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SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JUNE 10/11 CONTENTS Welcome
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Board of Directors
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Making Connections: A Trio of Young Jazz Lions
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Food + Wine At-A-Glance
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We Celebrate and Remember...
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Jazz-Filled Summer Nights
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George Lopez
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Saturday Program and Artists
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The World of Playboy Jazz
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Sunday Program and Artists
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One Hundred Years, One Thousand Memories
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Two Jazz Giants: Al Jarreau and Bobby Hutcherson Remembered
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General Information
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GET THE NEW HOLLYWOOD BOWL APP Make the most of your experience with the Hollywood Bowl app. Plan your visit, find your friends, pre-order Food + Wine, buy tickets, learn more about the concerts, use the handy interactive venue map, and much more! Available for iPhone and Android.
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WELCOME
GREETINGS FROM THE LA PHIL
Welcome to the 39th annual Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl. This year promises more legendary performers, as well as the very best in up-and-coming jazz stars. Over the two-day Festival you’ll hear a signature eclectic line-up featuring astounding musicians and breathtaking performances. There’s multiinstrumentalist and amazing vocalist Jacob Collier; the beautifully soulful Corinne Bailey Rae; bass master Marcus Miller and his tribute to the late, great vocalist Al Jarreau; multiple Grammy-winner, R&B chanteuse Lalah Hathaway; funky keyboardist (of Snarky Puppy fame) Corey Henry & The Funk Apostles; mesmerizing jazz mandolin player Hamilton de Holanda from Brazil; and spell-binding rapper Common. Whether this is your first or 39th Festival, Playboy Jazz is the party that starts the summer and the place to celebrate with family, friends, and music fans. The rest of the LA Phil’s season at the Hollywood Bowl offers plenty of opportunities to explore the jazz genre. In performances with the LA Phil, we present the timeless Tony Bennett in July, conducted by Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, and the superb young jazz pianist Aaron Diehl performing Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” Variations in August. We also present two nights of Diana Krall performing with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. If that weren’t enough stellar entertainment, there’s the Wednesday night Jazz at the Bowl series, curated by our very own LA Phil Creative Chair for Jazz Herbie Hancock. The series kicks off with an all-star jazz tribute to Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie, and is capped by Quincy Jones: The A&M Years featuring Dave Grusin, Lee Ritenour, and Hubert Laws, as well as a former Creative Chair, bassist Christian McBride. Rounding out the rest of the series is R&B star Jill Scott, the rockin’ swing of the Brian Setzer Orchestra, a killer triple-bill with Trombone Shorty, St Paul & The Broken Bones, and Lake Street Dive, and Steve Winwood with Mavis Staples. Don’t miss this incredible season of great jazz music under the stars, and please stop by and visit the Hollywood Bowl Museum’s brand new Jazz at the Bowl exhibit. Thank you for joining us, and enjoy the weekend! Gail Samuel Acting President and Chief Executive Officer Los Angeles Philharmonic Association
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Words don’t do it justice.
Some things in life just can’t be described. And to truly understand them, you must experience them yourself. Join us on the beautiful Palos Verdes Peninsula, a hidden gem on the Los Angeles coast. Create lasting memories with Summer Celebrations and unique seaside experiences.
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Terranea
| Terranea com
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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 2017 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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PRESENTING
J A Z Z @THE RANCH AUGUST 12 -19, 2017
FEATURING
THE WILLIAM NOLL QUINTET & THE VADIM NESELOVSKYI QUINTET
Experience a swinging and toe-tapping good time. World-class musicians will perform six concerts featuring American and Latin jazz selections, from popular tunes to original works. And to honor all this music, our chef will dish up healthy farm-fresh cuisine, and our fitness staff will challenge you with jazzy workouts. IT’S A WEEK OF WELLNESS THROUGH MUSIC!
World-renowned Rancho La Puerta, less than one hour from downtown San Diego, is much more than an award-winning Fitness Resort and Spa...we also feature outstanding evening programs for guests.
877-440-7778|RANCHOLAPUERTA.COM/JAZZ-MUSIC-FESITVAL Mention code “JAZZ” upon booking.
