Playboy Jazz Festival

PLAYBOY JAZZ FESTIVAL

38th ANNIVERSARY 11th12th,2016 2016 38TH ANNIVERSARY • HOLLYWOOD BOWL ••June JUNE 11–12,

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Tribute to Quincy Jones: The A&M Years with Quincy Jones, Honored Guest; Christian McBride, Musical Director; John Clayton, Conductor Wayne Shorter Quartet & the Monterey Jazz Festival Wind Ensemble Pat Metheny with Antonio Sanchez, Linda Oh & Gwilym Simcock • Jacob Collier Terri Lyne Carrington’s Mosaic Project with Valerie Simpson & Lizz Wright Branford Marsalis Quartet featuring Special Guest Kurt Elling • The Bad Plus Joshua Redman Gregory Porter • Maceo Parker featuring the Ray Charles Orchestra & The Raelettes Kamasi Washington • Cécile McLorin Salvant • Richard Bona Mandekan Cubano Hammond B3 Explosion: Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio; Ronnie Foster Trio; Dave Stryker Quartet featuring Eric Alexander & Jared Gold on organ Joey Alexander Trio • Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles • Davina & The Vagabonds Toshiko Akiyoshi Trio • Lew Tabackin Quartet featuring Randy Brecker Donny McCaslin Quartet • Stanley Cowell Trio • Billy Hart Quartet • Bria Skonberg Alfredo Rodriguez Quartet • Banda Magda • Kris Davis Trio • Lots more!

MJF59 / SEPTEMBER 16-18, 2016 Tickets on Sale Now! / 888.248.6499 / montereyjazzfestival.org

MJF59 MJF59 Partners Partners include: include: Alaska Alaska Airlines, Airlines, AT&T, AT&T, the the Doris Doris Duke Duke Charitable Charitable Foundation, Foundation, DownBeat, DownBeat, William William and and Flora Flora Hewlett Hewlett Foundation, Foundation, Inns Inns of of Monterey, Monterey, The The Jazz Jazz Cruise, Cruise, Jazziz, Jazziz, JazzTimes, JazzTimes, KAZU KAZU 90.3FM, 90.3FM, Mission Linen, Linen, National National Endowment Endowment for for the the Arts, Arts, North North Coast Coast Brewing Brewing Company, Company, David David and and Lucile Lucile Packard Packard Foundation, Foundation, Scheid Scheid Family Family Wines, Wines, SmoothJazz.com SmoothJazz.com Global, Global, Yamaha Yamaha Drums, Drums, and and Yamaha Yamaha Pianos Pianos Mission

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PLAYBOY JAZZ FESTIVAL SATURDAY/SUNDAY JUNE 11-12, 2016

SETH MACFARLANE

CONTENTS CÉCILE McLORIN SALVANT GEORGE LOPEZ

JANELLE MONÁE

FOURPLAY

Welcome

4

Board of Directors

10

Moving On: B.B. King in Retrospect

14

Food + Wine

18

We Celebrate and Remember...

20

Jazz-Filled Summer Nights

22

George Lopez

24

Saturday Program and Artists

26

The World of Playboy Jazz

34

Sunday Program and Artists

36

Fourplay at 25

44

Food + Wine = A Great Time

46

General Information

48

HOLLYWOOD BOWL

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WELCOME

GREETINGS FROM THE LA PHIL Welcome to the 38th Annual Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl!

One of the world’s premiere jazz festivals, Playboy Jazz has featured legendary performances by the genre’s undisputed giants while acting as a launching pad for the next generation of jazz greats. This year’s festival continues the tradition. Over two days, you will hear from an eclectic line-up, including Jon Batiste & Stay Human, Cécile McLorin Salvant, The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, Janelle Monáe, Fourplay, and The Robert Cray Band honoring the late B.B. King with special guests Sonny Landreth and Roy Gaines.

The Playboy Jazz Festival offers an unparalleled snapshot of the contemporary jazz scene, while capturing the true spirit of community. The camaraderie among Playboy Jazz fans is an experience in and of itself, and we invite you to keep the celebration going all summer long.

This season, the Bowl will also play host to eight incredible concerts spanning the genre. Overseen by LA Phil Creative Chair for Jazz Herbie Hancock, the LA Phil’s Jazz at the Bowl series will include performances by Carlos Vives, Gladys Knight, Jeff Beck, and Hancock himself.

The series also includes four special tribute nights. Dr. John & The Nite Trippers will headline a celebration of New Orleans and the incomparable Allen Toussaint. Maceo Parker will take the helm for the ultimate Ray Charles Tribute. “Sing the Truth” will pay homage to Lena Horne, Dinah Washington, Eartha Kitt, and Natalie Cole, and back by popular demand, “The Black Movie Soundtrack II” will honor the very best of black film music.

Whether this is your first time or your thirtieth, we thank you for joining us for the Playboy Jazz Festival and supporting jazz at the Hollywood Bowl.

Enjoy the concert.

Deborah Borda President and Chief Executive Officer Los Angeles Philharmonic Association David C. Bohnett Presidential Chair

Finally! It’s time for the Hollywood Bowl season. Time to come to this magical place that defines summer for so many of us.

Those of you who have been with us over past years know that the Hollywood Bowl tries to introduce something new with each summer season. What’s new this year is Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine. An evening at the Bowl is more than a great concert. It’s an entire experience when you add dinner with your family, a glass of wine with friends, or some popcorn on a movie night. Our new culinary team, led by local restaurateurs Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne of Lucques, a.o.c., Tavern, and The Larder, have reimagined the Bowl food experience in order to provide something for all tastes and every tradition. Whether dining at one of our on-site restaurants, ordering supper in your box seats, or grabbing something from our street food options or marketplaces for your picnic, it’s fresh, new, and delicious!

We offer special congratulations to Suzanne Goin on receiving the 2016 James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef! How lucky we are to have her at the Bowl.

As always, we extend our thanks to all members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, County Chief Executive Office, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

We acknowledge our foundation, corporate, and media partners who provide such immense support to each concert you enjoy on the Bowl stage.

This beautiful Los Angeles County Park has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 95 years and host to thousands of artists in all genres of music. We continue the tradition this year and hope you will join us often. Thank you for being here with us tonight and all summer.

Welcome back, and enjoy the show!

Gail Samuel Executive Director Los Angeles Philharmonic Association

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WELCOME

A MESSAGE FROM SUPERVISOR SHEILA KUEHL I am delighted to welcome you all to our wonderful Hollywood Bowl. This Summer 2016 concert season sets out a rich and varied lineup of pop, jazz, classical, Broadway, and, of course, fireworks!

I am the proud steward of many great public institutions in L.A. County, but the Bowl is very special to me. As the largest natural outdoor amphitheater in the country, and one of the jewels in our renowned collection of unique and celebrated arts venues, the Bowl is an architectural icon in its own right. For nearly 100 years, residents and visitors have come to the Bowl to enjoy these incredible performances under the stars.

I have been coming here every summer since I can remember, and there are few things I love more than a summer night at the Bowl – good food and music with friends and family. So, whether you are a long-time or first-time concertgoer, add to your storehouse of great Bowl memories by making some new ones tonight. They will last you a lifetime!

Thank you so much for your support. I am proud and grateful to have been given the opportunity to represent and serve the District that contains this great Los Angeles icon. My best to everyone for an enjoyable program!

Sheila Kuehl Supervisor, Third District County of Los Angeles

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WELCOME

Playboy was born to a jazz beat. Jazz and big band music filled the Chicago apartment where I created the first issue of Playboy in 1953 and later served as the soundtrack to the magazine’s offices and late-night parties. Jazz was sophisticated and sexy, exactly how I envisioned Playboy. So in August 1959, I sat in the front row of Chicago Stadium and watched my musical idols – from Duke Ellington and Miles Davis to Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald – perform to 68,000 people at the first ever Playboy Jazz Festival, organized to commemorate the magazine’s five-year anniversary.

The inaugural Jazz Festival celebrated more than a magazine.

As a young music fan who grew up idolizing Bix Beiderbecke and once aspired to be a jazz singer in heavily-segregated Chicago, I still remembered travelling to the city’s Southside jazz clubs – the only place you would find an integrated audience. Jazz knew no color boundaries, an ethos that would influence my life as much as the music did.

Today, the Playboy Jazz Festival continues to stand as a salute to the elegance and romance of jazz. Since re-launching the Festival in 1979 at the Hollywood Bowl as part of Playboy’s 25th anniversary celebration, the Festival has showcased the biggest and most innovative names in jazz from around the world.

As we mark our third year of partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, we once again welcome a stellar lineup of international artists, including England’s Anthony Strong, Cuba’s Los Van Van, Honduras’ AURELIO, and Indonesia’s Joey Alexander.

We also welcome the return of Fourplay (celebrating their 25th anniversary), and will celebrate the legendary B.B. King with a very special musical tribute.

Welcome, everyone!

Hugh M. Hefner

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LEADERSHIP

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIR

DIRECTORS

Diane B. Paul*

Julie Andrews Wallis Annenberg David N. Barry, III Thomas L. Beckmen Lynn A. Booth Linda Brittan David A. Clark Mark Houston Dalzell* Mari L. Danihel Donald P. de Brier* Kenneth M. Doran Louise D. Edgerton Lawrence N. Field* Nathan Frankel Joshua Friedman Cecilia Aguilera Glassman Jennifer Miller Goff Ellen Goldsmith-Vein Lenore S. Greenberg Carol Colburn Grigor Pierre Habis Teena Hostovich John F. Hotchkis* Jonathan Kagan* Kenneth Kamins* Darioush Khaledi

PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Deborah Borda DAVID C. BOHNETT PRESIDENTIAL CHAIR

VICE CHAIRS David C. Bohnett* Jerrold L. Eberhardt* Jane B. Eisner*

David Gindler* John V. Mallory* Jay Rasulo*

Ronald Litzinger Kevin MacCarthy Bowen H. “Buzz” McCoy Gretchen McNally David Meline Margaret Morgan Younes Nazarian Leith O’Leary William Powers Barry D. Pressman, M.D.* Dudley A. Rauch* Christopher Rising Ann Ronus Jennifer Rosenfeld Laura Rosenwald Nancy S. Sanders* Eric L. Small Christian Stracke Ronald D. Sugar* Jack Suzar Sue Tsao Jonathan Weedman Alyce de Roulet Williamson Irwin Winkler Marilyn Ziering

HONORARY LIFE DIRECTORS Royce Diener Frank Gehry

Ginny Mancini Rocco C. Siciliano

as of June 1, 2016 *Executive Committee Member

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COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

Michael D. Antonovich Don Knabe Hilda L. Solis CHAIR

Sheila Kuehl Mark Ridley-Thomas Sachi Hamai CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

COUNTY ARTS COMMISSION

Bettina Korek PRESIDENT

Pamela Bright-Moon VICE PRESIDENT

Betty Haagen SECRETARY

Helen Hernandez EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Eric Hanks Constance Jolcuvar Peter Lesnik Claudia Margolis Kathryn McDonnell Alis Clausen Odenthal Norma Provencio Pichardo Claire Peeps David Valdez Hope Warschaw Rosalind Wyman

Laura Zucker

The Los Angeles County Arts Commission fosters excellence, diversity, vitality, understanding, and accessibility of the arts in Los Angeles County, encompassing 88 municipalities, and provides leadership in cultural services. The Arts Commission funds 364 nonprofit arts organizations through a two-year $9 million grant program, implements Arts for All, the regional initiative dedicated to ensuring all students receive quality arts education in the County’s 81 public school districts, programs and operates the Ford Theatres, funds the largest arts internship program in the country, and manages the County’s civic art policy. The Arts Commission also produces free community programs, including the Emmy® Award-winning LA County Holiday Celebration for public television. lacountyarts.org.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association’s programs are made possible, in part, by generous grants from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and from the National Endowment for the Arts.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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2016 ›17

SEASON VERDI

MACBETH GLASS

AKHNATEN BERNSTEIN

WONDERFUL TOWN MOZART

THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO STRAUSS

SALOME OFFENBACH

THE TALES OF HOFFMANN PUCCINI

TOSCA OFF GRAND: NOSFERATU THE SOURCE THUMBPRINT

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FEATURE

MOVING ON: B.B. KING IN RETROSPECT

BY DAVE KOPPLIN Moving on is my method of healing my hurt, and man, I’ve been moving on all my life.

– B.B. King (1925-2015) To say that B.B. King has been “moving on” is an understatement. Born in the Mississippi Delta town of Itta Ben in 1925, Riley B. King began life as a sharecropper’s son on the Mississippi Delta. As a kid, he worked plowing the fields with a mule and picking cotton on a plantation, with time off on Sundays to sing in the gospel choir in Kilmichael. As he said in his autobiography, Blues All Around Me: “my accent was country, my clothes were torn… [I] had nothing but one pair of denim overalls.”

From those humble beginnings, King became an international star, and is now heralded as one of the most important musicians in our country’s history. Indeed, since his hard scrabble early years, his name has become synonymous with “The Blues.” Over a nearly 70-year career, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He has been celebrated with accolades such as the National Medal of the Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and he was honored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, among many other awards. King recorded nearly 90 albums and anthologies, garnering 15 Grammys and had numerous more Grammy nominations. He has definitely been moving on.

His first “tours” were as a youngster, as he found his way a few miles west to Church Street in Indianola, where he would peek through the slats and see the traveling blues and jazz artists perform. He could see Count Basie at Club Ebony, or Sonny Boy Williamson down at the Blue Chip.

He was surrounded by the original Delta blues of Son House, Robert Johnson, and Robert Wilkins… acoustic guitars in hand, sometimes a harmonica. Those bluesmen

Liza Minnelli, Sir James Galway, and B.B. King - Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame inductees, 2008

still echoed the moans and wails of the plantation field hands, prison chain gangs, the tortured souls of oppression and poverty. It was not abstract: it was in the air, in the sound of their voices, the rhythm of their songs, the feeling they brought to this nascent art form. It wasn’t long before King tried his hand on Church Street himself, singing on the street corner for tips.

