A Benefit Concert for Red Callender

Red Callender--the 75-year-old musician who has been a major figure on the Los Angeles music scene for more than 50 years--has been seriously ill since January, when he underwent major surgery. The bassist, tuba virtuoso, composer and studio musician is now recuperating at the Saugus home he shares with his wife, Mary Lou.

To offset Callender’s medical expenses, the Los Angeles Jazz Society is conducting a benefit concert for the artist Sunday, 2-7 p.m. The affair, at the Musicians’ Union Auditorium, 817 N. Vine St., Hollywood, will feature Gerald Wilson’s Orchestra of the ‘90s, pianist Dorothy Donegan, trumpeters Harry (Sweets) Edison and Al Aarons, saxophonists Harold Land and Buddy Collette, bassist John Clayton and singers O.C. Smith and Don and Alicia Cunningham.

Callender, who was Charles Mingus’ first bass teacher, was in the forefront of the bass evolution in the early ‘40s, when Jimmy Blanton and others proved that the bass could be a solo, as well as rhythmic, instrument, said Times jazz critic Leonard Feather. “He brought out melodic aspects of the bass, which not many people were doing,” added Feather.

The Virginia native, who settled in Los Angeles in his late teens, made his recording debut with Louis Armstrong in 1937. Then came associations with Art Tatum, Lester Young, Charlie Parker and Erroll Garner, who recorded the bassist’s composition “Pastel.”

Another Callender opus, “Primrose Lane,” served as the theme song for the 1971-72 ABC-TV series “The Smith Family,” starring Henry Fonda. The bassist’s autobiography, “Unfinished Dream,” was published in 1985, and in 1987 he received the Jazz Society’s annual Tribute Award.

Admission to the concert is by donation. Contributions may also be mailed to Los Angeles Jazz Society/Red Callender Benefit, P.O. Box 1107, Los Angeles 90078. Information: (213) 469-6800.

Critic’s Choice: Tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson’s almost ethereal tone and unpredictable yet swinging approach has made him one of the most influential musicians in modern jazz. He made his mark in the mid-’60s with such now-classic Blue Note recordings as “Page One” and “Inner Urge.” Among the contemporary artists whose styles have been shaped by Henderson are guitarist John Scofield and saxophonist Joe Lovano.

Henderson--who passionately and inventively investigates the music of Billy Strayhorn on his new “Lush Life” release--plays Tuesday through next Sunday at Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood. His impressive crew consists of Eric Reed, the hard-driving, youthful Los Angeles pianist who just completed a tenure with Wynton Marsalis; bassist Charlie Haden, and a ‘60s associate of Henderson’s, crafty drummer Joe Chambers, who hasn’t played Los Angeles in decades.