Have a question? This CD-ROM may have the answer

Ever wonder how many times Louis Armstrong recorded his hit number “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue”? The answer is more than 50, from the original performance in 1927 with the Hot Five to a 1967 date with his All-Stars.

Or if that reaches too far into the past, how about something more associated with pop music -- like whether there are any jazz versions of Paul Simon’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” The answer is: yes, indeed. From Charlie Byrd and Paul Desmond to Lionel Hampton, Nancy Wilson and Michel Legrand and beyond.

Or how about unlikely musical collaborations? Herbie Hancock and David Sanborn? Yep, a 1975 date with Jaco Pastorius and a pair of 1978 dates with Flora Purim.

And did you ever wonder whether Freddie Green, the ineffable presence in the Count Basie rhythm section, ever recorded with anyone other than Basie? He sure did. Dozens of times, from Teddy Wilson and Billie Holiday to Diane Schuur to Caterina Valente.

How, you may ask, do I have this information so readily at hand? I found it all, with little more than a few strokes on my computer keyboard, in a remarkable CD-ROM titled “The Jazz Discography.” Written and produced by a dedicated jazz scholar named Tom Lord, it compiles his 26 published volumes of jazz discography into a single, incredibly useful computer database.

Arts that function primarily in the popular arena have never done a particularly thorough job of chronicling their histories. A tendency to focus on the latest star arrival, to list the current levels of sales, to emphasize annual award giving, has for the most part taken precedence over the sort of detailed, long-range views that are common to the classical worlds of music, art, dance, etc.

Jazz lies somewhere in between. True, there is a plethora of books examining one era or another, and several encyclopedic tomes, including the Feather-Gitler “Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz,” the “All Music Guide to Jazz,” the “Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD” and “The Rough Guide to Jazz.” All serve useful purposes in their specific areas.

But there’s nothing like “The Jazz Discography.” Containing the equivalent of 18,500 printed pages of information, it includes data on more than 400,000 jazz releases on 78- and 45-rpm discs, LPs and CDs. (As a point of comparison, the current edition of the “All Music Guide to Jazz” includes reviews of around 20,000 recordings.)

Does all this sound too esoteric, too redolent of baseball brainiacs who can instantly quote the batting average, home runs and runs batted in of any player one cares to name? Well, sure, that aspect exists. But what Lord has done by placing all this information into a cross-referenced database that allows easy access to information from a variety of directions is create an extraordinarily valuable historical tool. And one can easily imagine its applicability in other musical genres.

What makes “Discography” even more fascinating from the layman jazz-fan perspective is the opportunity to explore from a personal point of view. Is New Orleans music your choice? You can track every recording ever made by Kid Ory, King Oliver, Sidney Bechet or Jelly Roll Morton.

Prefer swing? You can follow the complete recorded history of a player such as Bunny Berigan (from the bands of Fred Rich, Hal Kemp, Tommy Dorsey, Freddy Martin, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and his own orchestras).

Along the way, you’ll come across Berigan dates with Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday. And each listing includes complete personnel and original recording information.

If bebop and beyond are your preferences, there are similarly intriguing paths to take, from Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie’s 1945 recording with singer Slim Gaillard (which produced the unforgettable “Flat Foot Floogie”) to the long line of players who streamed through Miles Davis’ final sessions.

For those who concentrate on songs, there’s the option to search for every number recorded by a jazz artist, complete with leader name, sidemen and dates. And a multiple search menu locates every instance in which as many as three individual players recorded together.

Maintaining such an enormous amount of data is an ongoing task. The current version of “The Jazz Discography” is identified as 3.3 and is short on information beyond the late ‘90s. The next update, 4.4, due in September, will add new entries.

At first glance, the price looks high: $277 in the U.S., with purchasers eligible for future upgrades at 50% off published prices. But keep in mind that the “All Music Guide to Jazz,” with its 20,000 listed recordings, is priced at $32.95, and it’s only a book. In that comparison, “The Jazz Discography,” with its 400,000 entries and its array of search options, suddenly seems like a bargain.

“The Jazz Discography” is available from Lord Music Reference Inc., 1540 Taylor Way, West Vancouver, Canada. Info: (604) 926-9822. On the Web at www.lordisco.com.

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Listening post

Peter Cincotti may be only 19, but he’s already got a firm handle on the Great American Songbook, singing and playing the music of Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Rodgers & Hart, etc. with a surprising jazz credibility.

And a good part of that credibility undoubtedly stems from the fact that he finds inspiration in music that ranges well beyond the preferences of most of his contemporaries.

Here’s what Cincotti -- who opens a six-night run at Catalina Bar & Grill on Tuesday -- has to say about the recordings that are currently in his CD player:

“Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street” (Polygram). “I just picked this one up recently. It is not only a record by one of my favorite trumpet players, but it also introduces Sonny Rollins, one of my favorite tenor players, as a member of the band.”

“After Midnight,” Nat King Cole (Blue Note). “Any time I see a Nat King Cole record that I don’t have, I must buy it. He is one of my all-time favorite piano players-singers. I am always fascinated by how he combined the art of piano playing and the art of singing in such a way where he created a third art that is a beautiful blend of both.

“Cure,” Keith Jarrett (ECM). “Keith Jarrett is one of my favorite piano players. I have almost all of his trio records, and I’ve been meaning to get this one for a while.

“Live at Newport,” McCoy Tyner (Impulse). “McCoy Tyner is another one of my favorite piano players, and I bought this one because of the personnel and the fact that is was recorded live at the Newport Jazz Festival. I love to listen to live recordings.”

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The Peter Cincotti Trio

Where: Catalina Bar & Grill, 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood

When: Tuesday-April 12, 8:30 and 10:30 p.m.; April 13, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.

Price: $17 to $30

Contact: (323) 466-2210