His next tour was to hitchhike up Highway 49 to Memphis, a burgeoning music capitol for African American music, which to King was “a little like going to heaven.”

His first cousin lived there, too: Booker T. Washington “Bukka” White. White was a well-known blues singer and guitarist, composer of the often-covered “Parchman Farm Blues,” who was especially known for his guitar sound — the “king of slide guitar,” as B.B. King called him. King hightailed it across the river to West Memphis, Arkansas where he went to KWEM to find bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson, who did a weekday show called the King Biscuit Hour. King auditioned for him right there on the spot and was on the show that day.

It was only a few years later that King had his own radio show in Memphis, on WDIA,

spinning the latest jump records by the likes of Louis Jordan and Big Joe Turner.

It was there as a DJ that King got his nickname, “Beale Street Blues Boy,” which became “Blues Boy” and eventually just “B.B.” It was also there, on-air, that he’d plug in his guitar and play along to the hot tunes of the day.

DIVERSE INFLUENCES King tried to absorb the diversity of music around him: the single-note solos of jazz guitarists Django Rheinhardt and Charlie Christian, the plaintive sound of “hillbilly” singer Jimmie Rodgers, the full-throated sound of saxophonist Ben Webster, the sweet and mournful sound of the Hawaiian lap guitar that was just then becoming popular. King was especially taken with the guitar sound of T-Bone Walker, a Texas bluesman who was breaking out in the mid 1940s with an electric guitar sound that was unlike any other. “If T-Bone Walker had been a woman, I would have asked him to marry me,” King once said in an interview with The Guardian.

King himself said that he didn’t “have the fingers” for those fast lines that Christian or

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Django would play, or the smeary “bottleneck” style of his cousin Bukka. As he later said: “I never wanted to be like other blues singers… I’ve never wanted to be like anyone other than myself.” And he wasn’t like anyone else. King developed a guitar sound that was like the sound of a human voice, and a vocal sound that was inflected with the spirituality and suavity of gospel singing, the twang of the country, and the soulful cry of the plantation field holler.

Within a few years of his permanent move to Memphis, King was moving on again, playing the so-called “Chitlin’ Circuit,” a web of theaters, juke joints, and roadhouses in the East, South, and Midwest that catered to African American audiences and musicians. In the year 1956 alone, he and his band played 342 one-nighters, and that was far from the end of his career.

He honed his sound in those grueling tours, both as a vocalist and as a guitarist.

His guitar sound was individual and inspired generations of young rock and rollers, from Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page to Jimi Hendrix and Lennie Kravitz.

Indeed, King’s 1965 release, Live at the Regal, was a touchstone for many a rock and roll guitarist. His sound was big, burly, and soulful. “He could reach you with one note,” said Robert Cray, who is featured in Sunday’s Playboy Jazz Festival celebration of King and his musical legacy.

CONVERSATIONS WITH LUCILLE B.B. King’s guitar became almost as famous as him. In December of 1949, he and his band were playing a house party in Twist, Arkansas, about 35 miles northwest of Memphis, when a bucket of kerosene that the owner used to heat the place got tipped over by two men fighting. It set the joint ablaze and everybody rushed for the door including King, who soon realized he’d left his guitar behind and rushed back in – literally risking his life – to rescue his guitar, a Gibson L-30. The next day, he found out that the men were fighting over a woman named Lucille, so that was the name he gave his guitar on the spot. Every guitar he owned after shared that moniker, and the Gibson company eventually introduced a B.B. King “Lucille” model in his honor.

Still, King didn’t necessarily think of himself as an accomplished guitarist: “I call myself a blues singer, but you never

T

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heard me call myself a blues guitar man… that’s because there’s been so many [who] can do it better than I can, play the blues better than me.”

But in 2003 Rolling Stone magazine voted him the No. 3 guitarist of all time, right behind Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman. Time magazine voted him their No. 3 electric guitarist of all time in 2009.

It was the conversation between his voice and guitar that set him apart: “I tried to connect my singing voice to my guitar and my guitar to my singing voice,” wrote King. “The conversation between him and Lucille was the greatest conversation of all time,” said bluesman Sonny Landreth (also on this Playboy Jazz Festival bill) when asked about King’s musical legacy.

THE FACE OF THE BLUES King had success in the 1950s and early ’60s with African American audiences, including such hits as “Everyday I Have the Blues” and “Sweet Little Angel,” but things would soon change for him.

In the late 1960s, his new manager Sid Seidenberg started booking King in bigger venues that had been catering to rock and rollers. The year 1969 saw him open for the Rolling Stones on tour. The next year, King released “The Thrill is Gone,” which became a breakout hit on both the R & B and pop charts. That was the end of the juke joints and the beginning of the stadium shows. He has since played major venues in almost every country in the world, including a 2012 gala performance at the White House. He played here at the

Hollywood Bowl numerous times and was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2008.

Even up until his 86th birthday, King was still “movin’ on.” Ed Bradley once asked him in an interview for 60 Minutes if he ever thought he would stop touring.

King’s answer: “When the great man calls and they bury me in the ground.”

How will he be remembered? “He was the ambassador to the world for American blues,” said Cray. “He was the master of emotion, whether [speaking] through his guitar, singing, or just talking to you,” he added. Landreth also called him an ambassador, and added: “He had something special that people could relate to… grace in the face of diversity.”

King himself was humble about his accomplishments. In his last major interview, for The Observer in 2012, he said: “I think I’ve done the best I could have done, but I keep wanting to play better, go further.” But that’s King. “He unites us,” said Landreth. “He set the bar for me and others… he’s the standard.”

So, if you Google “the blues” will you find a picture of B.B. King? Damn straight!

The first link you’ll find for “the blues” is Wikipedia and there is King’s face – and guitar – right on top.

V T O A

Dave Kopplin, PhD., is a professor of music at Cal Poly Pomona, where he runs their jazz band, among other duties.

He regularly writes for performing arts organizations across the country.

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FOOD + WINE

NESEW ASON THIS

+

We are thrilled to launch our new culinary program, brought to life by James Beard Award-winning chef Suzanne Goin and business partner Caroline Styne, of celebrated local restaurants Lucques, a.o.c., Tavern, and The Larder.

STREET FOOD & SNACKS

KITCHEN 22

Locations throughout the Bowl grounds feature the diverse multi-cultural foods of Los Angeles: street tacos, burgers, specialty hot dogs, bánh mì, pizza, rotisserie chicken, BBQ, and popcorn.

Burgers, fries, sandwiches, salads, and Spanish Fried Chicken.

THE WINE BAR BY A.O.C. THE BACKYARD

MARKETPLACES Specialty sandwiches, salads, cheese + charcuterie plates, snacks, beer, and wine.

SUPPER IN YOUR BOX SEAT Order ahead for full-service meals from Suzanne’s summer supper menus served in your box seats.

LUCQUES AT THE CIRCLE

THE SWEET SHOP

Fine dining for subscribers of the Pool Circle, with a seasonal madeto-order menu and exceptional wine list, styled from the awardwinning restaurant Lucques.

Candies, cookies, brownies, and rotating artisan baked goods.

Inspired by the gorgeous hills surrounding the Bowl, this newly designed al fresco space has the feel of your coolest friend’s chic backyard. Two large wood-burning grills are the focus of this farmers’ market-driven, family-style restaurant serving shared plates of grilled fish, chops, steaks, grains, greens, and an extensive raw bar.

L.A.’s favorite wine bar comes to life at the Bowl, featuring artisanal cheese and charcuterie, market-fresh salads, grilled fish, and meats. The wine list, curated

by Caroline Styne, features only wines that are farmed sustainably, organically, or biodynamically, and are made by small-production, artisanal winemakers. A selection of craft brew and farmers’ market-driven cocktails made with soju and other wine-based liquors complete the offerings.

SEE MENUS AND ORDER AHEAD: HollywoodBowl.com/FoodAndWine • 323.850.1885

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Pulitzer Prize finalist playwright Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros and Tony Award-winning director John Rando offer a funny and poignant cautionary tale about the perils of pretense and the fragility of family.

Written by ALEXANDRA GERSTEN-VASSILAROS Directed by JOHN RANDO Featuring

ARNIE BURTON (Flesh and Bone)

EMILY ROBINSON (Transparent)

JON TENNEY (The Closer)

JENNIFER WESTFELDT (Kissing Jessica Stein)

WORLD PREMIERE NOW ON STAGE THROUGH JULY 17

BARBECUE

WEST COAST PREMIERE ON STAGE SEPT 6 – OCT 16 A raucous and rollicking new comedy about silbling love and loathing.

From Obie and Helen Hayes Award winner Robert O’Hara and directed by Colman Domingo, Barbecue skewers any ideas we have about the families we think we know.

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IN MEMORIAM

WE CELEBRATE AND REMEMBER...

Every year we take a moment to reflect on the jazz people who have passed on in the previous twelve months – the artists and others who have contributed so much to the field.

This summer we start with two stellar sax players and pioneers: Ornette Coleman and Gato Barbieri. Other sax masters include Phil Woods, Harald Devold, Getatchew Mekuria, and Joe Temperley.

Though perhaps better known as a pianist and arranger, Harold Battiste was also an accomplished saxophonist. New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint was another pianist/ arranger/producer/songwriter; other keyboardists who passed include French organist Eddie Louiss and Canadian pianist Paul Bley. We lost a whole choir of delightfully varied and wonderfully expressive singers: Natalie Cole, Bill Henderson, Ernestine Anderson, Frank Sinatra Jr., Frankie Ford, Otis Clay, L. C. Ulmer, Tommy Brown, and Roger Cicero. Among brass players passing were three trumpeters: band leader and arranger Art Depew, Cuban maestro Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros, and British writer John Chilton; composer/educator David Baker was a renowned trombonist early in his career. Doo wop guitarist Lee Andrew (Questlove’s father) passed, as did bassist and impresario Howard Rumsey, “Third Stream” original Gunther Schuller, and producer Larry Rosen. Final cadences in the percussion world came for drummer Joe Ascione, Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos, and two revolutionary gear masters: drum stick maker Vic Firth and drum head inventor Remo Belli.

ORNETTE COLEMAN

ALLEN TOUSSAINT

NATALIE COLE

These people have touched and challenged us, enriching our lives with their artistry and dedication. They have also inspired so many others to pick up the torch, continuing and renewing the great traditions and blazing new paths, as we are reminded every summer.

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JAZZ AT THE BOWL

JAZZ-FILLED SUMMER NIGHTS The Jazz at the Bowl series has been going strong and thrilling audiences since 1980.

This summer Herbie Hancock, who recently renewed his position as the William Powers & Carolyn Powers Creative Chair for Jazz, again guides the Wednesday series, with eight concerts that span the genre.

It all starts with a major NOLA celebration, as New Orleans’ finest gather in memory of Allen Toussaint, the late legendary composer, producer, performer, and humanitarian. New Orleans funk master Dr. John and his band The Nite Trippers bring their gritty grooves, along with the Allen Toussaint Band and special guests Cyril Neville and Irma Thomas, to honor Toussaint, whose hits include “Southern Nights,” “Yes We Can Can,” and “Working in the Coal Mine.” Vibrant New Orleans jazz and funk innovators Galactic open the evening. (July 20) The Empress of Soul, seven-time Grammy-winner Gladys Knight, returns to the Bowl, continuing her decades-long reign as R&B royalty. The award-winning singer has recorded more than 38 albums and scored No. 1 hits in Pop, Gospel, R&B, and Adult Contemporary, including “Midnight Train to Georgia,” “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “If I Were Your Woman,” and “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye).” Timeless horn titans Tower of Power open the evening, continuing their legacy of more than 45 years of soulful urban jazz. (August 3) Celebrated guitarist and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Jeff Beck marks 50 momentous years of electrifying live performances with a very special appearance, with special guest Beth Hart and other surprises. One of the most widely acclaimed guitarists in popular music, Beck is known for his wild mix of blues, funk, and jazz rock, as well as collaborations with countless luminaries. Legendary Chicago bluesman Buddy Guy, another member of the Hall of Fame, performs prior. (August 10)

Stellar saxophonist Maceo Parker, known for his work with James Brown and Prince, over 25 years of solo work, and as a bandleader in his own right, leads a tribute to Ray Charles, Ray’s orchestra, and the Raelettes. Master musician Christian McBride showcases his talent on bass while driving his Grammy-winning big band, with special guest Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind & Fire. (August 17) Showcasing groundbreaking musical explorations, Mega Nova puts titans Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Cindy Blackman Santana, Marcus Miller, and Carlos Santana together and brings their influential music to life in the epic surroundings of the Hollywood Bowl. Booker T journeys through soul, blues, and R&B to open the evening with his Stax Revue.

(August 24) Things get cinematic when “The Academy Celebrates the Black Movie Soundtrack” returns. By popular demand, Grammy-winner Marcus Miller and acclaimed producer/director Reginald Hudlin reprise the Bowl’s 2014 Black Movie Soundtrack event with new clips and some funky favorites. Film star and comedian Craig Robinson hosts this soulful celebration of black cinema, with a stellar array of special guests, including Philip Bailey, Verdine White, and Ralph Johnson of Earth, Wind & Fire and Full Force, plus Vince Mendoza conducting the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. (August 31; produced in cooperation with A.M.P.A.S.) One of Colombia’s greatest artists, Carlos Vives brings his pioneering mix of traditional Colombian folk music and irresistible pop beats to the Bowl for the

first time. The multiple Grammy-winning singer/composer/actor will include some of his greatest hits, such as “Volví a Nacer,” “El Mar de Sus Ojos,” and “La Tierra del Olvido.” (September 7) Five outstanding contemporary female stars – Patti Austin, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Terri Lyne Carrington, Judith Hill, and Ledisi (plus special guest Freddy Cole) – gather to “Sing the Truth” and celebrate the legacies of Lena Horne, Dinah Washington, Eartha Kitt, and Natalie Cole, four iconic and unforgettable women whose talents and pioneering spirit live on.

