Kudos and Brickbats

I appreciate the accuracy, insightfulness, intelligence and what seems to be strong knowledge in the area of jazz by Don Heckman. He deserves praise for the quality of what he brings to his readers; you deserve praise for recognizing that we aren’t all pop music buffs.

In this day, people don’t give proper credit to the value of diversity in art culture because it rarely can monetarily give the provider instant fame and riches in the way the latest rap album could. But the fact remains that jazz is one of America’s only true native art forms.

PAUL YOUNG

Toluca Lake

I often wonder if some of the critics see the same show that I did (“Shepherd’s Cinegrill Performance Lacks Musical Focus,” Calendar, July 24).

First of all, it took tremendous courage and plain old guts for Shepherd to venture into something new and original. We had a great opportunity to see another very talented side of her--her wonderful singing talent.

Secondly, I would like to explain to Heckman that the audience was listening and not merely looking. The people who were sitting around me were very eager to buy a record or album by Shepherd because they loved her singing so much and wanted to hear it again. As you know, records do not have visual images so this audience was not just there to look at her. In addition, the audience was made up of trained, professional musicians and accomplished songwriters who know talent.

The critic goes on to say that she performed a “whole diverse range” of songs that were very different from each other when he felt that she should have stuck to one type of song. Cybill Shepherd can do it all. And indeed she did.

FRANCIS CREIGHTON LYNCH

Burbank