Jazz

John Pizzarelli, the tasteful guitarist and singer who unfortunately is best known for a Foxwoods commercial, has come up with something innovative for his latest album, "Double Exposure. " Most of the 13 songs are either jazz redos of rock songs or ­— get this — mashups of jazz and pop tunes. He sets the melody and lyrics of the Beatles' "I Feel Fine" against the chords and horn punch of Lee Morgan's classic, "The Sidewinder. " He uses the challenging chord changes of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" as the backdrop for Tom Waits's "Drunk on the Moon.

NEW YORK — Frederick J. Brown, an American artist who explored the relationship between music and painting in portraits of hundreds of jazz and blues artists, died May 5 at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 67. The cause was cancer, said his wife, Megan. Mr. Brown had a long and prolific career producing work with religious, historical, and urban themes in addition to his portraiture. His work is represented in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Mo. Influenced by the German Expressionists and...

Eighteen wins in a row, and eight more victories to go. That says it all about how the San Antonio Spurs are steamrolling through these playoffs at a pace that is flirting with NBA history, even if they are saying as little about it as possible. "We don't have any secret. We don't even think about it," Spurs guard Tony Parker said. There's plenty for everyone else to mull. Like whether these Spurs — some 13 years after winning their first of four championships — actually might be the best version yet. Game 1 of their first Western Conference finals since 2008 will be...

You can take Jazz Punks at face value — they are what they say they are. Saxophonist Robby Elfman, pianist Danny Kastner, guitarist Sal Polcino, bassist Mike Polcino, and drummer Hugh Elliott blend jazz standards with rock anthems and perform with a punk attitude. And what fun this is: an album's worth of jazz-rock mash-ups. The melody of Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night in Tunisia" is supported by the backbone of Led Zeppelin's "Misty Mountain Hop. " The saxophone lines of Dave Brubeck's (or Paul Desmond's)

Mehmet Okur had 21 points and 17 rebounds, and Utah beat the Phoenix Suns, 115-108, at Salt Lake City last night for the Jazz's second straight win over one of the top teams in the Western Conference. Utah, which beat San Antonio on a last-second shot by Okur Monday, rallied from an early 14-point deficit and never gave up the lead once it took it late in the second quarter. Raja Bell returned after missing five games with inflammation in his right knee and scored 19 points, Keith McLeod finished with 10 points and 11 assists, and Matt Harpring had 16 points and eight rebounds for the Jazz.

One hundred years ago, a hard-throwing but erratic minor league pitcher named Ben Henderson was getting ready for his opening day start for the Portland Beavers against the Los Angeles Angels. Henderson had pitched well for the Beavers the previous year, but he began the 1912 season with a well-earned reputation as an unreliable drunk. Henderson gave a Los Angeles Times reporter a preview of what he had planned for the game. "I got a new curve this year," he explained, "and I'm goin' to pitch one or two of them tomorrow.

A Piper Jaffray analyst said revenue from the Palo Alto, Calif., company's narcolepsy drug Xyrem could nearly double to $500 million in 2014 as more patients start using it. The price of a year of treatment is about $30,000, but Jazz could raise the price significantly because narcolepsy is rare, Piper said.

■When, where: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., at TD Garden. ■TV, radio: CSN, WEEI (850, 93.7). ■Scoring: Al Jefferson 19.4, Paul Millsap 16.2, Gordon Hayward 10.4. ■Rebounds: Jefferson 9.3, Millsap 9.0, Derrick Favors 5.9. ■Assists: Devin Harris 4.9, Earl Watson 4.5, Hayward 3.1. ■Head to head: This is the only meeting of the season. The Celtics won both games last season. ■Miscellany: The Jazz have won seven of their last eight, including a 105-84 victory over New Jersey Monday behind Millsap's 24 points and 13 rebounds … On Sunday, Utah played the longest game in team history, a...

SALT LAKE CITY — At the very least, he was polite. His team was getting blown out of EnergySolutions Arena. There was no doubt. Everything the Celtics had done well in the first half of their 110-97 loss — rebounding, free throw shooting, second chances, 3-point shooting — the Jazz matched and raised in the second. The Celtics had blown a lead that was 12 points, letting the Jazz outscore them, 61-43, their four-game winning streak 1:11 from being over. Coach Doc Rivers just wanted to remind referee Ed Malloy there was time left.

