Gibbs’ Return Highlights Busy Weekend

The first performances in three years by vibist Terry Gibbs’ Dream Band highlights a Labor Day weekend chock-full of exciting jazz festivals.

Gibbs, Jack Sheldon and Buddy DeFranco are the headliners at the inaugural West Coast Jazz Party, tonight through Monday at the Irvine Marriott Hotel.

Meanwhile, just up the 405 Freeway, Dick Hyman, Herb Ellis, Ken Peplowski and Harry “Sweets” Edison will be among those highlighting the 12th annual Los Angeles Classic Jazz Festival, which opens today and runs through Monday at the LAX Marriott and LAX Doubletree hotels.

And further up the road (this time it’s the 101), Supersax, Bill Cunliffe and Juan Carlos Quintero are featured on the bill of the seventh annual Santa Barbara Jazz Festival, running Saturday through Monday on the beach next to the city’s Stearns Wharf.

Gibbs’ Dream Band, an all-star aggregation that features Sheldon and Conte Candoli (trumpets), Med Flory, Pete Christlieb and Bill Perkins (saxes), Bob Enevoldsen (trombone), Tom Ranier (piano), Andy Simpkins (bass) and Frank Capp (drums), plays Sunday in Irvine.

The vibist originally led the band in Hollywood from 1959 to ‘61, then revived it in 1986, attaching the Dream Band name on the first of five recordings available on Contemporary Records.

The ensemble plays hearty, swinging fare by such great arrangers as Bill Holman, Bob Brookmeyer and the late Marty Paich.

Elsewhere at the mainstream-based Party, Gibbs and DeFranco deliver their tribute to Benny Goodman tonight, and Sheldon’s orchestra is set for Saturday. There will also be continuous performances by artists such as Jimmy Rowles, Red Holloway, Urbie Green, Roger Kellaway and Rickey Woodard. Shows are 7:30 nightly, except Monday, when performers will play from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets are priced from $35 to $175. Information: (714) 798-3320.

Out near LAX, the Classic Jazz fest offers a multitude of styles from traditional to swing and blues. More than 20 traditional groups--among them Chris Kelly’s Black and White band and Conrad Janis’ Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band--will appear on the festival’s numerous stages, with more swing-oriented fare from Roger Neumann’s Lucky Seven. Among the guest artists are the splendid New Orleans-based trumpeter Wendell Brunious, legendary violinist Claude “Fiddler” Williams, pianists Hyman, Ross Tompkins and Gerald Wiggins, trombonist Buster Cooper and guitarist Ellis.

Music begins at noon today and runs to 1:30 a.m., on Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m., and Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets range from $25 to $170. Information: (310) 521-6893, 641-5700.

An even wider mix of sounds is on tap for the beach bash in Santa Barbara. There, Latin jazz notables like guitarist Quintero and keyboardist Freddie Ravel and jazz/fusion performers such as Pressed for Time are scheduled along with modern mainstreamers such as saxman Bruce Eskovitz, trumpeter Sal Marguez and pianist Cunliffe, be-boppers like Supersax, and such R&B; bands as King Cotton. Shows run noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and from noon to 7:30 p.m. Monday. Tickets are priced from $7 to $45. Information: (805) 892-2250, ext. 3000.

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Free Music: There are plenty of free events this Labor Day weekend. Master pianist Cedar Walton’s trio, the Jazz Classics with Patrice Rushen and Ndugu Chancler, and altoist James Mahone’s quartet play Sunday, 4 to 7 p.m., at the African Marketplace and Cultural Faire, located at Rancho Cienega Park, corner of Rodeo Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. Entrance to the Faire is $3 but the concert is free. Information: (213) 734-1164. . . .

Harold Land and Cecilia Coleman are among the jazz artists set for Fiesta de las Artes, at the corner of Pier and Hermosa avenues in Hermosa Beach. On Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m., hear blues belter Barbara Morrison and Coleman’s quintet. Sunday, starting at 12:30 p.m., there’s Susie Hansen’s vital Latin jazz band, then singer Dee Dee McNeil and up-and-coming bassist Kyle Eastwood. Monday’s artists include harpist Lori Andrews, 10 a.m., and saxophonist Land and singer Morrison, 1-5 p.m. Information: (310) 374-9773. . . .

Pianist Horace Tapscott appears tonight, 5:30 p.m., at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, while Bill Holman’s superb jazz orchestra is heard Sunday, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Information: (213) 857-6000. . . .

On Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Cathy Segal-Garcia and Dave Mackay conduct a vocal clinic at Pedrini Music in Alhambra. Information: (213) 283-1932. . . . Ageless pianist Hadda Brooks tears it up today at noon at California Plaza, 350 Grand St., Downtown. Information: (213) 687-2159.

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Surfing the Jazzwaves: “The Story of Jazz,” with interviews of Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis and others, as well as lots of classic archival footage, airs tonight at 7 (and repeats Sunday, 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.), on the Bravo channel. The program kicks off a two-month series of special jazz shows. (See TV review on F8).

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Critic’s Choices: Renowned Brazilian percussionist Mayuto holds forth at the Jazz Bakery on Saturday, Claude “Fiddler” Williams is there Sunday and avant-garde pianist LaMont Johnson hosts a CD release party Tuesday. Information: (310) 271-9039.