Stocking Stuffers With Some New Riffs

With the growing number of jazz-oriented Christmas recordings available this year, Santa might do well to check out some of the following items to keep his little elves happy:

A number of piano players have had Christmas in mind, generally with attractive results. Dave Brubeck (“A Dave Brubeck Christmas,” Telarc) brings his incisive rhythms and thick harmonies to a program of traditional carols, adding an improvisation on an ancient Hebrew chant and the Mexican folk song “Cantos Para Pedir Las Posadas.”

David Benoit (“Remembering Christmas,” GRP) takes a more contemporary stance, sounding very good when he settles back into straight-ahead jazz playing, less appealing when the music becomes more contrived. His version of “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” for example, is done in 5/4, for no apparent reason, with a “Take Five”-style vamp in the middle. Cyrus Chestnut does the most with the least on “Blessed Quietness” (Atlantic), a lovely creative musing that focuses upon the holiday’s spiritual aspects.

Singers Rosemary Clooney (“White Christmas,” Concord) and Johnny Pizzarelli (“Let’s Share Christmas,” RCA) take the big-screen approach in performances supported by large orchestras and superb orchestrations. Amazingly, this is the first Christmas album for Clooney, who starred with Bing Crosby in the film “White Christmas” and sings the song in her characteristically warm and mellow voice.

Pizzarelli, on the other hand, doesn’t quite generate the vocal personality to handle a set of stunning orchestrations by, among others, Don Sebesky, John Clayton, Johnny Mandel and Ralph Burns.

Among the record company collections, Verve’s “Jazz for Joy” features the company’s stellar lineup. Don’t miss Shirley Horn’s “The Christmas Song” and Christian McBride’s grooving-in-the- pocket solo rendering of “Deck the Halls.” Concord Jazz’s “A Concord Jazz Christmas, Vol. Two” is a bit more uneven.

But Rickey Woodard’s funky “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and Mel Torme’s classic rendering of his own “The Christmas Song” are worth the price.

Contemporary fans will find yuletide joy in guitarist Phil Sheeran’s “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” (Passage) and saxophonist Boney James’ appropriately titled “Boney’s Funky Christmas” (Warner Bros.). Thom Rotella has layered all sorts of guitars into a patchwork quilt of music in “Spirit of the Carols” (Telarc).

And composer Frank Becker cranks up his synthesizers and keyboards for such wildly eclectic but eminently workable blendings as “Silent Night” with Satie’s “Gymnopedie No. 1” and “Deck the Halls” with Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 2” in his “Unbuttoned Christmas Mix” (Becker Ditto, [818] 992-4916).

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Places to Go: The Leimert Park area that is the home of venues such as World Stage, Fifth St. Dick’s and the Vision Theatre Complex is beginning to have the feeling of a 1990s version of the Harlem Renaissance. On any given weekend, the area simmers with music, and this weekend is particularly active.

Thursday night, adventurers on the KLON Jazz Caravan had the choice of five different places to check out in the area. Tonight and Saturday, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith is featured at World Stage. On Sunday, a tribute to Marla Gibbs at the Vision Theatre will feature a lineup of players that is a virtual all-star Los Angeles jazz festival--among them, Dorothy Donegan, Oscar Brasheer, Cedar Walton, Tootie Heath, Horace Tapscott, Herman Riley, George Bohannon and numerous others.

“We’ve worked hard to get the whole community involved,” says Don Muhammad, who runs World Stage, which is promoting the event. “We’ve got musicians, dancers, singers, artists, poets, everything. And it’s all for Marla, because she’s responsible for the amazing things that have been happening down here. She and Billy Higgins.”

Much of the attention at the performance will focus on drummer Higgins, the sparkplug behind the growth of World Stage. Still recovering from a liver transplant, he is now returning to action. After a couple of smaller warmup gigs (most recently with Teddy Edwards at the Bel Age Hotel), Higgins makes his first high-profile appearance, performing in a drum ensemble and with the Cedar Walton Trio.

The event runs from 7 until it finishes at the Vision Theatre, for the bargain price of $10.

World Stage information: (213) 293-2451.

Vision Theater information: (213) 295-9685.

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Around Town: Singer Stephanie Haynes is at Ca Del Sol in Studio City tonight starting at 7, followed by Julie Kelly at the same venue Saturday. . . .

Bill Watrous, a highly versatile trombonist, is at Chadney’s in Studio City Saturday night. . . .

The Turtle Island Quartet and Tuck & Patti appear at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts Sunday. . . .

The magisterial Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval will be shaking the walls at Catalina Bar & Grill Tuesday night when he opens a six-night stand. . . .

Singer Ernestine Anderson has a rare Southland booking at the Jazz Bakery, Wednesday through next Saturday. . . .