Jazz Notes: Goings on in the jazz world

Today is Feb. 26.

Tenor saxophonist Flip Phillips was born this day in 1915 in Brooklyn, N.Y. He worked in the 1940s with Benny Goodman, Woody Herman and Red Norvo, and toured for 10 years with the Jazz at the Philharmonic, where he was an intensely rhythmic and crowd-pleasing player. He died Aug. 17, 2001, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Trumpeter Roy Eldridge died this day in 1989 at age 78 in Valley Stream N.Y.

This was the day, in 1917, when the first released jazz record was recorded. Cornetist Nick LaRocca's Original Dixieland Jass Band went into the Victor studios in New York and recorded two exuberant tunes, "Livery Stable Blues" and "Dixieland Jass Band One-Step."

The 78-RPM recording was a runaway hit that sold more than one million copies. Within five years, when many black bands were being recorded, the ODJB was considered more of a dated band, and fell out of favor. There was a reunion tour and recording in 1936.

On this day in 1945, Woody Herman first recorded his big band's boppish arrangement of the Louis Jordan hit "Caldonia."

Looking at today's hip happenings...

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proclaiming today "Jazz Education Day" at an event where Jazz at Lincoln Center Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis will launch a Jazz for Young People curriculum. The new multi-media, interactive jazz appreciation curriculum being will be made available nationwide. The new program is based on the Jazz for Young People concert series. It was created in conjunction with Scholastic, Inc. and will be distributed by Warner Bros. Publications. Marsalis will teach a participatory lesson on jazz to 25 middle-school students at today's event.

On the New York jazz club and concert scene, this is week one of the Blue Note's month-long Latin Jazz Festival. Ray Barretto and New World Spirit will alternate sets with Jerry Gonzalez and the Fort Apache Band tonight through Sunday. Pianist Geri Allen's trio is at Iridium all week. Bassist Ray Drummond's quartet featuring Craig Handy, Stephen Scott and Billy Hart is at the Village Vanguard tonight through Sunday.

Singer Dean Bowman's Soul Trilogy band and electric bassist Matt Garrison's band are at Tonic tonight. Pianist George Shearing is at Feinstein's at the Regency through Saturday. Trombonist Jack Jeffers directs the Duke Ellington Orchestra at Birdland tonight after an early evening show by David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Centennial Band. Drummer Victor Jones's trio and vocalist Jillian are at the Zinc Bar tonight and Wednesday.

Solo guitar wizard Stanley Jordan is at the Knitting Factory tonight, where tonight's eclectic schedule also includes Kahil El¹Zabar¹s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. Napua Davoy and Loston Harris open tonight at Bemelmans Bar in the Hotel Carlyle. Davoy sings for the early crowd, Harris for the night owls. Trombonist Chris Washburne's SYOTOS Latin jazz band is at Void tonight.

Russian tenor saxophonist Igor Butman returns to his late 1980s stomping ground in the Boston area tonight. His Moscow quartet is at the Regattabar in Cambridge. Saxophonist Deric Dyer's group is at Scullers jazz club in Boston tonight.

On the Chicago jazz scene, Men of Note are at Andy's tonight. Guitarist Pat Martino opens a weeklong run with his trio at the Jazz Showcase. The Vandermark Five are at the Empty Bottle. Franz Jackson and His Jazz Entertainers are at Joe's BeBop Café and Jazz tonight. The Steven Hashimoto Quartet is at the Leopard Lounge. Tenor sax titan Von Freeman and friends are at the New Apartment Lounge tonight. The Keith Scott band is at Pops for Champagne tonight.

In New Orleans tonight, the Jazz Vipers are at El Matador. Ingrid Lucia and the Flying Neutrinos swing their way into the Ritz Carlton's French Quarter Bar. The ReBirth Brass Band is at the Maple Leaf. Pete Fountain is in the spotlight at his club on the riverfront. Trumpeter Gregg Stafford leads the band at Preservation Hall. Guitarist Steve Masakowski's Three Amigos are at Snug Harbor tonight. George French is at the Storyville District Jazz Parlor.

On the California jazz scene, drummer Dave Weckl's band is at the Catalina Bar and Grill in North Hollywood tonight through Sunday. Randy Caputo presents a Gene Krupa tribute tonight at Steamer's Jazz Café in Fullerton. The Terry Becker band is at Café Caracas in Berkeley. Jack West and Curvature are at Yoshi's in Oakland. Mad and Eddie Duran are at the Albatross Pub in Berkeley. Aaron Greenblatt is at the Downtown restaurant in Berkeley.

In San Francisco, the SF Symphony Players' Jazz Jam takes place tonight at the Beach Chalet. The Hot Club of San Francisco is at Enrico's. Paul Hull is at the Plush Room. Drummer Vince Lateano's trio is at Jazz at Pearl's. The Jennifer Lee trio is at the Top of the Mark. Alan Steger is at the Bix Restaurant & Supper Club.

After a one-month postponement, the second International Artists Conclave, an event with the theme "God Bless the Child" gets under way today in and around Jerusalem. Four days of concerts and cultural events are scheduled to bring attention to the plight of children who are victims of international conflict in the Middle East and elsewhere. The events will include combined performance by a number of New York-based jazz, blues and gospel musicians and dancers as well as some of the foremost Israeli and Arabic musicians.

The events have been planned by jazz saxophonist Arnie Lawrence and writer Anna Immanuel in conjunction with Lawrence's International Center for Creative Music. Writer Salman Natour will receive the conclave's second Jerusalem Humanitarian Jazz Award on Thursday at a concert in Tantur.

Scheduled performers at conclave events include Evelyn Blakey, representing the Art Blakey Legacy Band, singer Jane Blackwood, George V. Johnson Jr. and the No Mo' Hard Times Revue. Concerts include an event at Hemdat Uamim, the peak of Mt. Meron in Galilee, and every night at Lawrence's Arnie's Jazz-ness Café.

The Ray Vega Latin jazz quintet is at the Casa de Cultura in Denia, Spain, tonight as part of its first European tour.

Spanky Wilson and Red Holloway are at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Club in Paris tonight through Sunday.

On the recording front...

-- Singer Kathy Kosin's newest release "Mood Swings" is out today on the Chiaroscuro label.

-- Galactic drummer Stanton Moore's latest solo project "Flyin' the Koop" was released today on Blue Thumb. He's featured with bassist Chris Wood, guitarist Brian Seeger and saxophonists Karl Denson and Skerik. The New Orleans' Wild Magnolias Mardi Gras Indians join on one track, "Fallin' Off the Floor."

-- The Verve label is out today with the latest in its 75th birthday reissue series of Stan Getz compilations. "Getz Plays Jobim: The Girl from Ipanema" features the tenor master performing both famous and lesser-known compositions by Antonio Carlos Jobim.