Jazz

The Glenelg United Methodist Church will be offering a free program entitled Java and Jazz at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 8, as part of the congregation's Community Concert Series. The concert will feature the Kenny Rittenhouse Jazz Quartet . Summer doesn't stop the Glenwood Community Center from offering lots of great events. The center will be offering an Introduction to Microsoft Word at 1 p.m. June 13. While it seems like the kids can just pick up any electronic device and use it, for those of us who are more mature, electronic devices can be a real challenge.

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences announced its Grammy Award nominations for jazz earlier this month.And almost immediately afterward, Baltimore radio announcer Joe Lee shook his head in sorrow."

The 30th Montreux Jazz Festival will be held July 5-20 in Switzerland by the shores of Lake Geneva in the resort town of Montreux. Not only jazz but also blues, reggae, soul, rap and pop will be performed by, among others, Quincy Jones, Stephan Eicher, David Sanborn, Phil Collins, George Benson, Elvis Costello and Herbie Hancock. Concerts will be held in the Stravinski Auditorium and Miles Davis Hall and on open-air stages. Information is available on the Jazz Festival's Web site -- http: //www.

Winard Harper's natural gift for percussion became evident at an age when most children can't yet read. At 4 years old, as his older brother listened to records in their Baltimore home, Harper would drum on whatever was in sight. His family saw musical potential in him that ended up spawning a 25-plus-year jazz career. From playing drums with his brother's band in clubs at age 5 to performing with the likes of Ray Bryant and Jimmy Heath, Harper has experienced a lifelong passion for jazz, especially jazz percussion.

During the last century, no musical form shook up the world more than jazz. It even influenced the visual arts, as evidenced by a vividly illustrated book called Jazz by Henri Matisse. That book provides the starting point for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's latest Explorer Series program, which promises a musical experience as boldly colored as the stenciled prints Matisse created using cutouts of painted paper. On the bill: Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No. 2, Age of Anxiety, premiered in 1949, two years after Matisse's Jazz was produced; Michael Torke's Bright Blue Music, a kinetic work from 1985 that suggests an aural version of a Matisse piece; and Leopold Stokowski's prismatic transcription of Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor.

Eva Anderson's Baltimore Dance Theatre takes great pains in creating an evening that is both entertaining and enlightening. In this company's latest endeavor at the Baltimore Museum of Art this weekend, Ms. Anderson joined with jazz composer and pianist Don Pullen in a collaborative venture that illustrated the inherent compatibility of both art forms. Jazz is a true American ,, product, as is modern dance; Ms. Anderson's choreography and Mr. Pullen's music remedied the curious fact that the two forms only occasionally meet.

The Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks, in partnership with Contemporary Arts Inc., a nonprofit organization working to advance jazz in the community, will offer a Music and Arts Academy Summer Camp where campers of all skill levels can study instruments, singing and dance. Jazz saxophonist Carl Grubbs will direct the camp. Instruction will be available on saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, guitar, drums and keyboards, and in African, modern and tap dance, as well as jazz singing.

* Editor's note: In 1930s New Orleans, informal rent parties are perfect venues for communities to come together and help each other out while everyone gets to appreciate up and coming jazz musicians. Every morning, as the sun was coming up, Sonny went to work for the coal man. Sonny's job was to jump down and drag the sacks into the alleys, then shovel the coal down the chutes. He made 10 cents a day, seven days a week. His mother worked in a fish canning factory. All day long she packed fancy little fist, earning a penny for each can she filled.

Like a lot of grass-roots organizations, the Chamber Jazz Society was born of a mixture of affection and frustration -- affection for the music some have called America's greatest native art form, and frustration over the fact that it's so rarely performed in Baltimore.Parvin Sharpless, Gloria Katzenberg and Stanley Panitz are friends and jazz fans who, over the years, had heard quite a lot of music together. "All three of us had gone to jazz concerts here and there, and enjoyed them," says Sharpless.

Stephanie Jordan, a jazz singer who has studied classical ballet and African and modern dance, won the 1994 Billie Holiday Vocal Competition at the Walters Art Gallery yesterday.June Page, who has worked as a teacher and flight attendant, placed second.Robin Rouse, a musical theater and variety show performer, took third among a field of 14 semifinalists.Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke launched the competition five years ago on the 75th anniversary of the legendary jazz singer's birth. Clair Zamoiski List, director of the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Art and Culture, said the objective is to commemorate Ms. Holiday's contribution to music and to recognize and support emerging artists from Baltimore and Baltimore County.