(September 14) An annual non-subscription event is Smooth Summer Jazz, a Sunday evening mini-festival. This summer’s edition features 10-time Grammy-winner George Benson; the funky soul sounds of Average White Band; the compelling, contemporary groove of Jeff Lorber Fusion; and Jason Miles’ “To Grover, With Love,” a tribute to smooth jazz founding father Grover Washington, Jr. (August 28) In another weekend of note for jazz lovers, Olympic fever hits the Bowl as we salute the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro. Dance to the scintillating samba/ pop rhythms of Grammy-winner Sergio Mendes, celebrating the 50th anniversary of his influential band, Brasil ’66, with special guests Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, plus Dianne Reeves and Romero Lubambo. Joining in are the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra conducted by Thomas Wilkins, soprano Angel Blue, and Viver Brasil, for an electrifying evening of samba, capoeira, Bloco-Afro drummers, and fireworks!

(August 12 & 13)

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MASTER OF CEREMONIES

GEORGE LOPEZ GEORGE LOPEZ’s multi-faceted career encompasses television, film, standup comedy, and late-night television. For two seasons, Lopez hosted Lopez Tonight, a late-night television talk show on TBS, which represented Lopez’s return to series television after co-creating, writing, producing, and starring in Warner Bros.

Television’s groundbreaking hit sitcom George Lopez, which ran for six seasons on ABC. George Lopez remains a hit with viewers in syndication on both broadcast stations and on cable’s Nick at Nite, ranking as one of the top-rated shows on the network and among the top five comedies and top 20 weekly programs in syndication. George Lopez is one of only four off-net comedies to post weekly ratings gains among households from the 2007/08 to 2008/09 season.

Lopez was most recently seen in the Lionsgate inspirational drama, Spare Parts. Produced by Lopez, the film is based on a true story about four undocumented Mexican-American teenagers from Phoenix who team up to build an underwater robot that wins the national robotics competition.

In 2014, Lopez starred in the multi-camera ensemble comedy Saint George on FX, which he co-created.

In 2013, Lopez released his second memoir, I’m Not Gonna Lie And Other Lies You Tell When You Turn 50, where he tells the unabashed and hilarious truth about aging – as only he can. In 2012, Lopez debuted his third solo stand-up special, It’s Not Me, It’s You, on HBO. Lopez also voiced animated characters in a string of animated blockbuster films including Rafael in Rio and Rio 2 along with Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, and Jesse Eisenberg, Thurman in Escape from Planet Earth opposite Jane Lynch and Sofia Vergara, Grouchy Smurf in The Smurfs 1 and 2, and The Beverly Hills Chihuahua 1, 2, and 3. His other most recent film credits include the box-office hit Valentine’s Day directed by Garry Marshall, Swing Vote, Henry Poole Is Here, and Balls of Fury.

In August 2009, Lopez filmed his second HBO Comedy Special, Tall, Dark and Chicano, which was nominated for a

Grammy in the category of Best Comedy Album. He headlined his first HBO Comedy Special, America’s Mexican, in 2007. Lopez has also performed as part of HBO and TBS’s Comic Relief 2006.

His acclaimed comedy concert, Why You Crying?, debuted on Showtime in 2004.

In 2006 he released his third standup CD, El Mas Chingon, which also earned Lopez a Grammy nomination in the category of Best Comedy Album. Prior to that, in 2004, he was nominated for a Grammy in the same category for his CD Team Leader. In May 2004, his autobiography, Why You Crying?, entered The New York Times Bestsellers List Top 20. The book was co-written by Emmy-winning writer

and sportscaster Armen Keteyian. Lopez also was the focus of the award-winning documentary Brown is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream.

In 2006, Lopez received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition, Time magazine named him one of the 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America, and the Harris Poll named him one of the Top Ten Favorite Television Personalities.

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PROGRAM

SATURDAY JUNE 11, 2016

PLAYBOY JAZZ FESTIVAL in order of appearance (subject to change)

THE LAUSD/BEYOND THE BELL ALL-CITY JAZZ BAND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF TONY WHITE AND J.B. DYAS Steve Murillo, Ben Watson, Ellis Thompson, Ashton Sein, Larry Alvarez, SAXOPHONES Kameron Carey, Moe Fienberg, Jeremy Davalos, Ignacio Guillen, TRUMPETS Marcelo Aguinaga, William Torres, Juan Ramires, Christopher Vargas, TROMBONES Joey Curreri, PIANO Caleb Buchanan, BASS Terran Artis, Giovanni Jimenez, DRUMS Keelan Walters, GUITAR

AURELIO Aurelio Martinez, LEAD VOCALS, GUITAR, CONGAS Junior Guerrero, BASS, VOCALS Tony Penalva, LEAD GUITAR Denton Figueroa, SHAKER, VOCALS Charles Garcia, Philip Garcia, GARIFUNA DRUMS

JOHN BEASLEY’S MONK’ESTRA Bijon Watson, Brian Swartz, Dontae Winslow, Jamie Hovorka, TRUMPETS Wendell Kelly, Ryan Dragon, Steve Hughes, Lemar Guillary, TROMBONES Bob Sheppard, Danny Janklow, Justo Almario, Tom Luer, Tom Peterson, SAXOPHONES Benjamin Shepherd, BASS Terreon Gully, DRUMS John Beasley, CONDUCTOR/ARRANGER, KEYBOARDS, MELODICA

JOEY ALEXANDER TRIO Joey Alexander, PIANO Ulysses Owens, Jr., DRUMS Dan Chmielinski, BASS

CÉCILE McLORIN SALVANT Cécile McLorin Salvant, VOCALS Aaron Diehl, PIANO Paul Sikivie, BASS Lawrence Leathers, DRUMS

THE BAD PLUS JOSHUA REDMAN Reid Anderson, BASS Ethan Iverson, PIANO David King, DRUMS Joshua Redman, SAXOPHONES

NATURALLY 7 Garfield Buckley, 2ND TENOR Ricky Cort, 1ST TENOR, VOCAL GUITAR Rod Eldridge, 1ST TENOR, VOCAL DJ Kelvin “Kelz” Mitchell, BASS Dwight Stewart, BARITONE Roger Thomas, BARITONE, RAP Warren Thomas, BEAT BOX

SETH MACFARLANE WITH CONDUCTOR JOEL McNEELY Seth MacFarlane, VOCALS Dan Higgins, Greg Huckins, Brian Scanlon, Bob Sheppard, Adam Schroeder, SAXOPHONES Dan Fornero, Rob Schaer, Larry Hall, Carl Saunders, TRUMPETS Andy Martin, Bob McChesney, Erik Hughes, Bill Reichenbach, TROMBONES Tom Ranier, PIANO Chuck Berghofer, BASS Andrew Synowiec, GUITAR Peter Erskine, DRUMS Wade Culbreath, PERCUSSION

LOS VAN VAN Samuel Formell Alfonso, DRUMS Hugo Antonio Morejon Gomez, Alvaro Collado Martinez, Edmundo Carlos Pina Machin, TROMBONES Boris Ernesto Luna Mendez, KEYBOARDS Efrain Alejandro Chibas Wilson, PIANO Juan Carlos Formell Alfonso, BASS Julio Eladio Noroña Cruz, Joel Cuesta Fernandez, PERCUSSION Jorge Leliebre Zorzano, FLUTE Pedro Cesar Fajardo Alzaga, Irving Roberto Frontela Rico, VIOLINS Abdel Rasalps Sotolongo, Yenisel Valdes Fuentes, Roberto Hernandez Acea, Armando Ihosvany Cantero Abreu, VOCALISTS

JON BATISTE & STAY HUMAN Jon Batiste, PIANO, “HARMONABOARD” (MELODICA), VOCALS Eddie Barbash, ALTO SAX, VOCALS Joseph Saylor, DRUMS, TAMBOURINE Louis Cato, ACOUSTIC & BASS GUITAR, TUBA, PERCUSSION, VOCALS Ibanda Ruhumbika, TUBA Jonathan Lampley, TRUMPET, TUBA Grace Kelly, ALTO & BARITONE SAXOPHONE Russell Hall, BASS

Master of Ceremonies

GEORGE LOPEZ Produced in association with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association by FestivalWest Inc.

Official Automotive Partner of the Hollywood Bowl

Official Airline of the Hollywood Bowl

Generously sponsored by Acura.

Programs and artists subject to change.

Official Cruise Line of the Hollywood Bowl MEDIA SPONSOR:

Pianos provided by Steinway Piano Gallery – Beverly Hills.

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Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and percussionist AURELIO Martinez is one of Central America’s most gifted performers. Born in Honduras, the artist is known for his powerful and evocative voice. He is a major bearer of the Garifuna culture and music traditions and he is considered nowadays as the Cultural Ambassador of the Garifuna nation.

The Garinagu, commonly known as the Garifuna are people of Amerindian and West African descents who live along the coasts of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The original home of the Garifuna is St. Vincent (one of the windward islands in the West Indies) from which they were deported in 1796 by the British government and landed on Roatan island, situated in the Bay Islands of Honduras.

Aurelio grew up in a small Caribbean village called Plaplaya, surrounded by a family of talented musicians. His father was a well-known local troubadour who improvised paranda songs containing Garifuna roots rhythms and Latin sounds.

Following the influence of his uncles and grandfather, he became a brilliant drummer in his early childhood. From his vocally gifted mother, he learned to sing and picked up many songs she crafted.

In the late ’80s, he created his first group, called Lita Ariran, one of the first Garifuna traditional music and dance groups to appear on the international scene. His

first album, Lita Ariran (JVC Records, 1995), was produced by his friend Akira Tomita.

In 1997, Aurelio met his Belizean friend and fellow musician Andy Palacio. The two artists struck up a decades-long friendship thanks in part to their shared hopes for the future of Garifuna music and culture.

Through Palacio, Aurelio met Ivan Duran, the tireless producer behind Belize’s Stonetree Records. The young artist participated in a paranda project, including the King of Paranda, Paul Nabor “Nabi,” among others. Critics around the world acknowledge Paranda: Africa In Central America (Stonetree Records, 1999) as being one of the best albums to come out of this part of the world.

In 2004, Aurelio released his first solo album, called Garifuna Soul, produced by Ivan Duran (Stonetree Records, 2004).

Two years later (2006), Aurelio took on another role as a politician in the Honduran National Congress, becoming the first Garifuna congressman from his region in the country’s history.

In 2007, Aurelio was invited to participate in the album Watina (Stonetree Records, Cumbancha, 2007) featuring Andy Palacio and The Garifuna Collective, who received the prestigious WOMEX Award, a respected acknowledgment from the world music industry.

By the year 2008, Aurelio was selected a worldwide musician by the Afropop legend Youssou N’Dour, within the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Three

years later, as part of a result of Youssou N’Dour’s collaboration, Aurelio released his second album, Laru Beya (Stonetree Records, Real World Records, SUBPOP, 2011), a compilation of soulful songs linking back to the African roots. N’Dour adds his stirring vocals to two of its songs, while elsewhere there is backing from those great veterans of the Afro-Cuban scene, Orchestra Baobab, and from Senegalese rapper Sen Kumpé.

After this debut in the African scene, Aurelio made a return to his musical roots with his third album, Landini (Stonetree Records, Real World Records, 2014).

Traditionally, after a long day of fishing, villagers return in their boats to the river landing and gather for a convivial paranda session. This symbolic image leads to the album’s name: “landini,” from the English word “landing.”

Grammy-nominated Mack Avenue recording artist JOHN BEASLEY is a far-ranging pianist, composer, and arranger who’s performed with such music icons as Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard, Dianne Reeves and Herbie Hancock, Steely Dan, Marcus Miller and Christian McBride, Chaka Khan, and even one stint with James Brown.

Beasley is easily one of the most versatile musicians balancing a multi-faceted career as a bandleader juggling various combos and now his big band project MONK’ESTRA. He is a first-call keyboardist and has played

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on hundreds of records and recently co-produced Weather Report’s drummer Peter Erskine and legendary guitarist Lee Ritenour recent albums.

When not on stage, Beasley works on box-office films including James Bond Spectre and Skyfall, Finding Nemo, and the upcoming Finding Dory. He spent a decade composing for TV shows Cheers, Family Ties, Fame, Star Trek: Next Generation and singing competitions, including the juggernaut American Idol since 2005.

For the past five years, Beasley has taken the helm as Music Director for the Thelonious Monk Institute to direct UNESCO’s International Jazz Day global concerts, which was at the White House (2016), Paris, Istanbul, and Osaka. He also directs the Monk Institute’s annual competition gala that have recognized Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin, and Bill Clinton.

Beasley’s new album MONK’estra, Volume 1 will be released August 2016.

MONK’estra features a smashing 15-piece big band that captures the spirit of Thelonious Monk’s singular music: the off-beat melodies and humor, strange beauty and unbounded swing in fresh arrangements flavored with New Orleans spirit, hip-hop, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and atmospheric colors. Jazz critic Don Heckman wrote that it’s “Some of the most mesmerizing big band music of recent memory.”

As education is the key to paying jazz forward, Beasley conducts clinics worldwide and is a Guest Lecturer at the Codarts Rotterdam Conservatory. He champions musicians’ rights and royalties as a (former) Governor on the Board of Grammy.

Visit www.johnbeasleymusic.com

Born in the city of Denpasar on the island of Bali in Indonesia in June of 2003, JOEY ALEXANDER encountered a keyboard at the age of six and immediately began picking out the melody of Thelonious Monk’s “Well, You Needn’t” by ear. His father, an amateur musician with a huge passion for jazz, was astonished. He soon discovered his boy not only could pick up virtually any jazz composition by ear, he also had an impeccable sense of swing, and a gift for improvising that was near par to the records that he was learning from, and truly uncanny for a boy of his slight years.

As there was no jazz education available in Denpasar, Joey’s first jazz training came from sitting in on informal jam sessions with local and visiting professionals in Bali.

