‘The Blues Aesthetic’ Exhibit Opens Sunday; Bon Appetit Books Monk Winner Bill Cunliffe

Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Archibald Motley, Sam Gilliam and Houston Cornwell are among the 60 artists represented in “The Blues Aesthetic: Black Culture and Modernism,” an exhibit that opens Sunday at California Afro-American Museum in Exposition Park.

“The mixed-media exhibition consists of paintings, prints and sculpture, all mostly early 20th Century pieces, all of which have a musical theme,” says Sheila Gantt, the museum’s community outreach coordinator.

To inaugurate the show, which runs through March 4, exhibit curator Richard Powell, writer Amiri Baraka and ethnomusicologist Willie Collins will take part in a panel discussion, “The Blues Aesthetic in Visual Art and in African-American Culture.” The discussion is free and will begin at 4 p.m. Sunday in the museum’s Kinsey Auditorium. Information: (213) 744-7432.

Van Nuys-based pianist Bill Cunliffe, 33, makes his first local appearance since winning the third annual Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition in Washington in November. He will appear Tuesday at Bon Appetit in Westwood.

Cunliffe won the competition over 20 semi-finalists from nine countries, eventually edging out second-place finisher Michael Weiss, who has appeared in Los Angeles with saxophonist Johnny Griffin. An Eastman School of Music graduate, Cunliffe has played with Buddy Rich, Joe Henderson, George Coleman, Shorty Rogers and Art Blakey. Between the occasional jazz performance, he keeps busy writing soundtracks for such daytime dramas as “As the World Turns” and “Guiding Light.”

Saxophonist Dick Houlgate, who died recently of cancer, will be honored with a memorial music session by the Ace Lane Band from 1-4 this afternoon at Alfonse’s Restaurant in North Hollywood. Information: (213) 874-5552.

Organist Richard (Groove) Holmes, who has purveyed his distinctive blues/funk style to happy listeners for three decades, is ill with cancer of the prostate. Holmes is recuperating at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Mo., after surgery. The musician has a phone at bedside and would be glad to get calls from well-wishers.