Jazz

Rosette Gonzales The hills surrounding the Starlight Bowl will resonate with the melodious sounds of the Burbank Philharmonic Orchestra, in the final performance of the summer season at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. The concert features a special jazz ensemble treat with Cheryl Carter and the Steve Trytten Trio. "We're the last concert and we're going to go out with a bang," said Steven Kerstein, who has conducted the orchestra for 15 years. "People will be certain to leave with a smile on their face."

Anh Nguyen NORTH HOLLYWOOD -- It was a lesson in music. Twelve musically inclined Burbank High School students attended the final rehearsal for David Koz's Third Annual Smooth Jazz Christmas Tour Thursday as part the "GRAMMY Sessions," educational program. The program is sponsored by the GRAMMY Foundation, a nonprofit arm of the Recording Academy, which cultivates understanding and appreciation of music and arts. They Burbank students were joined at Third Encore Studios by students from Westchester High School in Los Angeles.

The pursuit of the American dream will blend with traditional Christmas carols when the Glendale Symphony Orchestra presents its "Sounds of Christmas" concert on Friday at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. Musical director and conductor Olivia Tsui has invited her longtime friend, Burbank composer and guitarist Del Casher, to join in the celebration. The orchestra will perform two of his works, "Americana Suite" and "A Christmas Medley," with his band, Del Casher's Jazz Five, she said.

Bobbie Garcia is preserving the jazz vocal sound with his group Crescendo. While traditional jazz has an instrumental format or features just a solo vocalist, Crescendo mixes its quintet of harmonizing vocals with jazz music and sprinkles in a little a cappella singing. The Glendale resident likens the sound to that made famous by such groups as Manhattan Transfer and the Swingle Singers. "I think we are probably the only professional group that I know of on the West Coast that keeps this genre of vocal jazz alive," he said.

Paul Andersen, Weekend GLENDALE -- Her eyes closed, Kathleen Frasca is already lost within the song. Her fingers grasp the large silver microphone, an old-style that looks as if it would have been at home in one of those pre-war, big band radio broadcasts. As the trio plays behind her, she starts to sing, and the transformation is complete, the destination being postwar rather than pre-war. Welcome to the atomic age cocktail world of Dead Ringer.

Lucy's 51 is a classic Toluca Lake spot, one still haunted by the gently jiving spirits of high times and late nights long since past. This room on Riverside Drive has a formidable history: Its previous incarnation was venerable jazz club the Money Tree, a legendary joint where Hollywood musical giants like pianist Page Cavanaugh, trumpeter Jack Sheldon and drummer Earl Palmer bewitched audiences decades ago. It's also the spot where actor-jazz fan...

Joyce Rudolph A daylong jazz festival, seasoned with a New Orleans Creole dinner and art show, is planned by the Glendale Kiwanis from noon to 11 p.m. June 29 at Glendale Community College. There will be 15 bands playing on six stages, including local bands like the Glen Roberts Big Band from Glendale and Titanic led by Dan Comins of Burbank, for the Jazz & Art Festival 2002. The works of 20 artists will be on display in the art show, and there will be refreshments sold like barbecued items, tea, coffee, beer, wine, ice cream and shaved ice. Classic cars will be displayed by the Jewel City Model A Ford Club, and Star Ford of Glendale is going to show new cars from its showroom.

Four female choreographers from different backgrounds -- Midwestern, Western, Japanese and African-American -- explore jazz/modern dance styles in the final segment of "Split: Dance In and Out of L.A." tonight at The Alex Theatre. Eisenhower Dance Ensemble from Rochester, Mich., is the visiting company. Directed by Laurie Eisenhower, the group will perform "Stop," featuring aggressive and innovative partnering, and "Trilogy," inspired by different biblical references.