“He did study classical music,” explains his father, “but what he really loved was to swing.”

Joey’s musical intuition further flourished and, eventually, his parents moved to Jakarta so he would have a chance to expand his horizons by studying and playing with professionals. By 2011, Joey had been featured at the Jakarta International Jazz Festival, and was included in a UNESCO jazz event organized by Herbie Hancock, who gave the budding musician an enthusiastic thumbsup. In 2013, he entered and won the Master Jam Fest improvisation contest of Jazz in Odessa Festival in Ukraine, triumphing over 43 adult jazz professionals from 17 countries. By this time it was clear to his parents that Joey was destined for a career in jazz.

In 2014 Wynton Marsalis ‘discovered’ Joey performing in Jakarta, and flew him in to New York City to participate in his all-star Jazz At Lincoln Center Gala, MC’d

by Billy Crystal. Joey wowed the jazz stars and audience alike with his soulful and sophisticated arrangement of “’Round Midnight.” He got a huge ovation and was later written up in Downbeat as “a genius.”

Joey also performed for President Clinton and other luminaries at the Arthur Ashe Foundation Gala.

It was Grammy-winning producer Jason Olaine who took Joey under his wing, introduced him to Motema Music and jazz patron Daniel Pincus, and spearheaded the collaboration to apply for an O1 Visa (for individuals of Extraordinary Ability) for Joey. As further proof of the validity of Joey’s quest, the visa was granted in record time… and just in time to make it possible for Joey to play at the Apollo Theater in honor of Herbie Hancock at the star-studded Jazz Foundation of America Gala in October of 2014, where he got yet another enthusiastic ovation, more press accolades, and a priceless show of support from Hancock, who was stunned by Joey’s musical sophistication.

Just two days later, buoyed by this momentous set of events, Joey and Olaine entered the studio with jazz veterans Larry Grenadier and Ulysses Owens to record the first session for his debut album. Although he’d never been in a recording studio before, Joey was unintimidated. Take after take he delivered fresh performances that flowed with ease and joy. As Engineer Katherine Miller explained, it was a typical jazz recording session – some great takes, a few punch-ins, but none of them by the pianist. Label head Jana Herzen stood by in awe.

The excellence of My Favorite Things next led to Joey being signed by Wynton Marsalis’ longtime manager Ed Arrendell and to the prestigious IMN Agency. Another vote of confidence in Joey’s artistry has come from impresario George Wein, who selected Joey’s trio for presentation at the 2015 edition of the prestigious Newport Jazz Festival. My Favorite Things was released on Motema on May 12, 2015.

Joey now resides in New York City, where he plans to go to school and continue honing his chops in the jazz capital of the world. He cites his major influences as Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Miles Davis, and Wynton Marsalis.

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Shortly before the release of CÉCILE McLORIN SALVANT’s debut Mack Avenue album WomanChild, critic Ben Ratliff made a bold prediction in the pages of The New York Times. McLorin Salvant, he claimed, “is still mostly unknown to jazz audiences” – then added: “though not for much longer.”

McLorin Salvant has more than validated that forecast. The last 24 months have been a whirlwind of success and acclaim for the young vocalist, who first came to the attention of jazz fans with her triumph at the 2010 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. WomanChild went on to earn a bevy of honors, including a Grammy nomination and selection as Jazz Album Of The Year by the DownBeat International Critics Poll.

Now she releases her follow-up Mack Avenue album, For One To Love, a more intimate and confessional project that reveals new dimensions of this young vocalist’s artistry. “I’m not playing anyone else here but myself,” McLorin Salvant explains. “I can look at many of these songs, and see that this is an event that really happened, or a feeling I’ve lived through myself. “That’s what makes it so difficult to share. It’s almost like a diary entry.”

McLorin Salvant grew up in a bilingual household in Miami, the child of a French mother and Haitian father. She started piano studies at age five, and at eight began singing with the Miami Choral

Society. After graduating from Coral Reef Senior High, a premier Miami magnet school, McLorin Salvant decided to pursue her education in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. McLorin Salvant embarked on a new career as a jazz performer, while pursuing a degree in French law and her training as a classical and baroque singer.

Three years later, McLorin Salvant returned to the U.S. as a semifinalist in the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. She had entered the contest at the urging of her mother, but almost missed the submission deadline.

“On the last day, I mailed the audition recording with an apology for not getting it in sooner,” she recalls.

“She brought down the house,” The Washington Post told its readers the next day. Less than three years after first performing with a jazz band, writer Anne Midgette noted, McLorin Salvant was already singing “like a seasoned pro.

Her marathon is just beginning.”

Others were now taking notice. “She has poise, elegance, soul, humor, sensuality, power, virtuosity, range, insight, intelligence, depth and grace,” announced Wynton Marsalis. “If anyone can extend the lineage of the Big Three – Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald – it is this 23-year-old virtuoso,” added Stephen Holden in The New York Times. Now McLorin Salvant makes an even bolder statement with For One To Love. This may

be the defining jazz statement on romance in the new millennium, a heartfelt album that both embodies the full range of the American popular song idiom, but distills it into a distinctly personal expression of a modern-day poet-troubadour.

On the new album, McLorin Salvant again shows her uncanny knack of channeling her own personality into the work of her predecessors, both the acclaimed (Bessie Smith) and the less well-known (Blanche Calloway, whose fame during her lifetime was eclipsed by her brother Cab). “I’ve made some choices about celebrating strong women,” McLorin Salvant explains. “And I want to celebrate independence, the courage not to look or act a certain way.”

THE BAD PLUS — bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson, and drummer David King — have a well-earned reputation for pushing the limits on what is expected of a piano-bass-drums trio. The past 15 years have seen the genre-smashing band create a distinctive and original repertoire of inventive and exciting original music, along with iconoclastic covers of artists as divergent as Nirvana and Neil Young, Aphex Twin and Ornette Coleman. Earlier this year, the acclaimed trio took on one of the most influential works of the 20th century, Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (Sony Masterworks).

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The Bad Plus came together at the end of the 20th century and has avoided easy categorization ever since, garnering critical acclaim and a legion of fans worldwide with their creativity, idiosyncratic personality, and flair for live performance. Based in New York City, the deeply collaborative trio constantly searches for rules to break and boundaries to cross, bridging genres and techniques while exploring infinite possibilities of three exceptional musicians working in perfect sync.

A genuinely leaderless trio, The Bad Plus is equal in every respect, from composition to performance to production. The interplay between these collaborators has marked the group’s work from the jump, infusing it with carefully considered spontaneity, subtlety, style, and depth.

Saxophonist JOSHUA REDMAN is one of the most acclaimed and charismatic jazz artists to have emerged in the ’90s and has established himself as one of the most consistent and successful bandleaders. He has worked and recorded with many great jazz artists, in various ensemble configurations, for two decades.

His most recently released recording is Trios Live (Nonesuch, 2014), documenting Redman’s live piano-less trio performances. In 2013, an album of ballads titled Walking Shadows was released (Nonesuch), Redman’s first recording to include an orchestral ensemble.

Always craving new musical exploration, Redman currently continues his role as Artistic Director of Wigmore Hall’s Jazz Series in London; performs globally with his Quartet; tours with his Trio; and continues his work with the collaborative band James Farm. He looks forward to pushing musical boundaries when he joins forces with his friends and colleagues The Bad Plus in this very special series of concerts.

In a music world rife with technological tricks of the trade, one vital commodity is getting lost in the shuffle: the beauty of the human voice. Enter NATURALLY 7.

This seven-man crew is more than just your average singing group. Its members have perfected an intriguing a cappella style they’ve branded as “Vocal Play” – singing as instruments. In its quest to celebrate the voice, Naturally 7 not only sings but also creates every backing instrument heard on its songs. We’re talking drums, bass, guitars, horns, flutes ... even down to turntables.

“Look at John Legend’s success with ‘All of Me,’ just him and a piano,” says Naturally 7 front man Roger Thomas. “People really do want to hear the true essence of a song and the person’s voice. It’s just a matter of being exposed to it. When people eat fast food every day, at some point they’ll say, ‘I have to have something different.’

And we’re that something different.”

Some 8 million people have already cosigned Thomas’ sentiment. Helping to spread the word: compelling live shows drawing nightly standing ovations in Europe, the U.K., Canada, Australia, Asia, and the U.S. during three world tours with song stylist Michael Bublé.

Naturally 7’s burgeoning resumé also includes an opening stint with hitmakers Coldplay, a No. 1 single in Germany with Sarah Connor, “Music Is the Key,” a top 15 album in Australia, 2006’s “Ready II Fly,” and 20+ million aggregated spins on YouTube.

They have also partnered with the General Mills Corporation on two Honey Nut Cheerios commercials which kicked off in November 2014 with a 15-second rendition of the classic jingle “Honey of an O.” A second commercial spot premiered on NBC’s Today Show and features “Keep The Customer Satisfied,” a track featured on Hidden In Plain Sight.

Yet as Thomas acknowledges, “A lot of people still don’t know what we do.” The R&B, soul, and pop group released its U.S. album debut, the aptly titled Hidden in Plain Sight (Hidden Beach Experiences) in 2015. Subtitled “Vox Maximus Vol. 1,” the 14-track set snaps, crackles, and pops with riveting vocal gymnastics and rich, sparkling harmonies infusing a palettepleasing menu of songs as wide-ranging as the group’s growing audience.

Stepping beyond R&B and pop, Naturally 7 taps into various genres from traditional gospel and rock to 17th century baroque that on the surface don’t seem to mesh.

But in the hands of musical director/1st baritone/rapper Thomas and his six enterprising cohorts – brother Warren Thomas, Rod Eldridge, Ricky Cort, Dwight Stewart, Garfield Buckley, and Kelvin “Kelz” Mitchell – the impossible becomes possible.

Leading the charge is first single “Fix You,” a cover of the Coldplay hit that’s become an audience favorite at Naturally 7’s live shows. The group gives a nod to its spiritual influences by sampling Mahalia Jackson’s gospel classic “Trouble of the

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

World” on the beautiful and raw “Mahalia.”

Scoring a musical coup, Naturally 7 samples Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” on “Galileo.” Notes Thomas, “We’re the first in the world licensed to sample the rock band, and we’re honored to be able to do that.”

Naturally 7’s aural magic really glistens on what Thomas calls “hybrids”: taking the essence of a well-known song and putting their own melodies and lyrics on top. Wham’s infectious “Everything She Wants” provides the impetus for “Life Goes On,” while Art of Noise’s “Moments In Love” finds the group imitating all of the song’s instruments and singing its own song to the mix on “Moments (I’ve Been Loved).”

Thomas likens the musical mash-ups on Hidden in Plain Sight to a chef experimenting in the kitchen. “He’s working with various food items that people have tasted before. But then he decides to mix two or three things together that no one has before. For Hidden, we began building with an operatic, classical vibe over an urban backbeat and jammed from there.”

That’s in keeping with the depth of Naturally 7’s musical influences, which range from a cappella predecessors Take Six and Bobby McFerrin to hip-hop’s Doug E. Fresh, the Fat Boys, and OutKast. In between are ’40s R&B quartet the Ink Spots, the Carpenters, Earth, Wind & Fire, the Bee Gees, and the Beatles.

“We want to bring the group dynamic back,” says Thomas. “For too long now, there have been no harmony groups like the O’Jays, Four Tops, Jodeci, and Boyz II Men. We want to carry the banner for that resurgence.”

Naturally 7 rose to prominence in 2007.

Jumpstarting their exposure: a video of the group on a Paris subway train singing Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” that went viral and exploded on YouTube. After Bublé tapped the group as his worldwide touring partner, Naturally 7 has since headlined the Playboy Jazz Festival, played London’s Royal Albert Hall, and performed at the BET Honors for Herbie Hancock. They also sang at Quincy Jones’ 75th birthday party in Montreux, Switzerland.

Now Naturally 7 is ready to stand front and center with Hidden In Plain Sight. “Most a cappella groups just focus

on the a cappella part,” says Thomas.

“And that’s fine. But we also try to make sure it’s about good songs. Those never die.”

SETH MACFARLANE has created some of the most popular content on television and film today while also expanding his career in the worlds of music, literature, and philanthropy.

He created the series Family Guy, which garnered MacFarlane Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and Outstanding Music and Lyrics. In addition, MacFarlane serves as co-creator, executive producer and voice actor on American Dad! while executive producing the 21st- century version of the Emmy-winning Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey. MacFarlane is also an executive producer on Starz’ comedy Blunt Talk, starring Patrick Stewart and written by Jonathan Ames.

The show recently wrapped its first season and was already greenlit for a second season. Back on the animation front, MacFarlane is executive producing Fox’s new comedy, Bordertown.

Starring Hank Azaria, the series premiered January 3, 2016.

MacFarlane made his film directorial debut in 2012 with the record-breaking comedy, Ted. Fresh off the success of Ted, MacFarlane hosted the 85th Academy Awards in 2013 and was also nominated for the film that same year. He was nominated for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song for “Everybody Needs a Best Friend.” He has since gone on to write, direct, and produce A Million Ways To Die In The West and Ted 2. Next up for MacFarlane is Illumination Entertainment’s animated musical family comedy, Sing, in which MacFarlane voices Mike, a small mouse with a big Sinatra-esque voice and an arrogant attitude. The film will be directed

by Garth Jennings and hits theaters December 21, 2016.

MacFarlane’s debut album, Music is Better Than Words, debuted at #1 on the iTunes jazz charts in 2011 and went on to receive two Grammy nominations, including Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

Released by Universal Republic, the album

is a celebration of the classic, sophisticated sound of the lush swing orchestras of the ’40s and ’50s, with MacFarlane singing some of the hidden gems of that era.

Norah Jones and Sara Bareilles collaborate with MacFarlane on two duets on the album. In 2014, MacFarlane released his first-ever Christmas album, Holiday for Swing, which debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes holiday album charts. The album is composed of timeless holiday songs accompanied by a 52-piece orchestra.

