Jazz

When Esperanza Spalding bested Justin Bieber for Best New Artist at the 2011 Grammy Awards, the upset was greeted by outraged tweets from Bieber's preteen constituency, shocked fanfare from the jaded jazz community, and confused stares from almost everyone else. If the crowd that gathered at the Electric Factory on Sunday night was any indication, far fewer people are asking, "Who is Esperanza Spalding?" these days. That's due in part to a series of very high-profile gigs.

The final days of the Julius Erving marathon have come down to one more meeting with each side. The odds apparently remain 50-50. The call still is too agonizingly close to make. But Utah Jazz owner Larry H. Miller and 76ers owner Harold Katz are negotiating pros, and each chose to lay his cards on the table in person. Miller caught a flight from Salt Lake City to Philadelphia early yesterday morning, en route to a dinner meeting with Erving, the Sixers' 36-year-old veteran free agent.

Joseph E. Hunter, 83, of Delran, a talk show host, journalist, and jazz aficionado who hosted the public-affairs show Perspective: Youth on Channel 6 (WPVI-TV) for more than 15 years, died of heart failure Dec. 10 at Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County in Willingboro. Mr. Hunter began his career in the Philadelphia media at a time when doors weren't always open to African Americans. He was a top graduate in the journalism department at Pennsylvania State University in 1950, but while other bright prospects were securing reporting internships, Mr. Hunter was offered a post as a copy boy. A writing career had long been his goal, so Mr. Hunter took the job. He became one of the first African Americans to work as a copy boy at The Inquirer and later the first to work in the library at the newspaper, said Acel Moore, associate editor emeritus of The Inquirer.

THIS YEAR'S CONCERT SEASON, called the "Essence of Entertainment," will run from July 7 to Aug. 25. The 2011 Dell summer concert series is as follows: July 7: Angie Stone and Joe July 14: Stephanie Mills and Keith Washington July 21: The Delfonics, Jerry Butler, Jean Carne, the Jones Girls, Russell Thompkins and the Stylistics July 28: Ginuwine, Tank and Avant Aug. 4: Fred Hammond and Martha Munizzi Aug.11: Jeffrey...

George Mesterhazy, 58, of Cape May, a Hungarian-born, Grammy-nominated jazz musician, died at home in his sleep early Thursday of what longtime life partner Vicki Watson called natural causes. Mesterhazy's selfless attitude when playing and composing music made him the perfect fit for renowned jazz singers for decades. He translated this musical quality into everyday life, leaving a legacy of generosity on and off the bandstand. "He is, by far, the most inspirational piano player I've ever worked with," said cabaret and jazz singer Paula Johns, with whom Mesterhazy worked for more than 20 years.

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.

Bunch Hammond, a jazz artist who was loved as much for the man he was as the music he played, died Wednesday. He was 59 and lived in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia. Whether he was jamming on South Street or playing at the Academy Ball, Hammond fit in. "He was the consummate jazz artist and a great leader," said Bill Broom, retired vice president of public relations for Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. and a personal friend. "He seemed to attract not only good musicians, but superb musicians, really.

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.

WHEN THE late Frank Rizzo was Philadelphia police commissioner, he wanted Donald Wilson to be his bodyguard. Although Don was fond of Rizzo, he had to turn him down. "I'm sorry," he said, "but I have music to play. " Don was a devoted cop for 22 years, but his first love was music — jazz, to be specific. He was a virtuoso on the piano and trumpet, and played in the police band and at the jazz clubs that once flourished in Philly, performing with John Coltrane and other notables of the jazz world.

When Esperanza Spalding bested Justin Bieber for Best New Artist at the 2011 Grammy Awards, the upset was greeted by outraged tweets from Bieber's preteen constituency, shocked fanfare from the jaded jazz community, and confused stares from almost everyone else. If the crowd that gathered at the Electric Factory on Sunday night was any indication, far fewer people are asking, "Who is Esperanza Spalding?" these days. That's due in part to a series of very high-profile gigs.