The Utah Jazz have exercised the option on guard-forward C.J. Miles that will keep him under contract through the 2011-12 season. The team also said Wednesday that it had exercised the options for forwards Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward for the 2012-13 season. Miles averaged career highs in points (12.8), rebounds (3.3) and assists (1.7) during the last season. Miles was originally selected by the Jazz in the second round of the 2005 NBA draft. Hayward, the Jazz’s first-round pick in the 2010 draft, averaged 5.4 points and 1.9 rebounds per game during his rookie...

Jack DeJohnette is celebrating his 70th birthday all year long and in some major ways. The jazz drummer, one of the best ever to touch a kit, is finishing up a tour of the West Coast with pianist Chick Corea and bassist Stanley Clarke. Later in the year he's playing with both Keith Jarrett's trio and the resurrected Gateway trio with guitarist John Abercrombie and bassist Dave Holland. In between he's taking a variety of groups to summer jazz festivals, including the one in Ottawa, where he's headlining.

PICK OF THE DAY Owing Owen Thanks to the work of Charles Owen Dexter, there are thousands of rhododendrons at the Heritage Museums & Gardens. Look for them at the Rhododendron Festival , where there will be walks, classes, a plant sale, and a scavenger hunt for the kids. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. through May 26. $15, $7 kids, free under 3 (additional charge for some of the programs). Heritage Museums & Gardens, 67 Grove St., Sandwich. 508-888-3300. www.heritagemuseums.org SATURDAY World rhythms ...

When pianist Jean-Michel Pilc, bassist François Moutin, and drummer Ari Hoenig play music together, whether in concert or in the studio recording an album, the plan is always the same: There is no plan. No sheet music. Nothing discussed in advanced. Only improvisation. "We go on stage and we don't know what we're going to do," says Moutin. "No set list, no preconceived idea. It's whatever happens there. " What happens — one can say this much — is a roiling, vibrant set by a jazz trio that sounds like no other.

John Pizzarelli, the tasteful guitarist and singer who unfortunately is best known for a Foxwoods commercial, has come up with something innovative for his latest album, "Double Exposure. " Most of the 13 songs are either jazz redos of rock songs or ­— get this — mashups of jazz and pop tunes. He sets the melody and lyrics of the Beatles' "I Feel Fine" against the chords and horn punch of Lee Morgan's classic, "The Sidewinder. " He uses the challenging chord changes of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" as the backdrop for Tom Waits's "Drunk on the Moon.

OPENING MAY 19 PHILADELPHIA Barnes Foundation : Albert C. Barnes's development of a treatment for gonorrhea made him a very wealthy man in the early years of the last century. He used his wealth to amass an art collection now valued at $25 billion. Its holdings include 181 Renoirs, 69 Cezannes, 59 Matisses, and 46 Picassos, as well as works by Degas, Monet, Seurat, Van Gogh, Rousseau, and Modigliani — a Cooperstown of modern art. For many years, the Barnes was located in suburban Philadelphia, with limited access to the public.

Matt Savage doesn't like to think of his younger days, when he couldn't stand the sound of music, even his family singing "Happy Birthday" to him. Diagnosed at age 3 with autism, he was hyperactive, engaged in repetitive motions, and lasted two days in preschool before being kicked out. Noise of any sort, including music, was anathema. Now, music is his life. Today, his 20th birthday, Savage will graduate from Berklee College of Music with a 3.99 grade point average. He still has a semester left, but since Berklee has just one graduation ceremony per year, he will collect his...

As befits an outfit that has turned out countless renditions of "The Stars and Stripes Forever," the theme of the Boston Pops's 127th season is "Visions of America. " So it was only appropriate that opening night would make good on it right away by turning the Pops into a jazz orchestra. It began Wednesday night at Symphony Hall with "Love Is Sweeping the Country," sunny and jaunty but with the undeniable flair of George Gershwin. With her undemonstrative but light vocals and piano, Maggie Scott returned to the Pops a mere 61 years after last performing with them to offer a Gershwin medley featuring a...

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich shrugged when asked about Manu Ginobili's mini-shooting slump. "I don't even think about it. He's Manu," he said. True to form, the Spurs' invaluable sixth man led the charge off the bench when San Antonio needed it most. He hit consecutive 3-pointers after the Utah Jazz had pulled to 61-58 late in the third quarter in Game 4 of the first-round Western Conference series. And after the Jazz rallied from 21 points down to get within 4 in the final minute, Ginobili turned a steal by Tony Parker into a layup that sealed an 87-81 victory in Salt...