On his third and most recent album, No One Ever Tells You, MacFarlane showcases the unique arrangements and orchestral interpretations of the ’50s and ’60s and introduces listeners to ballads about love and loss unique to the time.

The album quickly rose to No. 1 on the jazz charts and garnered MacFarlane a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

He has performed with famed composer John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl and with the John Wilson Orchestra for BBC Proms and joined numerous celebrated symphonies, including San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, and the National Symphony Orchestra.

JOEL McNEELY is an Emmy-winning composer and conductor with more than 100 motion picture and television credits.

He maintains a busy schedule recording, producing, conducting, and composing for film, television, and concerts.

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As a composer for film and television, McNeely has worked with such respected filmmakers as James Cameron, John Lasseter, Seth MacFarlane, and George Lucas, among others. He composed, conducted, and orchestrated the score for MacFarlane’s feature film comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West. McNeely and MacFarlane also co-wrote an original song for the film, which was performed by country music legend Alan Jackson.

LOS VAN VAN is one of the most important and influential bands in the history of 20th century Cuban pop music. Though the 1990s were pervaded by groups that mixed folkloric and traditional music with the musical trends of the day, and the beginning of the 21st century saw that process go even further, in the 1960s and ’70s that Latino fusion sensibility was scarce at best. There were primarily two Cuban groups experimenting with mixing pop, funk, rock, and soul with their native traditions. One of those two was Irakere, and the other, far more long-lasting band was Los Van Van. Following the revolution, Cuban youth were profiled for talents and predispositions. Children showing potential in athletics were streamlined into sports.

Academics, visual arts, and music followed suit. The young musicians who formed Los Van Van had enjoyed conservatory educations from their earliest years, and were experts in theory and performance

by their early twenties. The band’s key players – Juan Formell (bandleader, bass player, and songwriter), César “Pupy” Pedroso (piano, songwriter), and José Luis “Changuito” Quintana (drumset/timbales) were fascinated with the soul, go-go, and disco music that dominated U.S. radio waves. They named their dance band Los Van Van after the go-go fad, meaning literally “they go-go!”

The style that the band pioneered took its name from the cross of son and go-go music that the band had created. The style “songo” can now be found throughout the Latin jazz, pop, and fusion world. Los Van Van’s debut disc bore the name, solidifying its place in musical history forever. Shortly after the band’s formation, they became the island’s favorite dance band, a title it held for years.

With the support of the Cuban government, Los Van Van toured and recorded and toured tirelessly throughout the ’80s and ’90s. It became the best-known Cuban group in the world, maintaining a loyal fan base throughout Europe. Though there was some U.S. interest in the band and its innovations, the politics of the days hedged its ability to break into the U.S. market. While Irakere defected to States, Los Van Van never left Cuba. U.S. interest grew throughout the ’90s, peaking with Los Van Van’s Grammy in 1999 for its 15th original album, Llegó Van Van. Many founding members have gone on to become successful bandleaders in their own right. César “Pupy” Pedroso formed

his own group, Los Que Son, Son, at the turn of the century. Lúis “Changuito” Quintana left the band in 1993 to pursue a Latin jazz career. Many lesser-known members went on to become some of the most influential players in the timba revolution that came in the early ’90s.

Los Van Van is widely recognized as a genre-creating band. Alongside artists like the Beatles, Aretha Franklin, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, Los Van Van is distinguished as a band that changed the course of popular music for an entire generation.

There’s something utterly awe-inspiring about JON BATISTE’s combination of exuberant charisma, jaw-dropping talent, and dapper sense of style. In a flash, he transitions from belting a note to busting a dance move to wailing on the “harmonaboard” (a kind of harmonica and keyboard) to commanding the piano with virtuosic skill and artistry. The New Orleans-bred, New York-based musician, educator, and humanitarian is somewhat

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of an enigma thanks to his diverse mix of influences. Born into a long lineage of Louisiana musicians, Batiste grew up playing percussion in his family’s band before switching to piano when he was 11 years old. He went on to study at the

Juilliard School and formed his band, STAY HUMAN, soon after. Now he balances a demanding international performance schedule – which often includes his signature, impromptu ‘love riot’ street parades – with his role as bandleader for The

Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Artistic Director At Large of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, and occasional acting gigs, like playing himself on the HBO series Treme or his most recent role in director Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer.

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2015 PLAYBOY JAZZ FESTIVAL

THE WORLD OF PLAYBOY JAZZ

The 37th Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl last year was another high-energy musical party in a long and illustrious line. George Lopez returned for his third summer as a hard-working master of ceremonies, and 20 acts covering the full spectrum of jazz spun into play on the Bowl’s turntable over the weekend.

As usual, it is hard to pull out highlights.

On Saturday we presented the Campbell

Brothers “sacred steel” treatment of A Love Supreme and Jason Moran’s Fats Waller Dance Party, and celebrated the late Gerald Wilson with a big band led by Anthony Wilson. Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter joined the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance Ensemble, and vocalist Aloe Blacc brought his band. Eddie Palmieri’s Afro-Caribbean Jazz Band and Tower of Power capped the evening.

Powerhouse bands were certainly prominent again on Sunday: The Dizzy Gillespie Big Band, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Third World, with Snarky Puppy and Ozomatli to close. But there were also important smaller combos, including Terence Blanchard’s E-Collective and an all-star celebration of Blue Note’s 75th anniversary, and vocalist Ledisi with her group.

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Opposite page, clockwise from top left: Terence Blanchard, Morgan James, and the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band. Above, clockwise from top left: Aloe Blacc, Melissa Aldana, Third World, Ledisi, Ozomatli and their dance crew, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, members of Snarky Puppy, and Jason Moran.

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PROGRAM

SUNDAY

PLAYBOY JAZZ FESTIVAL

JUNE 12, 2016

in order of appearance (subject to change)

CSUN JAZZ A BAND DIRECTED BY MATT HARRIS Ben McPeek, Jason Taylor, Eddie Pimentel, Jordan Leicht, Jeff Brown, SAXOPHONES Anna Martone, FLUTES A. J. Asano, Chris Middleton, Carl Engstrom, Ryan Ruder, TROMBONES Michael Gutierrez, Everett Kelly, Austin Drake, Jesse Seibold, Marco Lopez, TRUMPETS Daniel Massey, Nick De La O, BASS Miles McIntosh, Victor San Pedro, GUITARS Adam Hersh, PIANO Shaun Valentine, Elias Vasquez, DRUMS

ANTHONY STRONG WITH THE CSUN JAZZ A BAND Anthony Strong, VOCALIST

CHRISTIAN SCOTT ATUNDE ADJUAH PRESENTS STRETCH MUSIC Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, TRUMPET, REVERSE FLUGELHORN, SIRENETTE Lawrence Fields, PIANO, KEYBOARDS Joshua Crumbly, BASS Corey Fonville, DRUMS Braxton Cook, STRAIGHT ALTO & ALTO SAXOPHONE Elena Pinderhughes, FLUTE, VOCALS

LIV WARFIELD Liv Warfield, VOCALS Ryan Waters, GUITARS Taron Lockett, DRUMS Nick Semrad, KEYBOARDS Owen Biddle, BASS Keith Anderson, SAXOPHONE Lasmil Richards, TROMBONE Dontae Winslow, TRUMPET

JAVON JACKSON AND SAX APPEAL FEATURING SPECIAL GUESTS JIMMY HEATH, GEORGE CABLES, DAVID WILLIAMS, WILLIE JONES III Javon Jackson, TENOR SAXOPHONE Jimmy Heath, SAXOPHONE George Cables, PIANO David Williams, BASS William Jones III, DRUMS

BIG CHIEF DONALD HARRISON JR. AND THE CONGO NATION-NEW ORLEANS CULTURAL GROUP Donald Harrison Jr., SAXOPHONE, LEAD VOCALS, PERCUSSION Max Moran, BASS Zaccai Curtis, PIANO, KEYBOARDS Detroit Brooks, GUITAR Joe Dyson, DRUMS Brian Nelson, George Smith, NEW ORLEANS CULTURAL PARTICIPANTS

THE ROBERT CRAY BAND CELEBRATING B.B. KING WITH SPECIAL GUESTS SONNY LANDRETH AND ROY GAINES Robert Cray, GUITAR, VOCAL Richard Cousins, BASS Les Falconer, DRUMS Dover Weinberg, KEYBOARDS Steve Madaio, TRUMPET Trevor Lawrence, SAXOPHONE Sonny Landreth, Roy Gaines, GUITARS

FOURPLAY SILVER ANNIVERSARY WITH BOB JAMES, NATHAN EAST, CHUCK LOEB AND HARVEY MASON Bob James, PIANO & KEYBOARDS Nathan East, BASS & VOCALS Chuck Loeb, GUITARS Harvey Mason, DRUMS

JANELLE MONÁE Janelle Monáe, VOCALS Terrence Brown, MD, KEYBOARDS Kellindo Parker, GUITAR Mike Phillips, DRUMS Téja Veal, BASS Ashley Edwards, Patrease Sherrer, BACKGROUND VOCALS Marcus Lewis, TROMBONE Edward Williams III, TRUMPET Rafael Pereira, PERCUSSION

PETE ESCOVEDO ORCHESTRA FEATURING SHEILA E., JUAN AND PETER MICHAEL Pete Escovedo, LEADER, TIMBALES Sheila Escovedo, DRUMS, PERCUSSION Juan Escovedo, CONGAS Peter Michael Escovedo, DRUMS, PERCUSSION Joe Rotondi, PIANO Ray Obiedo, GUITAR Marc VanWageningen, BASS Mario Gonzales, Mike McGuffey, TRUMPETS Kerry Loeschen, Marty Wehmer, TROMBONES Justo Almario, SAX, FLUTE Master of Ceremonies

GEORGE LOPEZ Produced in association with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association by FestivalWest Inc.

Official Automotive Partner of the Hollywood Bowl

Generously sponsored by Programs and artists subject to change.

Official Airline of the Hollywood Bowl

Official Cruise Line of the Hollywood Bowl

Official Wines of the Hollywood Bowl

MEDIA SPONSOR:

Pianos provided by Steinway Piano Gallery – Beverly Hills.

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and Motown – a cross section of his personal record collection. There is nothing ‘old’ about the treatment of them though, as the songs capture the fresh, positive, and feel-good energy of his audience winning tours.

Anthony’s formative early years were spent, on scholarships, at three of England’s leading music schools, first studying classical music before eventually turning to jazz piano. The early obsessions with Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, and Wynton Kelly eventually led to Frank Sinatra, Mel Tormé, and Nat King Cole; singing was the logical next step. Despite the stellar education, it was an out-of-the-blue offer to spend nine months as understudy to Jerry Lee Lewis in a London West End musical that perhaps shaped his career most noticeably to where it is today, developing a stagecraft and audience rapport that has come to characterize his live show. www.facebook.com/anthonystrongmusic www.twitter.com/anthonystrong With his sharply tailored suit and easy charm, singer-pianist ANTHONY STRONG seems to happily fill the role of ‘The English Gentleman’ often thrust upon him.

His swaggering vocals and swinging piano style are matched by an energy that have entertained audiences at his live shows around the world.

Since signing to iconic French label Naïve Records in 2013, he has been hailed

by UK newspaper Metro as “a major new talent,” featured on the front page of daily national newspaper Le Figaro, and performed live on national TV in Germany, Poland, Turkey, and Portugal. His last album, Stepping Out, reached No. 1 on the U.S. iTunes Jazz Charts and saw the radio giant NPR feature him in a special 60-minute feature program from Hollywood. He has slowly but steadily built a touring capability that has so far reached 26 countries across four continents, including, to name just a few, the 1,300 seat CCB in Lisbon, legendary French festival Jazz in Marciac, the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and Litchfield Festival in the USA. The release of his 2015 album On A Clear Day was a statement of intent to continue doing what he does best. The repertoire he performs is unashamedly ‘old school’ – from jazz standards and classics, through to early Stevie Wonder

Christian Scott, also known as CHRISTIAN SCOTT ATUNDE ADJUAH (born March 31, 1983, in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a two-time Edison Award-winning (2010 and 2012) and Grammy-nominated trumpeter, composer, producer, instrument designer, and music executive. Scott’s Grammy-

nominated international recording debut, Rewind That, was called “arguably the most remarkable premiere the genre has seen in the last decade” by Billboard, earning Scott two prominent features on their cover and inclusion in their list of “Ones to Watch in 2006.”

In June 2015, Scott established a partnership between his newly formed Stretch Music label and the lauded Ropeadope Music family. The Fall of 2015 marked the debut release on Stretch Music/Ropeadope, titled Stretch Music, along with the newly designed Stretch Music App. Both are fresh and innovative approaches to their existing platforms with the intent to create impactful statements of the new genre.

Stretch Music features a cast of this generation's most daring conceptualists. The group was formed to eradicate all arguments that inhibit creative and progressive expression: to musically show that all forms belong together, as all people do. The recording features four new instruments designed exclusively for the group. They include three horns designed

by Christian and Adams Instruments (The Siren, Sirenette, and Reverse Flugelhorn) and the Pan African Drum Kit, created by Christian and drummer Joe Dyson. These are joined by traditional and electronic instrumentation.

Scott is the nephew of jazz innovator and legendary sax man, Donald Harrison Jr. He began his musical tutelage under the direction of his uncle at the age of 13.

After graduating from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) in 2001, he received a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music, where he earned a degree 30 months later.

Since 2002 Scott has released eight critically acclaimed studio recordings and two live albums. According to NPR, “Christian Scott ushers in new era of jazz.” He has been heralded by JazzTimes magazine as “the architect of a new commercially viable fusion” and “Jazz’s young style God.” Christian is known for developing the harmonic convention known as the “forecasting cell” and for his use of an unvoiced tone in his playing, emphasizing breath over vibration at the mouthpiece, widely referred to as his “whisper technique.” Scott is the progenitor of “Stretch Music,” a genre-blind

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musical form that stretches the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic conventions of improvisational music to encompass as many other musical forms, languages, and cultures as possible.

