The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 247

Primd-Time TV Rankings Kenny Garrett Produces Fiery-Improvisations on Alto Sax ABC Scores With 'Monday Night Football' Opener JAZZ REVIEW After languishing in third place most of the summer, ABC received a much-needed boost from the season-opening "Monday Night Football" game, which helped kick the network into second last week, based on results issued Wednesday by Nielsen Media Research. Football ended an eight-week run by "Seinfeld" as the top-rated program. NBC remained first overall, thanks to its Thursday lineup, the Nicolas Cage-Shirley MacLaine movie "Guarding Tess" and big ratings throughout the week for "Dateline NBC." The major networks, in fact, televised 16 hours of news in prime time last week, much of it devoted to the death of Princess Diana. Newsmagazines proved even more dominant in Los Angeles, scoring the week's four highest local ratings. ABC also benefited from a double dose of "Home Improvement," which easily beat both "Frasier" and "Mad About You" last Tuesday.

UPN, meanwhile, beamed up more than 10 million viewers for the season premiere of "Star Trek: Voyager," virtually doubling the audience for any other show on UPN or the WB network last week. Ratings for some programs fell due to the Billy Graham crusade, with nearly a quarter of CBS affiliates preempting "Promised Land" to run that special. -BRIAN LOWRY National Nielsen Viewership Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Sept. 1-7) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish.

Nielsen estimates that there are 25 1 million potential U.S. viewers age 2 and older. Viewership is listed here in millions. Vkw- moments, his lines became reminiscent of recycled '60s avant-garde jazz, full of offbeat sounds and thematic repetitions that did little more than spiral back upon themselves. Garrett's choice of Coltrane's "Giant Steps" one of the more difficult contemporary jazz lines created further problems.

The work's complex chord structure places procedural demands upon an improviser that are not present in more modally constructed tunes. Garrett had no problems with the harmonieshe is a superb musician but in the process, he lost some of his own emotional intensity. Trying to regain it, he was forced to move beyond the harmonies into a freestyle improvisational passage that essentially abandoned the original theme and its harmonies. Still, Garrett was never less than fascinating. Hearing him was like seeing a gripping but uneven film-one that, despite its flaws, provoked both the mind and the emotions.

In addition to Watts' extraordinary drumming, Garrett was aided by the imaginative, melodic piano work of Kenny Kirkland and the sturdy bass playing of Nat Reeves. -DON HECKMAN The Kenny Garrett Quartet at the Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Culver City; (310) 271-9039, through Sunday. $18 cover tonight, 8:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 10 p.m., and Sunday, 8 p.m. $20 cover Friday and Saturday, 8:30 p.m., and Sunday, 6 p.m. $16 cover tonight at 10.

Program Alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett is a jazz ecstatic. His stock in trade as an improviser is a solo style that pursues passionate repetition in an effort to reach a transformative musical state. Garrett's opening set Tuesday, at the start of a six-night run at the Jazz Bakery, provided a prime example of his improvisational methods, of their strengths as well as their weaknesses. When things were working well, when his fiery lines filled with repetitious motifs that were twisted, turned, constantly reexamined built toward almost trance-like climaxes, Garrett's music was irresistible. On several numbers, he played long solo segments accompanied only by the drums of Jeff "Tain" Watts.

The connection to the work of legendary tenor saxophonist John Coltrane (and drummer Elvin Jones) was obvious. Garrett clearly has been influenced by Coltrane, but he has employed that influence toward his own ends. Avoiding imitative Coltranesque lines and passages, he draws inspiration, instead, from Coltrane's improvisational methodology, from his fervent desire to reach into the heart of the music. When things were working less well, Garrett's musical quest assumed a quixotic character. In those 1.

Mon. Night Football ABC 2. Seinfeld NBC Net- View- fofran work an 100. Sparks UPN 3.63 101. Unhappily Ever Alter WB 3.59 102.

The Parent Hood WB 3.43 103. The Tom Show WB 3.40 104. In the House UPN 3.32 105. Hrtz UPN 3.22 106. TthHeaven WB 3.15 107.

Alright Already WB 3.14 108. Head Over Heets UPN 3.13 109. Burfy, the Vampire Slayer WB 2.83 110. Mdt Frerv Licensed Teacher WB 2.59 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

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15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

20. 21. 22 23. 24. 25.