The jazz quartet performing Sunday at Drexel University's Mitchell Auditorium created music that you could not only hear, but see. Notes in an octave became pulses of blue, pink, and yellow. Chords on an electric keyboard looked like a moving, three-dimensional EKG. Bass notes morphed into streaks of neon green. The concert, part of the Philadelphia Science Festival, introduced the audience to the science of music by showing concepts like frequency, pitch, and timbre as visual elements.

Joe Muranyi, 84, a clarinetist whose mastery of pre-World War II jazz led to a four-year stint with Louis Armstrong's last band - and to an improbable moment of pop stardom - died April 20 in Manhattan. The cause was congestive heart failure, said his daughter, Adrienne Fuss. Mr. Muranyi was among a handful of jazz musicians who began their careers in the 1950s but looked to an earlier era for inspiration. Although he once studied with the forward-thinking pianist and composer Lennie Tristano, he spent most of his career with Dixieland bands, and he was widely regarded as one of the premier clarinetists in that genre.

Jazz trombonist Ernest Stuart had no idea that his fresh, dynamic project — one that he hoped would help rekindle the jazz scene in Philadelphia — would become the unlikely beneficiary of the demise of another jazz staple. But that's what happened. The West Oak Lane Jazz Festival, a popular fixture in Philadelphia for the last eight years, died just as Stuart's dream for an inaugural Center City Jazz Festival was becoming a reality. Such is the serendipitous nature of fate.

Music Pat Martino. Chris' Jazz Cafe offers one of our hometown's own black-and-blue soulful greats, South Philly guitarist Pat Martino, and his crew. It's been a banner year for the quiet, peaceful six-stringer. He's not only penned a new book, Here and Now! The Autobiography of Pat Martino (written with jazz scribe Bill Milkowski), but also released his first new album in five years, the live and vibrant Undeniable. Make it a (Jazz) day. — A.D. Amorosi Pat Martino & His Quartet Featuring Eric Alexander play at 8 and 10 p.m. Saturday at Chris' Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom St. Tickets: $35, $30. Information: 215-568-3131, www.chrisjazzcafe.com.

George Mesterhazy, 58, of Cape May, a Hungarian-born, Grammy-nominated jazz musician, died at home in his sleep early Thursday of what longtime life partner Vicki Watson called natural causes. Mesterhazy's selfless attitude when playing and composing music made him the perfect fit for renowned jazz singers for decades. He translated this musical quality into everyday life, leaving a legacy of generosity on and off the bandstand. "He is, by far, the most inspirational piano player I've ever worked with," said cabaret and jazz singer Paula Johns, with whom Mesterhazy worked for more than 20 years.

JOE JOHNSON was exhausted by the time the Hawks and Utah Jazz had dragged each other into a fourth overtime - in Atlanta's third game in 3 nights, no less. "It was unbelievable," he said. "I just had to laugh it off. I've never played in a game like that. " Johnson scored 37 points, Josh Smith added 22 and the Hawks ended Utah's six-game winning streak with a 139-133 victory Sunday night in the NBA's first quadruple-overtime game since 1997. The four overtimes tied for the third-longest game in NBA history.

Joe Johnson scored 37 points, Josh Smith added 22 and the host Atlanta Hawks ended Utah's six-game winning streak with a 139-133 victory Sunday night in the NBA's first quadruple-overtime game since 1997. The four overtimes tied for the third-longest in NBA history. It was the ninth NBA game to go four OTs and the first since Phoenix beat Portland 140-139 on Nov. 14, 1997. Al Jefferson finished with 28 points and 17 rebounds, and Paul Millsap had 25 points and 13 boards for the Jazz before both players fouled out in the final overtime.

Christian McBride is still a couple of months shy of 40, but on stage at Chris' Jazz Cafe on Friday night he suddenly felt old. Introducing "King Freddie of Hubbard," a composition from his debut album, Gettin' To It , the Philly-born bassist suddenly stopped, turned to the drummer, and asked, "When were you born?" "Nineteen ninety-four," came the response - the very year Gettin' was recorded. The Thelonious Monk Institute All-Star High School Jazz Septet, seven 16- and 17-year-olds selected from across the country, performed several selections from that recording with the bass great himself.