. Nimble Los Angeles-based guitarist John Pisano was a frequent collaborator with no less a guitar hero than the late great Joe Pass for many years. More recently, Pisano was responsible for organizing a concert series at the old Brentwood location of Rocco's.

The jazz revival of the '90s has been notable on several counts, not the least of which has been the arrival of a gifted young generation of players. Despite the enormous skill level of the music being played, however, the one weak point has been the relatively small number of genuinely original voices--instrumental approaches possessing the kind of uniquely identifiable sound and style that makes a player almost immediately recognizable, regardless of the setting.

Jeanne and John Pisano have a wonderful aspect to their thriving, 18-month marriage: The singer and guitarist, calling themselves the Flying Pisanos, have a tidy little band offering everything from originals in the Brazilian mode to natty versions of classic standards such as "My Ship." Funny thing, though. The Pisanos didn't really investigate their potential for musical affinity when they were falling in love.