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Dateline NBC (Tue.) NBC Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC Home Improvement ABC FrimeTime Live ABC "NFLPregame" ABC 2020 ABC 3rd RockSun (Thu.) NBC "Guarding Tess" NBC ER NBC Dateline NBC (FrL. 10 p.m.) NBC SpinCity A8C Touched an Angel CBS Home Improvement (8 p.m.) ABC Men Behaving Badly NBC Friends NBC DatetnaN8C(Wett.) NBC Grace Underpin) ABC Frasier NBC "A Father (or Charlie" CBS Dateline NBC (Mon.) NBC 60 Minutes CBS Sabma. the Teenage Witch ABC Sarxina. Teen. Witch (9:30 p.m.

ABC Leu 4 Order NBC "Lethal Weapon NBC TheSmpsoni FOX King of trie FOX Waiar.Tenas Ranger CBS The X-Files FOX HA Mother's Instinct" CBS 48 Hours (Wed, 9p.m.) CBS Just Snoot Me NBC Cost CBS America'sVideos (8:30 p.m.) ABC Ellen ABC Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC Dm Carey Show (8p.m.) ABC "John Stoestel Specar" ABC SpinCity (Wed.) ABC Boy Meets World A8C "Men From MarsWomen ve- 21.64 19.94 19.27 17.81 17.65 16.97 16.89 16.84 16.83 16.67 16.12 15.93 15.28 15.03 15.02 14.80 14.37 14.28 14.11 14.06 13.93 13.87 13.71 12.26 12.16 12.01 11.85 11.31 11.12 11.11 10.99 10.99 10.98 1038 10.75 10.65 10.62 10.60 10.53 10.46 10.45 10.44 10.44 10.28 9.98 9.94 9.77 9.73 9.69 965 9.57 9.49 9.47 9.43 9.30 9.16 9.15 Network Averages Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season. Last Week NBC ....12.59 million ABC 11.50 CBS 10.06 FOX 7.58 UPN 5.74 WB .....3.56 Season to Date NBC 13.94 million CBS 12.55 ABC 12.07 FOX 10.22 UPN 4.26 WB 3.48 Southland Viewing Here are Nielsen's Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. The rankings are based on the number of households watching. BOWL Jane Pauley Nat- Vkmr- Profren work ara 58. Eany Edition CBS 9.12 59.

Men Behaving BarJy (Sun.) NBC 9.02 60. America's Funniest Videos ABC 8.86 61. "Animal Rescues 2" FOX 8.58 62. America Most Wanted FOX 8.52 63. Nash Bridges CBS 8.47 64.

uhsovM Mysteries NBC 8.45 65. Ordinary Extraordinary CBS 8.32 66. "Funny Things Kids Do" FOX 8.19 67. Murphy Brown (Mon.) CBS 8.11 68. JAG (Fri.) CBS 7.99 69.

Star Trete Voyager (8 p.m.) UPN 7.94 70. Promised Land CBS 7.87 71. Beyond BeMFact or Fiction FOX 7.72 72. "Scariest PokceStBotouU" FOX 7.69 73. JAG CBS 7.60 74.

"When Stunts Go Bad" FOX 7.52 75. The Pretender NBC 7.31 76. Prcfler NBC 7.27 77. High Incident ABC 7.24 "Judgment Night" FOX 7.24 Ccpl (8:30 p.m.) FOX 7.24 80. FoothatFla.

State at USC ABC 7.12 "Class or 20OO" CBS 7.12 82. "I Survived a Disaster" ABC 7.06 83. Chicago Hope CBS 6.65 84. Cops FOX 6.29 85. "Farewel to a Pnncess" FOX 5.88 86.

Roar FOX 5.58 87. it the House (Tue.) UPN 5.49 88. The Wayans Bros. WB 5.08 89. Moesha UPN 5.03 90.

Party of Five FOX 4.62 91. World Gymnastics Champ. ABC 4.58 92. The Steve Harvey Show WB 4.57 93. Miemum FOX 4.48 94.

Smart Guy WB 4.39 95. Malcolm i Eddie UPN 4.36 96. Good News UPN 4.23 97. "steve.oedererk.com" NBC 4.20 98. Sister.

