Playboy Jazz Fest a blast
By Laura Tate / Associate Publisher / Editor
The 31st annual Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl this weekend was an out-and-out party filled with the best of jazz, soul and R&B music, booze, and generosity among audience members, who on Saturday packed the bowl to the rim, tossing Jell-O shooters and beaded necklaces to each other.
While Sunday’s lineup consisted of some heavy hitters like Malibu’s Kenny G, and Patti Austin and Alfredo Rodriguez, the word on the street was that Saturday, with players including the Jon Faddis Quartet, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, the Pete Escovedo Orchestra and The Neville Brothers, among others, was hotter, filled with not just jazz but also some fantastic R&B and soul.
On Saturday, the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts warmed up the crowd, followed by the New Birth Brass Band. Master of Ceremonies Bill Cosby’s band, Cos of Good Music, continued the good vibes with an all-star grouping: bassist Dwayne Burno, drummer Ndugu Chancler, Anat Cohen on clarinet and saxophone, percussionist Luis Conte, trumpeter Tanya Darby and pianist Geoffrey Keezer.
Then, the John Faddis Quartet really got things going. Faddis is a master on trumpet-he made his instrument sing. Esperanza Spalding, who followed the quartet, showed her talent in singing while playing double bass. The crowd really started going wild when Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings hit the stage. Jones not only has a great voice and soul style (an early influence she says, by James Brown), but also a stage presence and performance that makes everyone want to jump to their feet to dance and sing.
While this reviewer could not stay for the rest of the evening because of having a 12-year-old son who wanted to go home (the festival times run from 2:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.), an audience member who stayed till the end, and attended Sunday as well, said the music by the rest of the lineup-including the Jack Sheldon Orchestra, Pete Escovedo’s Orchestra that featured Sheila E., Peter Michael and Juan Escovedo, Kind of Blue@50, Jimmy Cobb’s So What Band, Norman Brown’s Summer Storm 2009 with Phil Perry, Eric Darius and Gail Johnson, and The Neville Brothers- did not disappoint.