POP/JAZZ REVIEW : All-Star Lineup at Benefit for Guitarist

Currently waylaid by a benign brain tumor, cult guitar hero David Torn was the beneficiary of two At My Place benefit shows Sunday. Appropriately, the remarkable all-star lineup was divided between pop singers and jazz players in about the same proportion that Torn’s last Windham Hill album alternated between vocal rock and instrumental fusion.

The early show reached its peak instantly with a terrific half-hour of Mark Isham in his most traditional jazz mode, having reunited for this occasion the seven-piece band he assembled to record his “Little Man Tate” score last year.

Isham also stuck around for part of the next set, by Manhattan Transfer vocalist Cheryl Bentyne, whose forthcoming solo debut Isham has produced. Among Bentyne’s collaborations with the trumpeter was her vocal version of his exquisite “Moderns” theme.

Next up, rock-cum-fusion guitar god Andy Summers provided the loudest moments--as well as the most caustic comments, taking an oblique slap at an ex-boss in introducing players reunited here from his recent, short tenure as the “Dennis Miller Show” bandleader.

Ostensible headliner Suzanne Vega’s 15 minutes were too brief, with just two greatest hits plus two more songs from an album-in-progress.

Bentyne returned to close the show by bringing out her Manhattan Transfer cohorts for a three-tune capper. (She’ll bring back her solo act, sans Transfer but with support from Isham, to At My Place on Thursday.)