Through his partnership with Adams Instruments, Scott’s signature line of horns, the Siren Trumpet, Sirenette, and Reverse Flugelhorn, are revolutionizing brass instrument design all over the world. Through his latest venture, the Stretch Music App, Scott has created an educational experience for developing musicians through a fresh style of creative improvisation and expression. The Stretch Music App is an interactive music player of Scott’s Stretch Music recording as well as a multimedia platform.

Scott is a scion of New Orleans’ first family of art and culture, identical twin brother of Spike Lee protégé and lauded writer/director Kiel Adrian Scott, nephew of saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr., and the grandson of the legendary Big Chief, Donald Harrison Sr. (d. 1998), the only man to be Chief of four Black Indian tribes of New Orleans, and New Orleans Legend Award recipient Herreast J. Harrison.

Scott is half the inspiration for HBO’s Treme series character Delmond Lambreaux. Lambreaux is a hybrid of both Harrison Jr. and Christian. The show borrowed the “Guardians of the Flame” name from the Black Indian tribe with which Scott began “masking” as a member with his grandfather in 1989. Scott is also dedicated to a number of causes that positively impact communities. He gives his time and talents to a number of organizations, which garnered him a place in Ebony Magazine’s “30 Young Leaders Under 30.”

He is active in his family’s not for profit organization, Guardians Institute, located in New Orleans’ 9th Ward. Scott has been in the forefront of youth programming and has given private music lessons, spearheaded book give-a-ways, raised funds, and purchased musical instruments in support of Guardians Institute.

Emerging in a poof of dazzling stardust, LIV WARFIELD has solidified herself as a legend of her own time. Born in Peoria, Illinois, the former Notre Dame track star and gymnast began her singing career in

Portland, Oregon, where she had relocated to attend college. Influenced by musical heroines such as Nina Simone, Etta James, Sade, Tina Turner, and Mary J. Blige, Liv has brought her own unique and soulful sound to the ranks of the indisputably talented.

In the beginning of her career, Liv collaborated with a myriad of local musicians in Portland, which provided the platform to demonstrate her vocals across genres. As Liv began performing within Portland’s vibrant music scene she established herself as an icon. She was ultimately hailed as “Portland’s most soulful singer” (Portland Monthly). Eventually, the fervent local support she received became the catalyst that catapulted Liv’s career to the next level.

Liv Warfield’s talent defies definition.

She sits comfortably outside the box and can croon her way into the top talent of any mix. However, if a definition is insisted upon – the singer herself describes her style as “alternative R&B Soul with a little bit of Rock ’n’ Roll” – a style that she has spent years cultivating. In 2006, Liv’s self-released debut album Embrace Me was well-received and offered the world a glimpse into her distinguished sound.

However, it was 2009 that brought the pivotal change of her career. The legendary performer Prince watched a YouTube

video of Liv singing “Gimme Shelter,” and three months later he called her to invite her to audition for his vocal backing group, the New Power Generation (NPG). Liv has been singing, touring, and blazing stages with Prince and the NPG for the past several years. She also sang on Prince’s 2010 album Lotusflow3r, and since then, the rest is history – in the making.

Prince became one of Liv’s greatest celebrity supporters. In a short but powerful appearance, he even sat with Liv’s band, BlackBird, during her top-billed show at a 2014 Essence Fest afterparty at the House of Blues. Liv credits Prince as an ultimate music mentor who has taught her how to be great on the stage and in the studio; a gift she took back with her to Portland, where she recorded her sophomore album, The Unexpected (released early 2014), with Prince as the Executive Producer.

Despite his involvement, Prince encouraged Liv to take full control of the album’s production. Wanting to preserve the spontaneity and excitement that comes with live music, Liv’s music video for the album’s first single, “Why Do You Lie,” showcases Liv, who shares the spotlight with her band, a full horn section, and a minimalist white backdrop. After a long hiatus, VH1 Soul reintroduced its popular “You Oughta Know” promo campaign with Liv as their first featured artist of 2014.

Her second single is the title track “The Unexpected,” written by Prince.

Prince isn’t the only big name star in Liv’s corner. She has performed alongside numerous legendary artists, including Al Green, B.B. King, the Dave Matthews Band, The Roots, and more. Liv has performed tracks from The Unexpected on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with David Letterman, and The Arsenio Hall Show. Liv has been interviewed on NPR (National Public Radio), and she received three nominations for 2014 Soul Train Music Awards, earning the award for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance for her track “Stay – ‘Soul Lifted.’” At the awards show Liv also performed along with Chris Brown, Jodeci, and more. With the dedication and tremendous talent evidenced in her journey so far, it is realistic to speculate that a future Liv Warfield Grammy nomination would not be unexpected.

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Tenor saxophonist JAVON JACKSON came into international prominence touring and recording with the legendary drummer Art Blakey as a member of his band, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

Symbolizing a new generation of musicians that blended tradition with neo-jazz, Jackson went on to release 14 recordings as a band leader and tour and record over 135 CDs with jazz greats including Elvin Jones, Freddie Hubbard, Charlie Haden, Betty Carter, Cedar Walton, Ron Carter, Donald Byrd, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Richard Davis, Bobby Hutcherson, Curtis Fuller, JoAnne Brackeen, Stanley Turrentine, and Ben E. King.

In 1992 Jackson made his recording debut with Me and Mr. Jones, featuring James Williams, Christian McBride and

master drummer and NEA Jazz Master Elvin Jones. Jackson also recorded six projects for Blue Note Records featuring collaborations with Betty Carter, Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, Kenny Garrett, Jacky Terrason, John Medeski, and Vernon Reid. Among his later recordings for Palmetto Records, Javon explored funk-based jazz, incorporating the sounds of Fred Wesley, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Lenny White, Mark Whitfield, and others. Javon’s current musical group, The Javon Jackson Band, blends many styles including jazz, funk, R&B, and rock.

In 2012, Jackson released two selfproduced recordings, Lucky 13 and Javon Jackson and We Four, Celebrating John Coltrane. These CDs marked his return to acoustic jazz. For Lucky 13, Javon covered music by Stevie Wonder as well as newly composed original material and was joined by a special guest, Les McCann, for three selections. Javon Jackson and We Four, Celebrating John Coltrane, is a tribute to the iconic saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. A highlight of the release is an appearance by NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Cobb, drummer for both Coltrane and Miles Davis.

In 2010, Javon was commissioned by the Syracuse International Film Festival to compose a full-length score for the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Lodger, a silent movie based on the hunt for Jack the Ripper. The original score had its debut at the festival, performed live by Jackson at the film’s screening on October 2010.

In 2012, Javon was the recipient of the prestigious Benny Golson Award from Howard University in Washington, DC, for recognition of legendary excellence in jazz.

In addition to his performance schedule, Javon Jackson is a highly sought after jazz educator, conducting clinics and lectures at universities throughout the United States and abroad. He served as Assistant Professor of Jazz at Long Island University (NY) 1996-1998, and in the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College (NY) 19992007. In 2013, Javon accepted the position of Director of the Jackie McLean Institute at the University of Hartford.

Also, Javon currently serves as a Chair of Jazz for the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. He is also a member of JEN (Jazz Education Network)

and lends support as JENerations Jazz Festival Artist and Clinician Coordinator.

Jackson has a Bachelor in Music from the Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA) and a Master of Music from State University of New York College at Purchase.

“SAX APPEAL” is a musical project that celebrates the incredible legacy of the saxophone in the American art form known as jazz. The music performed is a mixture of classic jazz compositions coupled with original material from the members of the ensemble. Saxophonist Javon Jackson comprised “Sax Appeal” in an effort to perform and tour with close friend and mentor, saxophonist Jimmy Heath. NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Heath has had an illustrious career that spans six decades as saxophonist, recording artist, composer, and educator. Quoting Jackson, “it is an honor and a privilege to have his friendship as he is one of my musical fathers.” In addition, “Sax Appeal” also includes pianist George Cables, bassist David Williams, and drummer Willie Jones III.

In 1963, two-year-old DONALD HARRISON JR. began his official participation in New Orleans culture as Lil’ Chief of The Creole Wild West, Big Chief Donald Harrison Sr.’s tribe. His mother, Herreast, says that he was influenced by Afro-New Orleans culture before he was born. When her husband held practices in their home and

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they were singing, drumming, and dancing, she could feel her unborn child reacting.

She also remembers little Donald playing drum beats on his crib after hearing the boisterous music of his father’s tribe every Sunday. You could say the culture, which traces back to Congo Square in New Orleans, is in his blood.

The importance of Congo Square is an essential element to American music and Harrison is honestly steeped in it.

The history of Congo Square in the Tremé neighborhood dates back to the 1700s. The square, also known as “Place des Nègres,” “Place Publique,” “Circus Square,” and “Place Congo,” is the only known place in the United States of America where people of African descent could openly practice their culture. The culture of Congo Square still manifests itself in the jazz parades, jazz funerals, and jazz brass bands of New Orleans. But it is most obvious in the square’s offshoot tribal cultures such as Harrison’s CONGO SQUARE AFRO-NEW ORLEANS CULTURAL GROUP and the Mardi Gras Indians. Early innovative jazz musicians such as Sidney Bechet, Jelly Roll Morton, and Baby Dodds are also linked to what propagated in Congo Square.

Harrison continues New Orleans’ indigenous tradition and attributes his understanding of it to the lessons passed down from his father, Big Chief Donald Harrison Sr. The influences of this American root culture can be seen in jazz, R&B, funk, hiphop, and classical music. Harrison retains the offshoot rituals, call and response chants, and drumming of the culture through his participation as a Big Chief and also through his music. His group and music are crowd favorites that have received standing ovations from audiences of every age. The innovative approach to music and presentation of his culture are also loved by many critics because of its genre-bending tendencies. “Harrison sang, chanted, moved, grooved, and most of all blew into being a new chapter of jazz history with beautiful music and rhythm that merges R&B, hip-hop, soul, and the traditional chants and drumming of Afro-New Orleans with modern jazz.”

— Thomas Pena, New York Report Harrison’s orchestral classical work “Congo Square,” recently recorded by the

Moscow Symphony Orchestra, is the first classical orchestral composition written by an actual big chief. He used aspects of his participation in Afro-New Orleans music and culture to create a work that captures the essence of their culture on every level.

His other important works to include the culture are “Indian Blues” and “The Spirits of Congo Square.” HBO Director David Simon used two characters in his series Treme to portray how Harrison came up with innovative modern jazz music merged with New Orleans culture. Harrison and The Congo Square Nation Afro-New Orleans Cultural Group are an entity to keep an eye on if you want to know what some of the music of the future will be.

ROBERT CRAY is widely recognized as one of the greatest guitarists of our time. The New Yorker recently called him “one of the most reliable pleasures of soul and blues for over three decades now.“ He has written or performed with everyone from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughan, from Bonnie Raitt to John Lee Hooker, and in 2011, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

This year marks four decades since the inception of the Robert Cray Band.

Cray notes, with pride and with some amusement, that he continues to see new, younger faces in his audience. “There’s a younger generation now whose parents turned them on to our music,” he says. “It reminds me of when I was young and going

to see Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, all the blues I could. It is kind of funny to be in the position of being the older generation now.

But I’m just going to continue to do what we do. I can only do what I know, and we’ll see what happens.”

Lean Mississippi native SONNY LANDRETH, who grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, has enjoyed a prolific career for decades, dating back to his solo debut album Blues Attack in 1981. Although that album fanned the flames of his reputation as an emerging force in roots music, Landreth kept a parallel career going as a celebrated sideman and session player.

Over the years he performed and recorded with artists that include John Hiatt and British blues innovator John Mayall, and he toured as a member of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band. He also collaborated with Eric Clapton, and has performed at all of Clapton’s prestigious Crossroads Guitar Festivals since 2004.

Along the way Landreth has continued to develop his vision and his musical voice, growing increasingly original and diverse, expanding from blues, zydeco, folk, country, and jazz into increasingly categoryblurring musical excursions such as his most recent album, Bound by the Blues, which was released in June 2015.

Bound by the Blues marks a return to the slide guitarist’s musical roots, presenting a bold, big-sounding collection of tracks that swagger like the best of classic rock, climb to stratospheric heights of jazz

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informed improvisation, and inevitably remain deeply attached to the elemental emotional and compositional structures that are at the historic core of the blues.

Landreth offers, “Ever since The Road We’re On [his Grammy-nominated 2003 release], fans have been asking me, ‘When are you going to do another blues album?’

After expanding my songs for Elemental Journey into an orchestral form, I thought I’d get back to the simple but powerful blues form. I’d been playing a lot of these songs on the road with my band, and we’ve been taking them into some surprising places musically. So going into the studio to record them with just our trio seemed like the next step.”

With Landreth’s mountainous guitar tones and nuanced singing leading the way on its ten songs, Bound by the Blues is a powerful tribute to the durability and flexibility of the genre, and to his own creative vision. It’s also a radical departure from his previous two albums, 2012’s classical/ jazz fusion outing Elemental Journey and 2008’s guest star-studded From the Reach.

Landreth offers, “Developing a style and an approach that is your own musically is not something to be taken for granted.

I’m at a point in life where I want to make the most of every moment I can and that changes your perspective, your priorities and how you relate to everyone else. And at the end of the day, I think that’s the essence of what I wanted to express with Bound by the Blues.”

ROY GAINES is a Houston native with a legacy that includes performing with blues greats. At the tender age of 14 he was already performing with T-Bone Walker.

Roy paid tribute to his mentor on the I Got the T-Bone Walker Blues album recorded in 1998 on Groove Nation Records. His career blossomed performing with icons like Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Buddy Guy, Albert King, and Chuck Willis. Roy makes no apologies for being a purest of the Texas and Chicago blues styles made popular by T-Bone Walker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, and Muddy Waters. Attracted to the “Lucille” sound, Roy plays one of the hand-crafted guitars made famous by its originator B.B. King. Roy’s album Lucille Works for Me along with Tuxedo Blues and Frontier Lover remain popular with Sirius XM, Pandora, Spotify, and iTunes listeners.

