Quintet

Hard rock isn't all about bad news. Incubus somehow manages to seek personal enlightenment inside a heavy groove without ever going soft. Songs of bitter self-loathing never quite seem necessary. If that puts this Calabasas-based group in a different category from much of the "nu metal" crowd, it also helps explain the euphoric greeting from fans at the Universal Amphitheatre on Saturday, the first of two sold-out dates at the venue.

Herbie Hancock is revisiting the Miles Davis musical gold mine again, this time via "Directions in Music," a celebration of the 75th anniversaries of the births of Davis and John Coltrane. Obviously, it is familiar territory. Hancock was a member of Davis' seminal quintet of the '60s, and he has continued his Davis-related pursuits with the various incarnations of the group V.S.O.P. and the Miles Davis Tribute Band.

Jazz experience was on full display Wednesday night in the Westin Airport Hotel lobby. Cornetist Bill Berry's quintet could probably count a century or two of musical history among its players, most of it in top-flight settings. In addition to leading his own bands, Berry is a former Duke Ellington sideman, and the deep respect for melody that invested his playing suggested a powerful influence from his Ducal experience.

Trumpeter Wallace Roney's continuing quest to establish a visible musical presence of his own continued Thursday at Catalina Bar & Grill in the opening set of a four-night run. An early immersion in the music of Miles Davis--and, in fact, a classic performance with Davis in the '80s at the Montreux jazz festival in a re-creation of some of the classic Davis-Gil Evans works--tended to obscure Roney's own abilities for a much-too-long period in his early career.

Veteran trumpeter Donald Byrd was originally scheduled to appear at the Jazz Bakery this week, in tandem with his protege, Darren Barrett. When illness obliged Byrd to cancel, the front line shifted to include Barrett, trombonist Curtis Fuller and alto saxophonist Antonio Hart. By the time Tuesday's opening arrived, however, Fuller also was unable to appear, leaving Barrett and Hart to cobble together a quintet performance for a run that lasts through Sunday night.

Grammy-winning jazz bassist Dave Holland comes to Northridge tonight. Over the course of his career, Holland has worked with Miles Davis, Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Stan Getz, Thelonious Monk and many others. He won the 2000 Grammy for the album "Like Minds" with Gary Burton. Performing with Holland tonight will be Antonio Hart on sax, Robin Eubanks on trombone, Steve Nelson on vibes and Billy Kilson on drums.

Despite inconsistent and sometimes distant sound quality, these performances do not come from the Marlboro Festival's early years (it was founded in 1951) but from 1974 through 1997.

Pianist-composer Danilo Perez arrives at Catalina Bar & Grill on Tuesday to kick off a six-night run with a new quintet. Much of the program will consist of his adaptations of pieces from his fascinating new album "Motherland" (Verve). But Perez, who teaches improvisation and jazz studies at the New England Conservatory, hasn't been listening to current jazz lately. "Not much at all," he says, "and not much Latin jazz, either.

On its self-titled 1997 debut album, "Trip the Spring," the Fullerton rock band demonstrated a versatile touch with its musical stew in which blues, rock, folk, psychedelia and jazz mingled with uncommon ease. If the lyrics were opaque at times, they were at least pleasing to the ear and evocative. The good news about its successor is that the adventure-seeking quintet sounds even more self-assured and distinctive.

Perhaps there was a sense of cultural disconnection in hearing some of Alfred Schnittke's bleakest musical thoughts in the paradise of Pacific Palisades on Wednesday night. But then, that might well have been the point, for Schnittke's idiom is riddled with contradictions and ironies--and the powerful Chamber Music Palisades performance of his Piano Quintet in St. Matthew's Parish would have made a profound impact anywhere.