Paolo Nonnis to Lead Buddy Rich Big Band; Concert Will Aid Victims of Hurricane Hugo

Paolo Nonnis, a relatively unknown Los Angeles-based drummer who has led his own big band for several years, has been selected to front the reorganized Buddy Rich Big Band.

Nonnis will lead a band with some Rich alumni, including saxophonist Steve Marcus, in engagements at At My Place in Santa Monica on Monday and Tuesday. The Rich band has not been active since the great drummer died in April, 1987.

“Paolo led a band playing some of Buddy’s charts and with some of Buddy’s players at jazz festivals in Italy this summer,” said Tony Oppedisano, Nonnis’ manager, in explaining the surprising choice. “When he got back home, he and I sent a tape of that band to Cathy Rich, Buddy’s daughter, and she flipped over it. She felt that it was time to have the band back, and that the best way to keep her father’s name alive was to keep his music alive.”

“I think this is really exciting,” said Nonnis, who has lived in Los Angeles for 10 years and has also backed trombonist Dick Shearer’s band. “Buddy didn’t work all his life to have his music disappear. This music is really going to be fun to play.”

Plans are for Cathy Rich to help book the band, Oppedisano to manage it and Nonnis to lead it. The drummer said there will be East and West Coast versions and that they will feature Rich alumni as often as possible.

Nonnis will be in attendance, but will not play, at the first Los Angeles Buddy Rich Memorial Scholarship Concert, set for the Wiltern Theatre Saturday at 7 p.m. That night, the Buddy Rich Big Band will be backed by such drummers as Louie Bellson, Steve Gadd, Vinnie Colaiuta, Gregg Bissonette, Dennis Chambers and Dave Weckl. Comedian Jeff Altman and Rich will be the hosts.

The proceeds from the event will go to a scholarship for drummers who are eligible for college in fall, 1990. Five finalists have been selected from those who applied for the award through Modern Drummer magazine, and the winner will be announced Saturday.

Information: At My Place: (213) 451-8596; Wiltern: (213) 480-3232.

To aid victims of Hurricane Hugo, the Biltmore Hotel, the American Red Cross and the radio program Alma del Barrio (heard weekends on KXLU-FM) are presenting a Latin/jazz concert at the Biltmore Bowl downtown on Tuesday at 8 p.m. Poncho Sanchez and Papo Conga will headline the event; all receipts will go to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Tickets are $20. Information: (213) 480-3232, 612-1595 and 642-2861.

Singer Anita O’Day achieves septuagenarian status next Wednesday, and thought that was as good a reason as any for a bash.

“I figure if you live to be 70 with the way I’ve lived, you might as well throw a birthday party,” said O’Day, who is making a one-nighter at the Vine Street Bar & Grill Tuesday at 9.

“This way, we can sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me at midnight,” quipped the singer, whose latest release is “In a Mellow Tone” (DRG).

O’Day, who will be backed by pianist Pete Jolly’s trio plus saxman Gordon Brisker, said show business is still her business. “You can’t beat it,” she said. “It’s even getting better.”

The singer returns to Vine Street for a regular engagement Nov. 2-5. Information: (213) 463-4375.

With sounds provided by the Manhattan Transfer, the Hi-Los and the New American Orchestra, about 400 music lovers attended the Foundation for New American Music’s 11th annual Musicale, last Saturday afternoon at Hugh and Kimberley Hefner’s Playboy mansion in Holmby Hills.

According to the foundation’s president, Jack Elliott, the event, a fund-raiser at which Carl Reiner was the chipper emcee, brought in approximately $100,000. “I’m delighted,” he said. “Now I don’t have to beg for money until February.”

The orchestra will make three appearances at UCLA’s Royce Hall this season, beginning in December. Plans are also in the works to have the ensemble, which blends elements of jazz, classical and popular musics in its offerings, to record an LP for MCA Jazz Records.

If you missed pianist Michel Petrucciani in town last week, you can catch up with him on fellow pianist Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz” radio program Tuesday at 11 p.m. on KPCC (89.3 FM). Petrucciani offers his composition, “The Prayer,” and joins McPartland for a rendition of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.” Other McPartland guests this month on this “Best Of” series include two late pianist geniuses: Phineas Newborn, Oct. 24, and Mary Lou Williams, Oct. 31. Information: (818) 578-7231.