Frishberg’s world view

As in other areas of the troubled music business, worries over slipping sales, piracy and illegal downloading have put humor in short supply in the jazz world.

Fortunately, we still have pianist-songwriter Dave Frishberg, whose wit and wisdom continue to help keep such weighty matters in perspective. On Tuesday night at the Jazz Bakery, the 72-year-old Minnesotan offered an unusually appealing collection of tunes -- some never performed in public -- in preparation for a live recording at the venue tonight.

Although his opening set omitted such familiar items as “My Attorney, Bernie,” “Blizzard of Lies” and “Quality Time” (to name only a few of his classics), there was plenty of fascinating material. The program included tunes from “The Catbird Seat,” Frishberg’s sadly unproduced musical about the scandalous 1919 World Series. Among its highlights: a tribute to the great pitcher Christy Mathewson and an anthem to the “Dear Departed Past” recalling the enticements of football’s single-wing formation, baseball’s spitball pitching and White Tower hamburgers.

Frishberg also sang more recent items such as “The Hopi Way” (in which he drummed on an empty water bottle) and “I Want to Be a Sideman” -- a whimsical but sentimental tribute to the multitude of big-band sidemen and small-group jazz players who never quite reach leader status. The latter opened with the first few bars of Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood.”

Perhaps best of all, Frishberg included “My Country Used to Be,” one of his rare efforts at direct political commentary and a potent expansion of his blend of humor, insight and pure jazz swing.

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Dave Frishberg

Where: The Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., L.A.

When: 8 and 9:30 p.m. tonight through Sunday

Price: $30

Info: (310) 271-9039