Jazz

LOS ANGELES - The cavernous dance club in downtown L.A. is hopping, and the weekend is still a day away. The club is ordinarily a hotbed of thumping house music, but tonight, the headliner - Houston-born jazz pianist and bandleader Robert Glasper - is switching things up. Behind a bank of keyboards, Glasper leads his quartet through a restless swirl of searching piano melody, causing the crowd to sway under the hazy colored lights. As the song gathers into focus, one musician begins repeating an unmistakable, 40-year-old refrain, his voice shaded by electronics: "A love supreme . . . A love supreme . . . " This introduction of John Coltrane (or at least the sounds he inspired)

STANLEY TURRENTINE, "Jazz in the Sanctuary. " Featuring the Clayton White Singers and Trudy Pitts & Mr. C with Lee Smith. Mother Bethel AME Church, 419 S. 6th St. Sunday, 7 p.m. Tickets: $20. Info: 215-893-9912. Stanley Turrentine remembers he was on a gig at Count Basie's club in New York City when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. James Earl Ray's bullet silenced an elegant voice, triggered urban riots and, says Turrentine, killed jazz in the black neighborhood.

Back in the 1930s and '40s, jazz was a popular source of entertainment. People flocked to large ballrooms to listen, dance and marvel at the skills of the musicians. But the presentation and packaging changed. Jazz became the exclusive province of the cerebral chic and cheap club owners. The music that best "reflects the American democratic idea," was banished to "dark, little, stinky clubs," says T.S. Monk, son of the late jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk. And T.S. Monk, a former funk and R&B drummer who now plays jazz, believes the only way for jazz to reconnect with Americans is to get it on television, not in the usual historical or cultural shows, but as pure entertainment - with lighting, staging, drama, excitement.

It's one of the top-selling jazz records of all time. Week in, week out, it sells more copies than many pop records - and it has for years. It is important because it brought together four of the greatest soloists of all time, as well as a top drummer and bassist, all of whom played at their peak on the record's six cuts, a couple of which have become jazz classics. It is Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, and on Aug. 17, the world of jazz will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of its recording.

Jazz, as an influence on music of this century, has a history that resembles the business cycle. Its chart shows surges and relapses, highs and lows, but an insistent presence. Speculum Musicae played from those charts Monday in a one-nighter at the Settlement Music School when three of its members performed jazz-based music written in the last 50 years. Stravinsky and Bohuslav Martinu spoke for the mid-century surge of jazz-based music; composers Edward Jacobs, Richard Festinger and Jonathan Harvey stood up for jazz as a vehicle to carry music into the new millennium.

The Mellon Jazz Festival rolled on last night at the Academy of Music with performances by two of the biggest question marks in the series, Michael Franks and Stanley Clarke. Never mind that it appeared to be an odd-couple booking; there were those who wondered just what either of these guys was doing at a jazz festival. As it turned out, Franks and Clarke came prepared with the answer. Clarke, of course, is the bass virtuoso whose jazz roots cannot be denied. As a member of Chick Corea's Return to Forever group and later on his own, Clarke was a vital force in the forging of fusion jazz in the early 1970s.

Jazz elements in non-jazz idioms keep a listener engaged, even when they lead to the most jarring dissonance and ambiguous tonality. I conclude this after attending a concert of contemporary classical compositions Friday at Temple University's Rock Hall. Parnassus, a virtuoso New York ensemble, presented four works, three of which received premieres. October by Temple professor Maurice Wright and Combo by Parnassus conductor Anthony Korf included at least a modicum of jazz elements (e.g.

THE AT&T INTERNATIONAL WOMEN IN MUSIC FESTIVAL. 3 p.m. Sunday, Mann Center for Performing Arts, 52nd Street and Parkside Avenue in West Fairmount Park. Tickets: $20, $25 and $30. PhilaCharge: 215-878-7707. They solo with the finesse of a Jean-Luc Ponty, wail with the same wallop as the big bands of Buddy Rich and Woody Herman, yet get only a fraction of the respect. Such is the fate when you're young, gifted, and a woman, treading in the male-dominated world of jazz. This Sunday, the first (hopefully annual)

I'm sure when Peter J. McGuire first thought up the idea of Labor Day in the early 1880s, his motive was good -we should honor America's workers. But like the holidays set aside to honor veterans, presidents and Christopher Columbus, Labor Day has become simply another day off, a chance to earn some overtime or catch a sale. It marks the end of summer, the start of school and the celebration of jazz. OK, so I made the last one up. What the heck, jazz should get a day of recognition, and not just when some famous dead guy's birthday rolls around.

It was another humdrum Tuesday at the Shore; not exactly the hottest night of the week for jaded nightlife aficionados. That is, unless you happened to be at Rosa's Southern Dining, a homey little oasis in a quiet residential neighborhood at the far end of Atlantic City's New York Avenue. A variety of patrons, ranging from local celebs to just plain folks, could be found munching on melt-in-your-mouth cornbread, crispy Southern fried chicken and sweet potato pie in the small, bright dining room festooned with sunny iris wallpaper and matching window treatments.