His latest release The War is Over and its entire playlist can be found on Reverb Nation. This release also contains Roy’s biggest selling track to date, “Badder than Bad.” Having won the prestigious Prix Blues Award from the Académie du Jazz in France, Roy Gaines and his Orchestra Tuxedo Blues™ are fresh off their 2015 European tour, where they played to sell-out crowds in 1500+ seat venues in Belgium, Switzerland, and France. Prior to making their annual trip across the Atlantic, Roy and the orchestra packed the houses of the world-famous Biscuits and Blues in San Francisco and The Topanga Blues Festival

in Los Angeles. Roy is one of the few living legends bringing the original “Chitlin’ Circuit” feeling to both the American and European stages.

Roy’s film credits include Sir Paul McCartney’s Early Days featuring Johnny Depp, The Color Purple, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, and How Many Roads starring Sidney Poitier. Currently, Roy’s song “You’re Gonna Get Somebody Killed” is featured in Wild Horses starring Robert Duvall.

For two decades, the contemporary jazz quartet known as FOURPLAY has enjoyed consistent artistic and commercial success by grafting elements of R&B, pop, and a variety of other sounds to their unwavering jazz foundations. In the course of a dozen recordings – six of which have climbed to the top of Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Album charts – the supergroup has continued to explore the limitless dimensions and permutations of jazz while at the same time appealing to a broad mainstream audience.

The Fourplay story begins in 1990, with keyboardist Bob James, who had already established himself as a formidable figure in keyboard jazz – not just as an instrumentalist but as a composer and arranger as well – with solo recordings dating as far back as the mid 1960s. In 1990, James reunited with his old friend, session drummer, producer, composer, and recording

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artist Harvey Mason (Herbie Hancock, Barbra Streisand, Notorious Big), during the recording of James’ Grand Piano Canyon album. Also involved in the project were guitarist Lee Ritenour (Sergio Mendes) and bassist/vocalist Nathan East (Barry White, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins).

The Grand Piano Canyon sessions marked the genesis of the group that eventually came to be known as Fourplay.

Their self-titled debut album was released in 1991, and included a blend of jazz, R&B, and pop.

The original lineup of James/Ritenour/ East/Mason stayed together for three successive albums, including Elixir (1994), a set that features some high-profile guest vocalists: Phil Collins, Patti Austin, and Peabo Bryson. East also delivers some noteworthy vocal contributions on Elixir, and has continued to do so throughout most of Fourplay’s subsequent studio outings.

Ritenour, whose guitar work in tandem with James’ keyboards served as the cornerstone of the early Fourplay sound, left the lineup in the mid-1990s and was replaced by Larry Carlton (The Crusaders, Joni Mitchell, Quincy Jones). Carlton made his first studio appearance with the band with the release of 4 in 1998. 4 included compositions by all four members, as well as an impressive crew of guest vocalists: El DeBarge, Babyface Edmonds, Kevyn Lettau, and Shanice.

Following the 1999 release of Snowbound, a mix of traditional and contemporary holiday songs, Fourplay shook things up a bit with Yes Please!, an album that challenged the standard definitions of contemporary jazz by incorporating elements of blues, funk, and even Celtic music. JazzTimes critic Hilarie Grey called Yes Please! “an expansive album that incorporates each artist’s strengths, and in the process travels in some unexpected directions.”

Grey added: “Yes Please! works where similar projects fail simply because it lets its artists play, without imposing artificial boundaries.”

The sense of experimentation continued with the 2002 release of Heartfelt. The material in this set emerged from a series of improvisational performances that were assembled into full compositions. As a

result, the tunes have less clearly defined melodies, but the overall album is both exploratory and accessible at the same time.

Journey, released in 2004, is a laid-back affair, but complex at the same time. Consistent with Fourplay’s eclectic philosophy, Journey incorporates a range of stylistic elements – as evidenced by such high points as the delicate cover of the 1993 Sting hit “Fields of Gold” and the Mason bossa nova flavored “Rozil.”

X followed in 2006, with guest vocals by blue-eyed-soul icon Michael McDonald, who delivers an inspired rendition of Steve Winwood’s “My Loves Leavin’.” JazzTimes called X “a softly funky, superbly crafted and unapologetically low-key album.”

Fourplay joined the prestigious roster of artists on Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group, with the 2008 release of Energy, which spent three consecutive weeks at the top of Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart. The album grafts a variety of sounds – R&B, pop, African and more – to Fourplay’s unwavering jazz foundations. In addition to vocals by East, Energy features a vocal track by bassist Esperanza Spalding.

After 12 years with the group, Carlton left in April 2010 to delve further into his solo career, and the band welcomed its newest member, multi-faceted virtuoso guitarist, Chuck Loeb. His musical contributions undoubtedly enhance the creativity and pursuit of excellence Fourplay has enjoyed in the studio and on the stage.

Loeb made his debut with the quartet on Let’s Touch The Sky, released in October 2010. The album also includes thrilling performances by guest vocalists Anita Baker and Ruben Studdard. The infusion of new blood into the Fourplay lineup created an opportunity to bring an even higher level of energy and inspiration into a band that is already known for taking chances and pushing the limits of contemporary jazz.

The group’s recent recordings continue to explore the place where four unique perspectives become a single creative force.

stress – is back again, ready to release another full-length “emotion picture” to the masses. But as always, Janelle is not ready to talk about music just yet.

She’d rather talk about her past and how those fertile powerful experiences forced her to create her coming album, The Electric Lady.

Inspired by her mother and other matriarchs, Monáe began to write lyrics and songs about rebel women who refused to be marginalized and dared to live their lives boldly and unapologetically in a distant future. According to Monáe, “When I returned to the studio, I felt I had to do my part. Through my art, I had to help create the woman I wanted to see around me.

Incidentally, during concerts, for years I’d been painting this woman’s physique – the silhouette of her hips – I have hundreds of these paintings with the same feminine figure over and over... this glowing Technicolor woman... seen from behind... regal, powerful, and electric... My colleagues and friends told me to name this mysterious figure because she seemed to be a totem, a powerful symbol for me. So I named her The Electric Lady, and that’s where the album’s title came from.”

As she began the audacious task of following up on her acclaimed debut LP

At long last, JANELLE MONÁE – the inimitable, award-winning, songwriter, performer, producer, cover girl, and avant-garde funk-

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The ArchAndroid – an album that topped critic’s lists in 2010 all over the world – she took along some trusty, brave companions: the original music producers of The ArchAndroid, Nate “Rocket” Wonder and Chuck Lightning of Wondaland Productions.

And together they crafted a new strain of jamming music they called “ish.” In the hip-hop community, “ish” is a euphemism for the profane four-letter word for excrement, but as Monáe explains, they set out, like proverbial alchemists, to turn lesser substances into gold. “This entire project was produced by Wonder & Lightning.

We set out to make a soundtrack for the Obama era, something that spoke to the beautiful, majestic, and revolutionary times that we’re living in. The musical language we’re speaking now is called ish. In the African-American community, we’ve been turning left-overs (like chitlins) and social depredation (like poverty) into delicacies and fine art for years. So we just set out to turn the rubbish all around us into something beautiful. Ish is the bowtie on the funk.”

The recording process was fun, rewarding, but also strained by Monáe’s newfound need to be more courageous and personally revealing in her storytelling. “To do this album properly, I had to revisit some turbulent chapters in my life, deal with some questions and experiences left over from my childhood. There were so many things I had questions about. Sexual things.

Racial Things. Gender things. Memories.

Things I thought I had left behind me. New things I was discovering. But ultimately I found myself emulating my mother and grandmother and using their strength to surpass my fear. I had to do that before I could write and sing and perform these new songs convincingly. I’m not the kind of artist that can perform something night after night, if I don’t believe in it, or if it’s not true to me or my experience.”

As she worked, Monáe found herself, as always, drawn again into her other love, science fiction, and the exploits of Cindi Mayweather, the heroine of her first EP, Metropolis. In fact, the new album serves as Suite IV and V of her Metropolis saga, and in this chapter, the android hero Cindi moves from self-realization to selfactualization: from the knowledge and owning of her unique superpowers, to

actually using them to better the world around her. Monáe says, “I like to think you can hear me using my superpowers this time. And not just talking or wondering about them. The Electric Lady is like the big action sequence in the third act of an epic film. Every party this album starts, or every baby born because of it, is actually another victory against the Great Divide.”

Native Californian PETE ESCOVEDO discovered and cultivated a love and passion for music, which soon led him to embrace Latin Jazz and pass it on to his sons and daughters as his father did before him. Contributing his signature sound on timbales, Pete has performed and toured with such respected artists as Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Bobby McFerrin, Cal Tjader, Woody Herman, Billy Cobham, Boz Scaggs, Anita Baker, Arturo Sandoval, Poncho Sanchez, and Chick Corea, to name a few. Not only were Pete and his brother Coke the founders of the history-making band Azteca, Pete was one of the early members of Santana.

Today, Pete leads one of the country’s top orchestras, performing their own unique brand of Latin jazz.

Pete’s daughter and Grammy nominee Sheila E. keeps the rhythm solid on drums congas and vocals. Her impressive roster is a who’s who of the industry, performing with artists such as Ringo Starr, Prince, Jennifer Lopez, Lionel Richie, Diana Ross, George Duke, Plácido Domingo, and countless others. As Musical Director for “Fiesta Latina: In Performance at The White House,” Sheila recently earned her first Emmy nomination.

First born son Juan Escovedo brings his flavor of R&B to the table. His dynamic performance captivates audiences, lending his talents to the congas, drums, and vocals. Juan has performed with a roster of noted artists including Patti Labelle, Jody Watley, Lou Bega, MC Hammer, En Vogue, Herbie Hancock, and many more.

On bongos, drums, and vocals is youngest son Peter Michael, an Emmy nominee for his work as Music Director and Producer for The Wayne Brady Show. He has contributed his talents to Mariah Carey, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Nicks, and George Michael, to name but a few. Peter Michael

was also the Musical Director for The Martin Short Show. His energy and stage presence always electrifies the crowd.

The E Family is a force to be reckoned with. A memorable performance with the late Tito Puente was beautifully featured in the “Latina Familia” project. In addition, The E Family can be seen in the Latin pop culture movie Chasing Papi performing their original track “Escondia” with the title track “Favorite Fantasy” co-written

by Sheila E. Collectively they are the latest evolution of one of the most amazing musical family dynasties that continues to deliver a colorful and powerful concoction of music to soothe the soul.

The E Family’s new release, Now & Forever, is a special 13-track collection encompassing a rich range of musical influences, ranging from Latin, hip-hop, pop, and jazz, and features special guest artists Earth, Wind & Fire, Gloria Estefan, Joss Stone, Israel Houghton, Raphael Saadiq, George Duke, Damon Castillo, and Wes Quave. It is a must have for all music lovers.

The E Family’s contribution to the philanthropic community is exemplary as they give back by assisting families and children in need through introducing the power of healing through music.

For more information about the E Family, tour dates and the latest news go to www.the-e-family.com.

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FEATURE

FOURPLAY AT 25

BY ZAN STEWART To paraphrase one of Dizzy Gillespie’s fun on-stage bits, Fourplay needs no introduction… so ain’t gonna give it none. Lol. Okay, let’s introduce the guys, also a la Diz: Harvey Mason, say hello to Bob James, Nathan East, say hey to Chuck Loeb. Like that, more smiles.

Seriously, folks, as most if not all of you reading this while enjoying the 38th annual Playboy Jazz Festival know, Fourplay is an absolutely top-line contemporary jazz ensemble comprised of pianist-keyboardist James, guitarist Loeb, bassist-vocalist East, and drummer-percussionist Mason.

The quartet, whose recent, 12th CD is Silver (HeadsUP), is a headliner on Sunday’s program at Playboy, making its third appearance at the Festival.

Fourplay is now in its 25th year, with Bob, Harvey, and Nathan there from the get-go; Lee Ritenour was the original guitarist, replaced by Larry Carlton in 1997, and Carlton by Loeb in 2010. It’s one of the jazz world’s most popular bands, having sold millions of CDs, toured the world with regularity, and attracted more millions to its various videos on youtube.com. Even a straight-ahead die-hard should smile when an essentially instrumental jazz band, no matter what style, has numbers like that.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? Fourplay’s music ranges widely. It’s most definitely jazz, centered around material that has a distinctive rhythmic feel, interesting melodic statements, and wide-open spots for improvisation. It’s jazz, sometimes even straight-ahead, tinged with pop, R&B, classical, funk, and other aspects, plus a vocal here and there.

Breadth like this makes it a little tough to come up with a name that says clearly what it is. As Nathan East points out, “You always have to put something in front of the word ‘jazz’.”

Nathan likes ‘cool jazz’. “Everybody wants to be cool,” he adds.

Bob likes ‘contemporary jazz’. Chuck and Harvey like ‘chamber jazz’. “We often say we’re four musicians creating a chamber

group of jazz, bringing very eclectic elements into what I call the ‘Fourplay sound’,” states Loeb. “I also like the word that’s been around for a while: fusion, meaning fusing different elements.

That’s an apt name for what we do.”

The one name that the fellows want to avoid is being labeled ‘smooth jazz’.

Nathan speaks for the rest when he says, “We don’t like getting lumped into that label. We’ve endeavored to be more than sort of musical fast food.”

And the musicians have succeeded – as well they should, when you look at their resumes. The players have deep musical backgrounds. Each is a university-trained musician, each is a composer, and they have played and/or recorded variously with the very best. A short list includes Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, Herbie Hancock, George Benson, George Shearing, Stan Getz, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Eric Clapton, Cannonball Adderley, Bob Dylan, David Sanborn, and Steps Ahead.

MUTUAL RESPECT A prime reason for the quartet’s success – and its survival – is the profound respect the artists each have for their cohorts.

Plus they have pre-Fourplay history. Bob and Harvey go back to recording dates in the 1970s. Nathan grew up playing their music, and Chuck did as well. In a way, then, they were all colleagues before they met as a foursome.

