Jazz

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Jazz, desperate to avoid one of the most embarrassing defeats in NBA history, finally ended Denver's memorable playoff run yesterday.Karl Malone scored 31 points as Utah halted its playoff skid against the upstart Nuggets with a 91-81 victory in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals."Everybody loves Cinderella, everybody loves the underdog. So it was neat to get the job done," Malone said. "I love to hunt and fish in the summers, but I'm not quite ready to do that yet."

According to the media buzz, Wynton Marsalis is one of jazz's new traditionalists -- you know, those nicely-dressed young men who disdain rock-and-roll and play the sort of jazz college kids in the '60s used to adore. In fact, the 29-year old trumpeter (who performs in Shriver Hall this evening) is widely credited with having singlehandedly sparked the movement.It's not a portrait Marsalis entirely agrees with. Although he doesn't mind the attention -- "Believe me, I'm grateful to get any publicity," he laughs, "even when it's bad" -- he feels this portrait often leads people to the wrong conclusion about the motives behind his work.

The Glenelg High School Jazz Ensemble will perform at 7 p.m. Jan. 25 at the Glenwood Community Center, 2400 Route 97, Cooksville. The ensemble has received more than 60 awards over the past 10 years, including the highest rating at the Maryland State Jazz Festival, and has performed with guests such as Maynard Ferguson, the Count Basie Orchestra, Carl Fischer, Chris Vadala, Deanna Bogart and others. Admission is free (tickets are not required), but donations are welcomed. Information: 410-313-4840.

Soon after pianist Art Tatum began playing professionally in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio, jazz musicians whose tours included that area heard on their grapevine that he deserved a hearing.So after trumpeter Rex Stewart, along with saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and others in Fletcher Henderson's band, first heard Tatum at age 17 or 18 in a small club in 1926 or 1927, Stewart wrote:"To a man, we were astonished, gassed, and just couldn't believe our eyes and ears. How could this nearly blind young fellow extract so much beauty out of an old beat-up upright piano that looked like a relic from the Civil War?"

Halfway through a set at Simon's of Butchers Hill, the drummer of the David Wells Trio was onstage tapping and grinning with his mouth shut. Anyone sitting in the upstairs dining room with him could read his mind: "Man, this is some smooooth jazz." And if owner Eugene Jones can lock down a consistently solid lineup four nights a week, Simon's upstairs room will be a routine stop for local jazz lovers. Jones is pretty close right now but still has a kink or two to work out. Jones, formerly the manager of Fat Lulu's, opened the upstairs in November.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Too much rest and too much Karl Malone was the recipe of defeat for the Seattle SuperSonics last night, as they fell 108-100 to the Utah Jazz in the opening game of a second-round NBA playoff series.The decision came before 19,911 towel-waving customers in the deluxe and at times deafening Delta Center.It was Seattle's first game since last Thursday's victory over Golden State that clinched the first-round series. Utah, meanwhile, had played Sunday and Monday and the Jazz had an energy and cohesion that the Sonics were obviously without.

See the kick-off acts at this year's Capital Jazz Festival in Columbia on Wednesday. Performers include jazz greats George Benson, Al Jarreau and Gerald Albright. The concert marks the first day of the five-day festival. It begins at 6:30 p.m. at Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway. Tickets are $30-$90. Call 410-547-SEAT or go to ticketmaster.com.

A uniquely American art form - jazz, in all its vocal and instrumental glory - takes center stage this weekend at Columbia Festival of the Arts, with national, regional and local artists evoking the spirits of such pioneering performers as Count Basie, Cannonball Adderley and Billie Holiday. The Baltimore-Washington Jazzfest, tomorrow through Sunday at five sites in Columbia, grew from a one-night, single-venue event nine years ago to a weekend celebration, now in its sixth year. "We're here to promote jazz, pure and simple," says John Tegler, host of "Jazz Straight Ahead" on WEAA-FM and one of Jazzfest's principal planners.

BJ JazzWhere: 3407 Greenmount Ave.Hours: 11 a.m.-2 a.m. daily.Menu: Seafood, sandwiches, burgers.Credit cards: Not accepted.Call: 467-4022.Even if the revisionist jazz historians are right and Billie Holiday was born in Philadelphia instead of Baltimore, it still ain't fair that so few local clubs offer live jazz. Considering Baltimore's rich jazz history, and some of the fine musicians who live here, the paucity of jazz venues is a puzzler.So a warm welcome is in order for a new club in Waverly, BJ Jazz, that will be presenting live jazz bands at least a couple nights a week and will otherwise rely on a CD jukebox with 800 jazz titles.

They are giants of American musical culture, revered in countries near and far, celebrated in movies past and present, honored at music festivals, studied in universities, recorded in studios, nightclubs and concert halls around the world.They gave America a musical form to call its own and created a vast repertoire of songs, solos and techniques that help define the American experience in sound.But so far as television is concerned, America's jazz musicians are all but invisible. Effectively banned from prime time, mocked on late-night talk shows, largely ignored by public broadcasting, paid scant attention even on cable, jazz very nearly has been wiped off the tube.