There's a jazz man's adage, attributed variously to Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis, that goes something like this: "There are two kinds of music, the good and the bad. I play the good kind. " Don Was, the bass player, producer, bandleader, songwriter, and now president of the storied jazz label Blue Note Records, divides the world differently. "There are two kinds of music," Was says. "Generous music and selfish music. " Was was talking from his home in Los Angeles as he got ready to head to Philadelphia to for the Non-Commvention, the national gathering of mostly public radio non-commercial music stations, hosted annually by WXPN (88.5 FM)

Last year's inaugural Center City Jazz Festival taught Ernest Stuart, its director, an important lesson: Never book yourself to perform if you're also running the show. He recalls that last year, just as he was about to step onstage with his trombone, "my phone started ringing. " The festival's headliner was threatening to walk because of problems at his hotel, and the WiFi had gone out at the box office. "Then I realized that I had been so busy working on the festival that I hadn't practiced this music," he says.

JAZZ COMES in a lot of flavors, some more accessible than others. How can you tell which will please you? This weekend's bigger and better, 2nd annual Center City Jazz Festival offers a fine and friendly way to sample a potpourri of fresh, sharply honed talents, most Philly-grown or -based, in an unusually convenient and casual fashion. We're talking everyone from the intimate vocal chanteuse Laurin Talese (a former backup singer for Jaguar Wright and Vivian Green) to the camped-up drag triller Martha Graham Cracker.

Zach Randolph had 25 points and 19 rebounds, and the host Memphis Grizzlies ended Utah's playoff hopes with an 86-70 victory over the Jazz on Wednesday. The Grizzlies' victory meant the Los Angeles Lakers were assured of making the playoffs and rendered their late Wednesday game against the Houston Rockets moot. Meanwhile, Memphis, the Western Conference's fifth seed, still held out hopes for home-court advantage if the Los Angeles Clippers lost at Sacramento in another late game.

FAMILY International Orchid Show You knew we had the world's largest indoor flower show. Well, we've got the third biggest orchid show, too. On its first foray into Center City, the exhibit transforms dioramas into lush botanical arrays and teaches guests useful and amazing nuggets about these notoriously beautiful plants. Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Ben Franklin Pkwy., 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, $13-$15, 215-299-1000, ansp.org. Philadelphia Antiques Show Did ya know you could blow the cost of a small rowhouse on a tall armoire?

IF YOU COULD make it at Spider Kelly's, you had already made it in the Philly jazz scene. After all, John Coltrane played there, as well as organist Jimmy Smith and numerous other local luminaries at a time ('50s and '60s) when Philadelphia was the place to be for the best in jazz. It was a tough crowd. A piano player kept a bottle of wine and a pistol under his piano. The denizens expected only the best in their kind of music, and they got it. The likes of Louis Jordan and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, playing at the nearby Earle Theatre, came by to scoop up talent for their bands.

Special Events Fly School Circus Arts: Daringly High Flying trapeze lessons. Empty lot between Spruce & Pine Sts. Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, www.flyschoolcircusarts.com . $55. Closes 4/27.   Germantown White House Exhibits Interactive exhibits featuring George Washington's family & household. Germantown White House (formerly Deshler-Morris House), 5442 Germantown Ave.; 215-965-2305. Operation Get in Shape Inc. Join others after work for a cardio blast fitness class in Tabor's Germantown-area office under the guidance of fitness instructors.

SALT LAKE CITY - The night after the Sixers snapped their 15-game road losing streak at Sacramento, things got back to normal. Randy Foye scored 17 points, Gordon Hayward added 15 on 3-for-3 shooting beyond the arc and the Utah Jazz beat the Sixers, 107-91, Monday night to halt a four-game losing streak. "We got off to a horrible start," Sixers coach Doug Collins said, "then we went to the second unit to see if they could get it going and they got to within 45-40. Then we gave them six straight turnovers and they had a 13-0 run. " Dorell Wright scored 19 for the Sixers (27-43)

SALT LAKE CITY - The inability to be consistent, something that has haunted the 76ers all season long, reared its ugly head again Monday night. One night after the lowest-scoring team in the NBA played with bounce in its stride, the sluggishness that has been a hallmark all season returned in an ugly 107-91 loss to the Utah Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena. The Sixers (27-43) shot the ball poorly and never led. They trailed by 19 at the end of the third quarter. Utah, which began the night 11/2 games out of the final Western Conference playoff spot, led by as many as 22 points in the fourth quarter.

Children can groove to the smooth sounds the Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble on Saturday at Longwood Gardens' OrKid Days. The group, which has performed around the world, will hit the stage at noon and 2 p.m. In addition to enjoying the free concert, children can learn about orchids and draw their own. The day also includes a Winter Wonders Hunt throughout the conservatory.   OrKid Days Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble, noon and 2 p.m. Saturday at Longwood Gardens, 1001 Longwood Rd., Route 1 and Route 52, Kennett Square, Pa. Free with admission, which is $18; $15 seniors age 62 and older; $8 students age 5-18; and free for children age 4 and younger.