Sister WB 3.93 99. The Jamie Fou Show WB 3.81 ABC UPN CBS ABC CBS CBS NBC FOX ABC NBC CBS CBS ABC CBS nut Star Trek Voyager Oagnois Murder TumngPont 48 Hours (Wed.) The Nanny (Wed.) NewsRado Fox NFL Sunday NYPOBM Mad About You "Farewel to Diana" Everybody Loves Raymond Step py Step CyM The Nanny 45. 46. 47. 48.

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"Guarding Tess" KNBC 622,747 ft eOMmutes KCBS 617.805 9. Frasier KNBC 593,093 10. TheX-Fies KTTV 578.265 by Ravel, is a different kind of seduction song, more innocent, more mysterious, more discreet than Bernstein's. Salonen conducted it in the spring at the Music Center and he was wise to bring the performance to the Bowl (preparing it fresh on the limited summer rehearsal schedule would hardly make sense). The reading is typical of the conductor utterly precise in its rhythms, illuminating of the most subtle instrumental textures and boisterous in its energetic virtuosity.

It kept a large and easily distracted Bowl audience riveted for an hour. The orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale in "Daphnis" responded as if newly come to life. There are many solo opportunities in the Ravel and Bernstein, too many to acknowledge all of them. But it was one of the pleasures of the evening, which began with a rambunctious account of Bernstein's "Candide" Overture, that all of them were secure. Let the suave flute solos by Janet Ferguson in "Daphnis" and the rapturous cello ones in Serenade by Ronald Leonard stand for all the rest Also on alert were the sound engineers.

Love's labors in this music were seldom lost, apart from that faint low A in the basses that opens "Daphnis" and a few other details in the Ravel score that are hard 16 tear even the concert halL vV? -v- Continued from Page 58 of lewd jazz. The soloist was Philharmonic principal concertmaster Martin Chalifour, and both he and Salonen have the reputation for being cool and collected modernists little associated with Bernstein's messy musical world. So it was hardly surprising that their approach was more analytical than when the composer himself conducted the work with a favored "hot" soloist, such as Isaac Stern (who premiered it) or Gidon Kremer. But Salonen has discovered the latent modernism in the score, and its closeness in model to Bartdk's entirely analytical Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. He exploited the music's orchestral brilliance; he emphasized its substance; and he capitalized on its energy.

He let sentiment and jazz take care of themselves. He also let Chalifour take care of them for him. The sheer versatility of this dazzling young player seems more remarkable with each solo outing. Speed, flexibility and a clean, focused tone etch the music with utter clarity. But he also can be surprisingly coy, when Bernstein asked for it, managing to sneak in some lilting jazz.

This is something Sony might think about for its next recording with the orchestra. "Daphnis," the full-length ballet J1 j.j on1! 1 RADIO nanza," KNX (1070). mu 2:33 3 iJL-tapeisr "The Man Within; KNX (1070). MUSIC: CLASSICAL I II l.i.-Eniiif Cucert: Mozart Musical Joke," Concentus Musicus Vienna), Weber (Clarinet Concerto No. 1, Andrew Mariner), KKG0-FM (105.1).

MUSIC: rar-COarTET-FrjU JiTZ I0CI Ul I ix MsfMef letMes Eclectic, jazz, classical, folk, KCRW-FM (89.9). IIUl hat tlaMWUfr KPFX-FM iMd-t MiHMrJ icM lm urban, oldies, TIPS FN TODM I- 2, Cr) Matters: Alcohol, drugs and the brain. KCRW-FM (89.9). 5 ML-Urrj Mattk's Art Filmmaker Michael Moore p.m.), KPCC-FM (89 3) II- 113. ML-SUrrtiej Tauter: "How the Leopard Got Hrs Spots," read by iaci Nicholson, KPLS (830).

KMU-COMFITFUIIIT 11 1Ct38 UL-Starrtiat read by John Candy, WIS Q30) 1 ia. i KKBT-FM (92.3). Nm-I P-i-AI letKtt LaeitiM Im, oldies, KRLA (1110). 71 IJL-Mjrm Kim Iuz, KLON FM (88.1). 1-10 tit lam, KPFK-FM (90.7).

10 ML-e(tt-irt He War, KCRW-FM (89.9). MrdtifH UL-Iet't let Lest, KCRW-FM (89.9). STOUTS Starts leMrts-15 and 45 minutes past the hour, KFWB (980), KNX (1070). Ml IJL-latttat Kansas City Royll al Angels, i i.