Jazz Notes: Goings on in the jazz world

Today is March 4.

Tenor saxophonist Ricky Ford was born this day in Boston in 1954. A member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington in the mid-1970s, he has toured with Charles Mingus, Abdullah Ibrahim and the Newport Jazz Festival All-Stars.

Norwegian tenor saxophonist and composer Jan Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway, this day in 1947. He made his first recording at a jazz festival in Warsaw, Poland, in 1966.

Garbarek has recorded and toured extensively since then with pianist Keith Jarrett. He is featured on Jarrett's classic album "My Song." In 1994, he soared up the classical charts with a jazz-meets-Gregorian chant recording on ECM called "Officium."

Tenor saxophonist Barney Wilen was born this day in Nice, France, in 1937. He recorded in Paris in the 1950s with John Lewis and worked with Miles Davis on his highly regarded "Lift to the Scaffold" movie soundtrack. In between musical phases, he worked as an anthropological filmmaker. He died in 1996.

Looking at today's hip happenings...

On the New York jazz scene, pianist Dwike Mitchell and bassist and French horn player Willie Ruff bring their longtime duo collaboration to Cooper Union's Great Hall for a free concert tonight. It celebrates the start of their artists-in-residency at New York University. They will lead master classes in performance, lecture in ethnomusicology and jazz history, and participate in a panel discussion on jazz life with journalists William Zinsser and Nat Hentoff and historian Robin Kelley at New York University and The Jazz Gallery.

Ralph Alessi and Modular Theatre are at the Knitting Factory tonight. The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra is at the Village Vanguard. Guitarist Les Paul's trio is at Iridium. Oscar Feldman is in the Monday night spotlight at the Blue Note. The Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra featuring saxophonist Lew Tabackin is at Birdland tonight.

Boston's Berklee College of Music holds its annual Piano Week festivities today through Thursday. It features concerts and clinics by visiting artists, Berklee's piano faculty and some of the college's top student pianists. The schedule today and tonight includes pianists Joan Brackeen and Alon Yavnai and an organ concert by Dave Limina will perform an organ concert. Other performers this week include Bruce Katz, Larry Goldings, Eduardo Tancredi and the Suzanna Sifter Jazz Quartet.

Flute player Jamie Baum, guitarist Kenny Wessel and bassist Jerome Harris today open a month-long State Department tour as Kennedy Center Jazz Ambassadors. It will bring them to Thailand, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India before a homecoming concert at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., on April 5.

On the New Orleans jazz scene, Bob French leads the Monday night jam session at Donna's. Drummer Jason Marsalis's quartet is at the Funky Butt tonight, following an early show by the Pearl Harbor Jazz Ensemble. Joe Krown's Organ Combo is at Le Bon Temps Roule. Reginald Koeller leads the band at Preservation Hall. Singer Charmaine Neville is at Snug Harbor with her band. Guitarist Brian Seeger is at the Stationhouse Grille. The Dukes of Dixieland perform for the dinner crowd aboard the Steamboat Natchez. The Treme Brass Band is at the Storyville District Jazz Parlor.

On the California jazz scene, the Steve Huffsteter Big Band is at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles tonight. The John Peace Super Band is at Steamer's Jazz Café in Fullerton. Singer Mary Stallings is at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz tonight. Tracy Todd is in the spotlight tonight at the Catalina Bar and Grill in North Hollywood. The Carma Big Band is at Yoshi's in Oakland tonight.

The Renegade Sidemen are at Anna's Bistro in Berkeley.

In San Francisco, Barry Lloyd is at The Plush Room. Bryce Rhode is at the Bix Restaurant and Supper Club. The Contemporary Jazz Orchestra is at Jazz at Pearl's.

Trumpeter Ray Vega's quintet is at the Jazzclub in Hannover, Germany, tonight.