Monterey Festival’s Smaller Venues Hold Promise

The biggest West Coast jazz weekend of the fall season kicks off next Friday with the start of the 39th Monterey Jazz Festival--a colorful, three-day, virtually nonstop celebration of the music.

Among the many stellar events: Cedar Walton will premiere “Autumn Sketches,” a work for the pianist’s Eastern Rebellion sextet and orchestra, commissioned by the festival; Jon Hendricks will re-create his “Evolution of the Blues,” a work that debuted in Monterey in 1960; and there will be performances by Joshua Redman, Herbie Hancock, Roy Hargrove, Leon Parker, George Benson, the Yellowjackets and Jon Faddis with the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band.

Despite the lineup of familiar name talent in the main arena, the Jimmy Lyons Stage, the more exciting action at the festival often takes place in the smaller venues--the Garden Stage, the Night Club and Dizzy’s Den. This year’s roster of lesser-known but no less talented performers includes the Jon Jang Sextet’s unique blend of jazz and Chinese music; the imaginative singing of Ann Dyer and Kitty Margolis; the world-class and sadly underappreciated piano playing of Jessica Williams; Howard Johnson’s bass-heavy group, Gravity!; the cutting-edge bands of Peter Apfelbaum, Dave Ellis; and Dogslyde; and the unusual sounds of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble.

Tickets for the Jimmy Lyons Stage events were sold out long ago, but grounds admission tickets, which permit open access to all three smaller performance areas, are still available: $18 for next Friday, $23 for Sept. 21 and Sept. 22, $50 for a full weekend pass.

Not a bad deal, given the fact that it is in these venues that much of the festival’s less predictable, vastly more surprising music will be taking place.

Information: (800) 307-3378.

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Jazz Competition: It was almost a clean sweep for Los Angeles jazz in the selections for the finals of the 11th annual Cognac Hennessy Jazz Search, the nation’s largest jazz quest for new talent. Out of the four groups selected to perform in the finals competition at New York’s Bottom Line on Sept. 20, three are Los Angeles-based.

The Los Angeles Jazz Quartet, an acoustic-oriented group, is led by bassist Darek “Oles” Oleszkiewicz, with Larry Koonse, guitar; Chuck Manning, tenor saxophone; and Kevin Tullius, drums. Oleszkiewicz and Manning get a double shot at the finals by participating as sidemen in the second L.A. group selected, the James Carney Sextet. Carney, a pianist, has been justifiably praised for his imaginative, cutting-edge compositions. Other members of his group include Ralph Alessi, brass; Dan Morris, drums; and Peter Epstein, saxophones. The third group, the Greg Reitan Trio, is led by pianist and film and television composer Reitan, with Jack Daro, bass, and Dean Koba, drums. The fourth finalist is the Mike Holober Quartet from New York City, with Holober, piano; Tim Ries, saxophone; Doug Weiss, bass; and Scott Latzky, drums.

Finalists receive an all-expense-paid trip to New York, with the winners of the grand prize awarded $10,000 and the opening spot at 1997’s Playboy Jazz Festival. The second-prize winners receive $5,000 and the two third runner-up groups will be awarded $2,500 each.

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Reading Jazz: The much-awaited second edition of the “All Music Guide to Jazz” (Miller-Freeman, $24.95) has finally arrived. Half again as large as the first edition, it includes reviews of more than 13,000 recordings and profiles of more than 1,400 musicians. Many of the more egregious errors from the first edition have been corrected, and writer Scott Yanow, who provided the lion’s share of the reviews, not only examines the music, but also provides thoughtful, detailed background material for many of the recordings. An indispensable resource for any jazz record collector.

“Central Avenue: Its Rise and Fall (1890-c. 1955)” (BEEM Publications, $69.95, hardcover; $49.95, softcover) is a fascinating overview of a too-often-overlooked musical community. Included are more than a hundred period photographs of artists such as composer William Grant Still, musicians Phil Moore, “Big” Jay McNeely, Benny Carter, Ginger Smock and Dorothy Donegan, with oral histories that provide a rich cross-section of an extraordinary era--and one that was enormously, if quietly, influential--in American music. Information: (213) 291-7252.

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Around Town: The talented singer Nnenna Freelon and cutting-edge saxophonist Kenny Garrett continue their jazz twofer programs at Catalina Bar & Grill through Sunday. . . . On Monday, alternative jazz arrives at the same venue in the form of the multiple horn player Rent Romus. . . . Wednesday, Joe Williams replaces the still-hospitalized Mel Torme in the Hollywood Bowl’s jazz finale on a program that also includes a “Trumpet Madness” ensemble featuring Harry “Sweets” Edison, the venerable Doc Cheatham, Clark Terry, Roy Hargrove and Terence Blanchard. . . . The same night, singer Jeanie Bryson arrives at the Jazz Bakery with her highly personal renderings of Peggy Lee-associated songs.