Jazz Notes: Goings on in the jazz world

Today is Oct. 29.

Two jazz musicians with very strong connections to the Woody Herman band were born today. Songwriter, arranger and trumpeter Neal Hefti was born this day in 1922 in Hastings, Neb. His skills as a jazz big band arranger burst forth in the mid-1940s when he was with Woody Herman.

Tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims was born in 1925 in Inglewood, Calif. He was one of the original members of the classic "Four Brothers" saxophone section in Herman's Second Herd. He was in the band from 1947 to 1949. Known for a distinctive and driving sense of swing, Sims frequently co-led bebop quintets with tenor player Al Cohn from 1957 through the early 1980s. Sims died in 1985 at age 59.

Looking at today's hip happenings...

Hollywood film director Steven Soderbergh and actor George Clooney plan to bring jazz to the big screen again with a Buddy Rich biopic. A post on the late drummer's official Web site reports that Soderbergh and Clooney will produce the film. Buddy's daughter, Cathy Rich, is executive producer and Miguel Ferrer, who starred in Soderbergh's film "Traffic," has been cast to play the drummer.

On the New York jazz scene... Wallace Roney's All-Star Quintet with Patrice Rushen, James Spaulding, Buster Williams and Lenny White is at Iridium through Sunday. Regina Carter's quintet is at the Village Vanguard this week.

Billy Joel joins jazz harmonica great Toots Thielemans tonight only at the Blue Note as part of Thielemans' 80th birthday celebration. Each night, a special guest will join Thielemans and his quartet. Besides Joel, guests include saxophonist Joe Lovano, pianist and composer George Shearing, and guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves.

The Illinois Jacquet Big Band celebrates Jacquet's 80th birthday this week at the Jazz Standard. Quizamba brings Brazilian jazz to the Zinc Bar tonight and Wednesday. Paula West opens tonight at the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room, accompanied by the Eric Reed trio. The New School University's Jazz and Contemporary Music Program presents pianist Kenny Werner and clarinetist Andy Statman tonight in its new "Jazz at 6:30" series at Tishman Auditorium.

The Herbie Hancock quartet is at the Hart Theater in Albany tonight.

Saxophonist Gary Sugal's Contemporary Jazz Big Band is in the Wolf Den at the Mohegan Sun Resort Casino in Uncasville, Conn., tonight through Thursday.

In and around Boston... Rick Braun, Kirk Whalum and Norman Brown are at Scullers tonight and Wednesday. Paul Im and Remember Rockefeller are at The Regattabar in Cambridge. Guitarist Bruce Bartlett's trio is at Ryles jazz club in Cambridge tonight.

On the Chicago jazz scene... Jesse Davis's quartet is at the Jazz Showcase through Sunday. Men of Note are at Andy's tonight. The Chicago Jazz Composers Collective and Jimmy Sutton's Four Charms are at the Green Mill. Ken Cheney is at Joe's BeBop Cafe and Jazz Emporium on Navy Pier. Von Freeman and Friends are at the New Apartment Lounge. The Bobby Broom trio is at Pete Miller's Steakhouse in Evanston. Marshall Vente is at Philander's in Oak Park. The Keli Briggs Allison trio is at Pops for Champagne.

In New Orleans... the Ian McPhail quartet and the Ted Hefko quartet are at the Blue Nile tonight. John Rankin and Company are at The Columns Hotel. New Orleans Streetbeat is at the Crescent City Brewhouse. Tom Hook is at Dos Jefes. Ingrid Lucia is at the Ritz Carlton's French Quarter Bar. Maurice Brown's Chi-Town is at the Funky Butt. Louis Ford is at Satchmo's jazz room at Harrah's casino.

Trumpeter Greg Stafford leads tonight's band at Preservation Hall. The Rob Wagner trio is at the Seaport Cafe. Tony Dagradi's trio is at Snug Harbor. David Torkanowsky and Matt Lemmler are at the Windsor Court. Adonis Rose is at d.b.a.

Henry Butler is at the Lied Center for the Performing Arts in Lincoln, Neb., tonight.

Tonight's schedule at the 20th anniversary edition of the San Francisco Jazz Festival features The Beacon Award concert at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre with Ed Kelly, Robert Stewart, Eddie Marshall, David Hardiman, Michele Rosewoman, Khalil Shaheed, Babatunde Lea, Ron Belcher, Jules Broussard and the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir.

Elsewhere on the California jazz scene... trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos leads the weekly Tuesday night jam at the Onyx Room in San Diego. Singer Wesla Whitfield is at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles tonight through Sunday. John Pisano hosts Guitar Night at Spazio in Sherman Oaks. Saxophonist Pete Christlieb is at Charlie O's in Valley Glen tonight.

The Gina Saputo quintet is at Steamers Jazz Cafe in Fullerton tonight. Tonight brings Phil Norman's birthday celebration to the Catalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood. Juan-Carlos Formell is at Yoshi's in Oakland tonight and Wednesday. The Vince Lateano trio featuring guitarist Calvin Keys is at Jazz at Pearl's in San Francisco.

On the recording front...

A new two-fer CD by reedman, composer and arranger John La Porta called "Theme and Variations" is out today on the Fantasy label. The disc consists of "Conceptions," a 1956 recording that features mostly original material performed by ensembles ranging from duet to septet and a previously unreleased late-'57, early-'58 recording of "Theme and Variations," described by La Porter as "a major composition for octet."

Fantasy is also back in print with two Terry Gibbs Dream Band albums volume four, "Main Stem," recorded at the Summit in Hollywood in January 1961, and volume five, "The Big Cat," from the same sessions.

Rhino Handmade, the specialty, Internet-only boutique label of Rhino Records, has come up with another gem. Little Jimmy Scott's lost classic, "Falling in Love Is Wonderful," joins the ranks of the audiophile LP version of John Coltrane's "The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings" and many other collector-oriented, limited-edition releases by Rhino Handmade.

David Ritz, who authored Scott's new biography, also supplied liner notes to the "Falling in Love Is Wonderful" reissue, which is limited to 7,500 individually numbered copies worldwide and is only available from rhinohandmade.com.

The CD features the original LP's 10 tracks, including "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "They Say It's Wonderful" and the keyboard stylings of the album's producer, Ray Charles. The "genius of soul" produced the LP, originally released in 1963 on his Tangerine label, but the album was quickly recalled due to a contractual dispute between Scott and Savoy Records.

Milestone today releases "McGriff Avenue," the new CD by Jimmy McGriff. It's the organist's 14th for the label, counting the five he's cut as co-leader with Hank Crawford. Saxophonist Gordon Beadle, of blues guitarist Duke Robillard's band, is the newcomer on the date, which features McGriff mainstays such as Bernard Purdie, Bill Easley and guitarist Rodney Jones.

Connect the dots from Rhode Island to Oklahoma to Oregon and somehow you'll find your way, at least sonically, to the Culver City section of Los Angeles. That's where Frank Potenza, originally from Providence, Pat Kelley, originally from Tulsa, and Portland native John Stowell recorded their new CD. It's called "Three Guitars, Live at the Jazz Bakery." All three players now are based on the West Coast. This evening of live guitar music marked the first time they had performed together. Their camaraderie is evident from the get-go.