“Harvey’s touch comes from his classical training,” says Loeb. “He’s funky and elegant at the same time. Nathan offers the biggest, firmest foundation. Bob covers all the bases: composer, arranger, pianist, accompanist, improviser. He wears so many hats well.”

Harvey notes that Chuck is a “fantastic composer, Bob’s a genius musician, and Nate and I have great chemistry, it feels great all the time.”

Nathan says, “I respect and revere all of them. Chuck can bebop you right off the stage. Every solo is better than the next. Harvey’s beat has his fingerprint.

We have a special hookup. I feel the same with Bob; he’s a very deep brother.”

Lastly, Bob calls Nathan “the most solid bassist,” and says that Harvey, being a “composer-drummer, makes the band sound like an orchestra. And Chuck has challenged us in a way that has kept us fresh, given us a boost of new adrenaline.”

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FOURPLAY DNA Clearly, with feelings like these toward each other, Fourplay, whether straightahead jazz or smooth jazz or whatever, is not some phone-it-in kind of band. As Mason says, “Our music is not as simple as it sounds. We can go in any direction.

Everyone supports everyone else; we all complement each other, we all push each other. The musicianship is on the highest level.”

Nathan adds: “We’re proud of our mix of chords and melody that make up the music.

We’ve played it for years, for us it holds up. Our listeners get to determine whether it’s simple or complex, real jazz, rough or smooth, loud, soft. We don’t try to toot our own horn. We hope there’s some integrity there, because there’s more than just putting two chords together and blowing.”

Here’s Chuck’s view: “Musically, what the band brings to the game is the ultimate collaborative spirit. Everybody contributes, it locks together like a solved puzzle. When we get closer and closer to a final version of what we’ll record or perform, it’s this essence of Fourplay that takes over. We have a DNA, a personality that is Fourplay.”

SILVER ANNIVERSARY Silver showcases what the band members do so well: compose, arrange, and perform engaging tunes based on pleasing melodies and vital rhythms and offering ear-friendly solos. The CD, like its predecessors, offers excellent audio and high production values. It is a recording that sounds good, that puts the listener in a relaxing frame of mind.

Highlights abound. Loeb’s “Quicksilver” spotlights flowing melody over zesty, quietly crackling rhythm that segues into an East scat vocal. The guitarist’s solo stands out.

“Sterling,” a Loeb-East collaboration, is a bit faster, a crisp ditty with a vibrant theme.

“Silverado” gives guest Carlton a chance to let loose with his trademark expressiveness, and the gentler “Windmill” features also-guest Ritenour in ace form. Mason’s “A Silver Lining” and James’ “Horace,” a tribute to jazz great Horace Silver, both sport warm themes with gentle back beats, the solos appropriately glowing.

This quiet warmth is one quality that has distinguished Fourplay.

“This group, this combination of musicians, has brought out this warmth,” says James. “I kind of wish there were more rough edges, though live, there are some.

But on record, with our hifi sound, there is an overall gentle and soft vibe. We would say the same thing about the Modern Jazz Quartet as compared to Miles Davis.

“But we do have some songs that might qualify as rough, like Chuck’s ‘3rd Degree,’ which is not bebop but is pretty raw, a crazy technical piece. We have to work hard to keep up with Chuck’s virtuosity.”

No matter whether the band is hot or cool, James, like the others, still wants to cook, both in ensemble playing and in solos.

“To feel the fire, play with passion and desire, to stretch out, that’s always been my goal, that aspect of jazz,” he says.

“I want my notes to mean something.

I’m always aiming for that.”

IN THE BEGINNING Fourplay’s beginnings go back to Bob’s Grand Piano Canyon, a 1990 contemporary album for Warner Bros. that worked around a core band of Lee, Harvey, and Nathan.

“We had a ball,” recalls James, “and really enjoyed the process. That feeling has remained to this day. We started talking about that, this chemistry, thinking about a group.”

The quartet got a chance to discover where things might go with their 1991 selfnamed CD. “It was an all-star project, and we all were wondering if it would stick,” says Bob. “Our motivation was to be the next MJQ, in our style, and 25 years later, we’re still doing it – and successfully.”

Fourplay, and several subsequent CDs, had the benefit of guest vocalists that landed the group on the radio big time and nurtured those huge sales. For the debut, it was R&B whiz El DeBarge doing Marvin Gaye’s “After the Dance” – which these days East sings. “That success led us to have more records,” notes Bob. Despite having singers like Chaka Khan, Anita Baker, and DeBarge on recordings, James stresses that Fourplay is an instrumental group. “Our sound is instrumental, our identity is as a jazz group,” he says.

“We’ve recorded over 100 instrumental tunes,” adds East.

BAND + LISTENERS Reflecting on Fourplay’s many years in the jazz trenches, James says, “Our music has an identifiable sound that’s different from any other group I know. People want to come hear us. You can’t complain about that.”

“Our listeners have come on this journey with us,” Nathan notes. “It’s been like a 25-year friendship. I attribute our success to the substance of the music we make.”

And the band cares about those listeners in a very important way: each performance is dedicated to them via a prayer.

“We say, ‘Let our music tonight touch the hearts of people in the audience, especially someone that really needs to have that feeling’,” says Loeb. “There is this commitment to make the music have a spiritual aspect. And when we hear from people that our music helped, got them through a tough time, that’s an amazing thing to feel.”

Zan Stewart is a San Francisco Bay Area saxophonist, composer, teacher, and music writer. His debut CD is The Street is Making Music (Mobo Dog Records). His music and band videos are on youtube. His web site is zanstewart.com.

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FEATURE XXXX

FOOD + WINE = A GREAT TIME

BY LIBBY SLATE Dining al fresco has long been almost as synonymous with the Hollywood Bowl as the concerts themselves. Beginning this summer, Bowl patrons will experience new tastes with the launch of Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine, the reimagined dining program headed by restaurateurs Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne of celebrated local restaurants Lucques, a.o.c., Tavern, and The Larder.

From the rooftop dining and wood-fired grills of the restaurant now known as The Backyard to the small plates of The Wine Bar by a.o.c. and the casual street truck tacos and grab-and-go marketplace salads, there’s something for every palate, with carefully chosen wines to complement the culinary selections. The offerings are designed to reflect both the active, varied Los Angeles wining-dining scene and the vast array of the Bowl’s musical menu on these summer nights.

Longtime business partners Goin, a James Beard Award-winning chef, and wine director Styne, who has been nominated several times for the prestigious award, are noted for their local restaurants. Hailing from Los Angeles, they’re both longtime Bowl-goers as well – and they couldn’t be more thrilled with their new venture.

“The Bowl is such a special and unique place – I keep using the word ‘magical’ when I describe it,” Styne enthuses. “There is something really wonderful about being able to sit under the stars and activate all of your senses. It makes for a kind of euphoric experience.”

Goin, who grew up near the Bowl, agrees. “People are there to celebrate, relax, take a break from their regular routine, and treat themselves,” she says.

“That’s a wonderful thing to be a part of.

We want the food and dining experience to complement and augment those feelings. I want the food to be fresh and satisfying, a little decadent and special, to feel like Los Angeles and to add to the celebration.”

Goin created her menus in the same way she approaches her restaurants,

choosing offerings she’d want to consume in a particular setting. And, she notes, “I’ve always worked with the seasons in California. We’re blessed to have incredible ingredients available, and the summertime season makes it easy to design menus ideal for outdoor dining. I knew I didn’t want to have ‘fancy’ food. I wanted to have menus that were deliciously simple and rustic, which best fits the environment.”

Styne also followed her restaurant philosophy, choosing small, artisanal producers whose wines pair well with Goin’s dishes and are also “fantastic,” she says, for drinking on their own.

“I’m a big fan of bright, high-acid, vibrant wines and light-bodied reds,” she elaborates, “and these just happen to be the ideal wines to be consuming on hot nights under the stars. High-acid wines allow the wine and food to work better and more vibrantly on the palate. They tend to have more balance and finesse, and leave your palate fresh and ready for more. I tried to provide a lot of variety in the lists to satisfy a wide range of wine drinkers and palates, and to choose wines that are friendly to the wine expert and beginner alike.”

There’s a Food + Wine locale to suit any mood and budget. The Wine Bar by a.o.c. serves small plates of grilled fish and meats, salads and artisanal cheese and charcuterie, plus cocktails and craft brews along with wines. The two wood-burning grills of The Backyard serve up family-style shared plates of chops and steaks; there’s also a raw bar.

Lucques at the Circle offers fine dining to Pool Circle patrons, while Supper in Your Seats offers dinners and a la carte items pre-ordered for box seat dining.

Roadside burger stand Kitchen 22 serves beef and turkey burgers, Lucquesstyle grilled comte cheese sandwiches, and Spanish fried chicken. The Marketplace, similar to the casual café-marketplace The Larder, features a line of Goin’s specially developed grab-and-go items, among them salads, sandwiches, slow-roasted salmon, rotisserie chicken, and grains, greens, and vegetable sides, along with wines, craft brews, and desserts. A second

venue, Buzz McCoy’s Marketplace, also has a sushi bar. A choice of four picnicbox meals can be ordered in advance, bearing the fanciful names All American (fried chicken), the Hollywood Vegan (grilled summer vegetables), the Burton Way (salmon), and the Westside Story (grilled chicken).

Look for retro-styled food trucks in the main plaza and walkways, offering wood-fired pizza, rotisserie chicken, and fish tacos. And throughout the grounds, concession stands serve multicultural street foods and snacks reflective of the diverse Los Angeles population, from street tacos, barbeque, and hot dogs to the Vietnamese baguette sandwich bánh mì, plus cupcakes, s’mores, and Larder Baking Company desserts. [Please see map on page 48 for locations.]

Jeff Rogers of Sodexo is the executive chef for all of Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine.

Anastacio Rodriguez, who has been with Lucques and Lucques Catering for years, joined Sodexo to become the chef for premium dining: Lucques at the Circle, The Wine Bar by a.o.c., The Backyard, and the two Marketplaces. Also on board to support Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine are Lucques executive chef de cuisine Javier Espinoza and chefs, sous-chefs, and cooks from the various Lucques Group restaurants.

Her team’s help will be pivotal in meeting the challenges of orchestrating the dining experiences at the Bowl, Goin says: “It’s a huge venue; there are many different concepts going on.” Their greatest challenge, Styne predicts, will be “serving so many people at one time and adjusting to the varying audiences from show to show.”

The duo was also involved with the re-design of existing Bowl spaces and of the food trucks, melding their ideas with Bowl personnel preferences. One standout is The Backyard, formerly the Rooftop Grill, set against the backdrop of the Hollywood Hills. “We wanted it to feel like you were coming over to your chic friend’s house in the Hollywood Hills for a festive dinner,” Goin explains. “There

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DYLAN + JENI Paul Devlin

are hand-blown festoon lights, wood tables, and banquettes with pillows, and the beautiful view of the hills and the shell of the Hollywood Bowl.”

Launching their Bowl partnership is not the only milestone for Goin and Styne this year: 2016 marks the 20th anniversary of their meeting, which came about in October 1996 at the urging of mutual friends who knew both wanted to open restaurants and felt they would make a good team. The two hit it off immediately, and opened Lucques in September 1998 in West Hollywood.

Goin, who is married to chef David Lentz and co-owns with him The Hungry Cat restaurant, grew up going with her parents to legendary Los Angeles restaurants

such as Perino’s and L’Hermitage, as well as to noted restaurants in France.

At home, though, her father gravitated to simple peasant-style fare, and she became his prep cook. She began working in restaurants while in college: “I knew it was my career when I felt the adrenaline and electricity of working in a professional kitchen,” she says.

Styne, who is married to contemporary art dealer Michael Kohn, was attracted to the restaurant business because, she says, “I love the rush of activity and the social nature of it all. I’ve always been a hostess, as my husband and I used to throw dinner parties and other kinds of gatherings all the time. I love gathering people together and showing them a great time.”

You can’t ask for a finer gathering place than the Bowl, where the outdoor wining, dining, and music combine for a deliciously heightened experience. “Yes, they absolutely enhance each other!”

Goin affirms. “There is a celebration of summer time, and it’s such an L.A. vibe – people tend to relax, sit back, and let themselves go when they’re outdoors.

There’s nothing better!”

Libby Slate is a Los Angeles arts journalist who loves dining at the Hollywood Bowl.

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GENERAL INFORMATION

SMOKING POLICY By law (LACC 17.04.645), smoking is not permitted on the Hollywood Bowl grounds, except in designated areas. Violators are subject to removal. Smoking in any other areas could lead to arrest and would be considered a misdemeanor.

CONCERT CONDUCT If the behavior of a patron or patrons near you becomes disruptive, the incident should be reported to the nearest usher or security person. To report an incident discreetly during an event, a call or text can be placed to the Customer Courtesy Line at 323.387.3190. For the full Code of Conduct visit HollywoodBowl.com/conduct.

FIRST AID In case of illness or injury, please see an usher, who will escort you to the First Aid Station.

LOST AND FOUND Any lost articles found on concert nights may be claimed at the Operations Office the next morning. Unclaimed articles are kept for 30 days from the date on which they are found. For information, call 323.850.2060.

PHOTOGRAPHS Your use of a ticket constitutes acknowledgment of willingness to appear in photographs taken in public areas of the Hollywood Bowl and releases the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, its lessees, and all others from liability resulting from the use of such photographs.

PATRONS WITH DISABILITIES For information detailing accessible seating, restrooms, dining, on-site transportation, assistive listening devices, or any further information, please request the Map of the Hollywood Bowl for Patrons with Disabilities by phoning 323.850.2125.

Please ask for Accessible Services, or log on to our website at HollywoodBowl.com.

LEGEND

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48 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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Holiday Benefit M O N D AY, D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 016 The Beverly Hilton Los Angeles

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Gillian Murphy and James Whiteside in The Nutcracker. Photo: Rosalie O’Connor.

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