JAZZ

A group of American musicians led by protest folk-singer Joan Baez appealed Wednesday for the release of the leaders of the Jazz Section, a Czechoslovakian jazz organization, who were convicted in Prague on Wednesday of “illegal economic activities.” Baez, working through her Humanitas International human-rights group, sent a telegram to Czech President Gustav Husak seeking the Jazz Section members’ freedom, and plans to send a letter calling the dissolution of the group “a direct blow to (the) growing dialogue between citizens East and West.”