PLAYBOY FESTIVAL CELEBRATES JAZZ FOR JUST ABOUT EVERYBODY.Byline: Rick Mortensen Staff Writer Playboy sponsored its first jazz festival Noun 1. jazz festival - a festival that features performances by jazz artists festival, fete - an organized series of acts and performances (usually in one place); "a drama festival" in 1959 at Chicago Stadium to celebrate its fifth anniversary. The magazine empire held another jazz festival 20 years later at the Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheatre at 2301 North Highland Avenue in Hollywood, California, USA, that is used primarily for music performances. The "bowl" in this context is the natural cavity in the earth into which the amphitheater is built, rather than the shape of the . The West Coast jazz West Coast jazz is a form of jazz music that developed around Los Angeles, California at about the same time as hard bop jazz was developing in New York City, in the 1950s and 1960s. West Coast jazz was generally seen as a sub-genre of cool jazz. festival became an annual event, and this weekend's festival will be the 25th. Jazz and pop singer Al Jarreau Alwyn Lopez "Al" Jarreau (born March 12, 1940) is an American singer. A seven-time Grammy Award winner, he is the only vocalist in history to win in three separate categories: jazz, pop, and R&B. , a frequent performer at Playboy Jazz festivals, praised the magazine's commitment to jazz. ``For all these years, Playboy has been - unlike a lot of pop culture - a friend to this important music, this American art American art, the art of the North American colonies and of the United States. There are separate articles on American architecture, North American Native art, pre-Columbian art and architecture, Mexican art and architecture, Spanish colonial art and architecture, form called jazz,'' he said. ``(The magazine) has been a supporter since its very first days. It's first interviews were with jazzers.'' Jarreau's set this year will feature jazz, pop and r&b hits from his diverse 30-year career, including his popular rendition of the Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (born December 6, 1920 in Concord, California[1]), better known as Dave Brubeck, is a U.S. jazz pianist. Regarded as a genius in his field, he has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Quartet hit ``Take Five'' accompanied by pianist Brubeck. Brubeck performed at the first Playboy Jazz Festival in Chicago the same year ``Take Five'' was released. At the 1959 festival, Brubeck was just one jazz luminary on a bill that included Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie. At this year's festival, Brubeck is one of the only artists fitting the classic definition of jazz. The other 20 acts range from celebrated gospel sextet the Blind Boys of Alabama to Latino hip-hop band Ozomatli. Richard Rosenzweig, president of Playboy Jazz Festivals, who's been mounting the concerts since they began in L.A., said the event's strength lies in its diversity. ``Almost from the start, the festival has been a world jazz festival,'' he said. ``In addition to what might be considered mainstream jazz acts, we have had to accommodate and entertain the vast diversity that exists in the Los Angeles area, and indeed, beyond the Los Angeles area.'' Rosenzweig defines jazz more broadly than a purist pur·ist n. One who practices or urges strict correctness, especially in the use of words. pu·ris  tic adj. might. He considers Jarreau to be ``mainstream jazz,'' even though the singer has won Grammys for pop and r&b. He's particularly interested in booking pop stars who come out with jazz albums, such as Joni Mitchell, who played one of the early Playboy festivals. Rosenzweig expects Brubeck fans to be won over by the other acts, which he said have roots in jazz. He does, however, field a few complaints from jazz fans and critics that would prefer to see more acts in the Dave Brubeck vein. ``I just have to remind everybody that the Bowl seats about 17,500 people,'' he said. ``We are able, by even selling obstructed-view seats, to get almost 18,000 people in there. ... If we booked a festival like this with the real 'purist' kind of jazz, we'd have about 12,000 people there.'' PLAYBOY JAZZ FESTIVAL Who: Saturday's acts - Boz Scaggs, Boney James, Daniela Mercury, Dave Holland Quintet, Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band, Hiroshima, Blind Boys of Alabama, Lizz Wright, L.A. Home Grown All-Star Big Band, Fanfare Ciocarlia, L.A. County High School for the Performing Arts Jazz Ensemble. Sunday's acts - Al Jarreau, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Guitars and Saxes, Roy Haynes Quartet, Los Hombres Calientes Los Hombres Calientes is a New Orleans based jazz group. They are most associated with Latin jazz, especially Afro-Cuban jazz, and contemporary jazz. Their 1998 self-titled debut was praised by the New Orleans Times-Picayune. , Ozomatli, the Cos of Good Music, Bobby Rodriguez Salsa Orchestra, New Orleans Klezmer klezmer (klĕz`mər), form of instrumental folk music developed in the Eastern European Jewish community. The style had its beginnings in the Middle Ages; its name is a Yiddishized version of the Hebrew klei zemir Allstars, Brubeck Institute Jazz Quartet. Where: Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. When: 2:30 to 11 p.m. Saturday, 2 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $15 to $100 per day. (323) 850-2000, (310) 449-4070; www.playboy.com/arts-entertainment or www.tickmaster.com. |
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