Best Jazz Band

No doubt about it: A good jazz guy is hard to find. The music of Diz and Bird and Miles and Mingus doesn't play as well in the subtropics as it does in some other parts of America. Jimmy Buffett is, unfortunately, more our speed. But Paul LeGrande, Rich Caruso, and Jim Chapek, who perform Friday and Saturday each week at Luce restaurant in downtown Hollywood (954-920-2500), riff in a style reminiscent of the giants of the genre. Caruso, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, has played with everyone from Luciano Pavarotti to Lionel Hampton. Chapek, of North Miami-Dade, has beat the skins with Chet Baker and Wynton Marsalis. Of course, the 2-year-old trio, which has a jones for the music, doesn't do covers. It comes up with a lot of original music and won't play anything else, says LeGrande, who lives in Hollywood and wields the bass violin and electric bass. "When someone comes in and asks, 'Will you do something by Miles Davis?' we say, no, but we'll do something with the same notes," he explains.