Bakery Plans a Star-Filled, Fund-Raising Birthday Fete

Here’s a swell entertainment lineup for any birthday party: pianists Dave Grusin, Roger Kellaway, Gerald Wiggins and Billy Childs; bassists Andy Simpkins and John Heard; drummers Roy McCurdy and Joe LaBarbera; saxophonists Herman Riley and Pete Christlieb, and singers Dori Caymmi, Bill Henderson and Ruth Price. The good news is that we’re all invited to attend.

The celebration, marking the Jazz Bakery’s fourth birthday, takes place Sunday, from 4 p.m. on, at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City. The event is also a fund-raiser for the nonprofit club. Ruth Price, the musical director of the Bakery, is encouraging jazz fans to become supporting members of the Bakery as it enters its second year at its present location at 3233 Helms Ave.

For a $75 membership fee, you get admission to the party, an additional admission for any show in the coming year, a subscription to the Bakery’s monthly newsletter and a tax deduction to the extent of the law. Tickets for the party only are $30.

“Memberships are critical to our existence,” Price said. “They provide us a financial pad to work with, and without them, we operate on a shoestring.”

Along with proceeds from admissions, the Bakery’s 150 members fund the operation. Currently, the room has received National State-County Partnership Grants for $4,000 (1994-95) and $2,000 (1995-96). Price said she is trying to further explore options in the grant area.

Sunday’s bash will also include an auction of unusual items, among them a private in-your-home performance by Price and Wiggins, a chance to be program director for a day at jazz station KLON-FM and some copies of the final lithograph by artist David Stone Martin. Tonight and Saturday at the Bakery: the fine saxophonist Joe Lovano and his trio with bassist Cecil McBee. Information: (310) 271-9039.

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A Star for Diz: Dizzy Gillespie, the magnificent trumpeter and composer who was one of the founders of modern jazz, receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today. The ceremony takes place at 11 a.m. on Hollywood Boulevard just west of Sycamore Avenue (near Mann’s Chinese Theatre), and will feature performances by Harry (Sweet) Edison, James Moody, Freddie Hubbard, David Sanchez, Arturo Sandoval, Jon Faddis, Al Grey, Lalo Schifrin and many others. Speakers include KLON’s Chuck Niles and Gillespie’s cousin, Boo Frazier. The star for Gillespie, who died of cancer on Jan. 6, 1993, will be placed inches near that of his colleague, the late pianist Thelonious Monk.

Jazz on Central: Teddy Edwards, Ernie Andrews, Gerald Wilson and Roy Porter are among those taking part in “Jazz Returns to Central Avenue,” an event that celebrates the reopening of the Museum of Contemporary Art at the Temporary Contemporary, 152 Central Ave., downtown.

Saturday’s event begins at 7:30 p.m. and will include a panel discussion offering history and anecdotes of the 1940s and early ‘50s, when jazz thrived on Central Avenue, and includes performances by Edwards and Andrews. Tickets are $35 in advance, $45 at the door. Information: (213) 621-1749.

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Winners’ Circle: Geri Allen, the intrepid, expressive pianist who holds forth with her trio tonight through Sunday at Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood, was the recipient of the Soul Train Lady of Soul award for best jazz album. The award was given to her in August on the long-running TV program “Soul Train” for her Blue Note recording “Twenty One.” Allen has also been named as the 1996 winner of the JAZZPAR, an award given annually by the Danish Jazz Center. Past winners include Miles Davis and Tommy Flanagan. The prize carries a cash grant of $36,000.

Anthony Wilson, the guitar-playing son of bandleader-composer-arranger Gerald Wilson, has won the 1995 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and BMI Jazz Composers Competition. Wilson, who won for the quintet work “Karaoke,” receives a prize of $10,000 and will perform the piece Oct. 20 at the Kennedy Center. Wilson described his piece as “very swinging in a late ‘50s and early ‘60s way, with a [Thelonious] Monk, [Charles] Mingus type of melody.”

Greg Kurstin, the young Los Angeles piano whiz who appears tonight and Saturday and again Nov. 3 and 10 at Bjlauzezs in Sherman Oaks, came in second in the annual piano competition at the Jacksonville (Fla.) Jazz Festival, held Oct. 12. Kurstin won $1,000. First-place winner was New York City-based pianist Jill McCarron.

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Free Music: Alto saxophonist Kim Richmond celebrates the release of his new sextet recording, “Range,” when he performs tonight, 5:30 to 8:30 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, (213) 857-6000.