Doc Severinsen Will Host Hennessy Talent Search

It’s that time once again for area jazz players to metaphorically lock horns or keyboards or guitars, for that matter--in the annual the Hennessy Cognac Jazz Search, a talent competition.

“I am looking forward to hearing some great new talent in 1991,” said “Tonight Show” Orchestra leader/trumpeter Doc Severinsen, who will serve as Hennessy’s national judge and host, in a press release.

Applicants--of any age and playing any style--may enter the HCJS, now in its seventh year, by submitting an audiotape of a performance (no longer than 20 minutes) to HCJS, 3435 Ocean Park Blvd., Suite JAZZ, Santa Monica, Calif. 90405.

Tapes, which must be postmarked by March 1, will be judged by a panel of jazz musicians, and those artists selected will participate in play-offs in venues around the United States. The grand prize winner receives $5,000 and a spot on the lineup of the Playboy Jazz Festival on June 16.

Symposium on Swing: Benny Carter, Buddy Collette and Earl Palmer are among the musicians and scholars scheduled to take part in “The Swing Years: Influences of African/American Composers and Arrangers During the Big Band Era.” The event, a combination of panel discussions, audiovisual presentations and musical performances which highlights the work of such greats as Carter, Fletcher Henderson and Sy Oliver, will be held Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., at the Ivar Theater in Hollywood. The symposium is sponsored by the Young Saints Scholarship Foundation, which provides free training in the performing arts for youths ages 5 to young adult. Donation: $5. Information: (213) 734-5379.

Jazz Caravan Salutes Lindsay: The five-piece Jazz Caravan ensemble, which, under the aegis of the Los Angeles Jazz Society and the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, brings jazz to a number of Los Angeles area elementary and secondary schools during February, plays a free concert in memory of the late Councilman Gilbert Lindsay on Thursday, 11:15 a.m., in the rotunda of City Hall.

The show--celebrating jazz events which took place in Hollywood from 1945-72, drawing inspiration from Richard Wyatt’s recently unveiled mural on the south wall of the Capitol Records Tower--features trumpeter Al Aarons, saxophonist Ann Patterson, pianist Dwight Dickerson, bassist Leslie Baker and drummer Jack LeCompte. Chuck Niles of KLON-FM serves as emcee/historian. The Caravan--in its third year of visiting area schools--plays a second public show at the Lankershim Arts Center in North Hollywood on Feb. 23, 1 p.m. Information: (213) 469-6800.

Club Crawl: Don Allen, drummer with the Groove Merchants of Venice, is hosting a swing-style jam session, cryptically dubbed “Rock Bottom’s Lucky Strike” at the Mint in Los Angeles on Saturdays, midnight-4 a.m. “It’s going to be strictly in the swing music tradition of Ellington, Goodman, Basie, et al., so there’ll always be an acoustic piano and bass,” said Allen. “And musicians who enjoy that style have told me they’ll stop by.” Information : (213) 937-9630. Allen’s busy this weekend: the GMOV play the Nucleus Nuance in Hollywood, Saturday, 9 p.m. Information: (213) 939-8666 . . .

Musicians are also invited to sit in with pianist/saxophonist Dennis Berger’s quartet--guitarist Rich Cohen and bassist Henry Franklin are regulars--as it breezes through jazz classics and pop standards Fridays, 8:30-11:30 p.m., in the Strings lounge of the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Hotel, 5985 Century Blvd., near LAX. (213) 642-7500. No cover charge.

In the Bins: Congero Poncho Sanchez’s “Cambios” (Concord Picante) showcases his long-standing band as well as a trio of guest appearances by trumpet maestro Freddie Hubbard on tunes like “Yesterdays,” “Skydive” and “My Foolish Heart” . . . “Dorothy Romps: A Piano Perspective 1953-1979” (Rosetta Records) finds pianist Dorothy Donegan delivering a bouquet of favorites from “Just in Time” to “Lullaby of Birdland” and “Limehouse Blues” with typical brio.