Loving Duke Madly as Birthday Approaches; Andy Simpkins Back to the Bass After Surgery

Duke Ellington, who died on May 24, 1974, would have been 90 this Saturday and in memory of his birthday, numerous celebrations are scheduled that day around the Southland. KUSC-FM (91.5) interrupts its usual 24-hour classical format to present “My Sparkling Parade,” a 90-minute audio portrait of the great composer-bandleader-pianist.

Airing at 6 p.m., the program includes interviews with Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Andre Previn, composer-author Gunther Schuller and Ellington collaborator Maurice Peress. In his interview, Schuller, author of the recently published “The Swing Era,” places Ellington in the forefront of American composers, in the company of Ives, Copland and Gershwin. The show’s musical examples will be drawn from previously unreleased Ellington symphonic sessions.

Special live-performance Ellington fetes include the Santa Barbara City College Jazz Festival, where “A Birthday Tribute to Duke,” featuring trumpeter Jon Faddis, pianist Billy Mitchell and others, will be held at the Arlington Theatre, 8 p.m.; and “Happy Birthday, Duke,” at the Islander Cafe in Mid-Wilshire, where singers Tom Briggs and Lisa Nobumoto offer a tribute in song. No doubt Ellington tunes will be heard in other nightspots around town.

BOUNCING BACK: Andy Simpkins, the bassist for the last nine years with singer Sarah Vaughan and a regular free-lancer in Los Angeles jazz clubs, is back to active playing after undergoing a hip replacement in January.

After surgery, Simpkins--who plays this Friday with the Gerald Wiggins trio at the Loa in Santa Monica--kept playing at home. But he really missed getting out to clubs. “That was the worst part of my recuperation.”

Now, “playing is great,” he said. “Guys tell me the gig’s over and I say, ‘Hey, we just got started.’ ” Simpkin’s new solo LP, “Calamba” (Discovery), is due out soon.

COOL CRUISE: The New American Orchestra, the locally based, symphonic jazz orchestra, is sponsoring “Rhapsody on Wheels,” a fund-raising bike ride along the bike paths and beaches of Marina del Rey on May 7, beginning at 10 a.m. For a $21 entry fee, riders receive a T-shirt, an LP, a concert at the end of the ride and a chance to compete in a contest by identifying musical numbers, played by New American Orchestra members at points along the 14-mile course. Information: (213) 374-8990.

***1/2 Bongo-Logic’s “Cha-Cha-Charanga” (Rocky Peak) is the recording debut of the local salsa/Latin-jazz band. Led by percussionist Brett Gollin and featuring flutist Art Webb, violinist Harry Scorzo and pianist John Enrico Douglas, the group goes with the spritely “Juguetes,” the haunting “Didi’s Danzon” and a roaring version of Victor Feldman’s “Seven Steps to Heaven. . . . “In a Jazz Tradition” (EmArcy) finds guitarist Eric Gale heading up a combo--which includes bassist Ron Carter and saxman Houston Person--where “jazz tradition” means “the blues.” Gale--who leans more toward the sparse, telling phrasing of a B. B. King than the hard-swinging quality of a Wes Montgomery--injects blues feeling into everything from “Eric’s Gale,” a medium cooker, to Duke Jordan’s classic “Jordu” and Tadd Dameron’s “If You Could See Me Now.”

Recordings are graded on a five-star system. Five stars ( ***** ) means all but indispensable for your jazz library, one star ( * ) means forget it.