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WELCOME
A MESSAGE FROM HUGH HEFNER
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 fourth year of partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, we will be celebrating two PBJF favorites we lost this year, Bobby Hutcherson and Al Jarreau. Once again we welcome a stellar lineup of artists that includes talented, young performers such as Miles Mosley and The West Coast Get Down, Jacob Collier, and Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles. We also welcome for the first time, Common and Corinne Bailey Rae, and are pleased to be bringing back favorites Gregory Porter and Taj Mahal along with Keb’ Mo’ – plus many others. It’s going to be a fantastic and memorable weekend! Welcome, everyone! Hugh M. Hefner
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2jazzad.20
THE JAZZ EVENT OF THE SEASON JANUARY 27 -FEBRUARY 3, 2018 Ft. Lauderdale • Labadee (Haiti) • St. Thomas San Juan • Cococay (private island) m/s Celebrity Summit PRODUCED IN ASSOCIATION WITH AND
bluenoteatsea.com CHICK COREA • MARCUS MILLER host • ROBERT GLASPER Vicente Archer Damion Reid • DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER LALAH HATHAWAY • LESLIE ODOM JR. • DAVID SANBORN Wycliffe Gordon Geoffrey Keezer Ben Williams BIlly Kilson CHARLES LLOYD & THE MARVELS Bill Frisell Greg Leisz Reuben Rogers Eric Harland • DR. LONNIE SMITH BLUE NOTE ALL STAR BAND • Robert Glasper Lionel Loueke Ambrose Akinmusire Marcus Strickland Kendrick Scott Derrick Hodge
All Our Jazz & A Taste of New Orleans Special New Orleans Dining, Tours & Concerts
Feb. 3-10, 2018
thejazzcruise.com
Ft. Lauderdale • New Orleans (overnight) • Cozumel m/s Celebrity Summit
MONTY ALEXANDER • BYRON STRIPLING • ARTURO SANDOVAL • RANDY BRECKER • KURT ELLING • MARCUS MILLER CLAYTON BROTHERS • STEVE TYRELL • JOEY DeFRANCESCO • JOHN PIZZARELLI • THE COOKERS • JEFF HAMILTON • KEN PEPLOWSKI ANN HAMPTON CALLAWAY • ROBERTA GAMBARINI • NEW YORK VOICES • ANAT COHEN • LEWIS NASH • NNENNA FREELON and many more of the greatest “straight ahead” jazz musicians in the world! (Special New Orleans Guests: PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND • HERLIN RILEY • STEVE TYRELL)
SELECT THE CRUISE THAT SATISFIES YOUR JAZZ PALATE—OR JOIN US FOR BOTH! (Special Pricing) US & CANADA (Toll Free) Blue Note at Sea 844.768.5157 • The Jazz Cruise 888.852.9987 INTERNATIONAL (Toll Free) +800.852.99872
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LEADERSHIP
LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIR
DIRECTORS
Jay Rasulo*
Gregory A. Adams Julie Andrews Wallis Annenberg 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 Lisa Field Nathan Frankel Joshua Friedman Cecilia Aguilera Glassman Jennifer Miller Goff Ellen Goldsmith-Vein Lenore S. Greenberg Carol Colburn Grigor Pierre Habis Teena Hostovich Jonathan Kagan* Sarah Ketterer Darioush Khaledi
ACTING PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Gail Samuel
VICE CHAIRS David C. Bohnett* Jerrold L. Eberhardt* Jane B. Eisner*
Kenneth Kamins* John V. Mallory* Diane Paul*
Ronald Litzinger Kevin MacCarthy Bowen H. “Buzz” McCoy Lynn Mehl David Meline Margaret Morgan Younes Nazarian Leith O’Leary William Powers Barry D. Pressman, M.D.* Dudley A. Rauch* Ann Ronus Jennifer Rosenfeld Laura Rosenwald Nancy S. Sanders* Eric L. Small Jay Stein Lisa Stevens Christian Stracke* Ronald D. Sugar* Jack Suzar Sue Tsao Alyce de Roulet Williamson Irwin Winkler Marilyn Ziering *Executive Committee Member
HONORARY LIFE DIRECTORS Royce Diener Lawrence N. Field Frank Gehry
John F. Hotchkis Ginny Mancini Rocco C. Siciliano as of June 1, 2017
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170511
Swinging tor, irec ve D i t u c Exe
2017-18
r rabe eing t S r Tho
To Ray With Love, Starring Maceo Parker Featuring the Ray Charles Orchestra & The Raelettes Oct 19 | 8PM Terence Blanchard
Miles Electric Band Mar 1 | 8PM The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra Apr 5 | 8PM
Cécile McLorin Salvant Onstage Sessions Apr 18–19 | 8PM Terence Blanchard Breathless Featuring The E-Collective Onstage Sessions May 1–2 | 8PM
Cécile McLorin Salvant
VPACatCSUN
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COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Hilda L. Solis Mark Ridley-Thomas CHAIRMAN
Sheila Kuehl Janice Hahn Kathryn Barger
COUNTY ARTS COMMISSION
Pamela Bright-Moon PRESIDENT
Eric R. Eisenberg VICE PRESIDENT
Helen Hernandez SECRETARY
Constance Jolcuvar EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Bettina Korek IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Darnella Davidson Eric Hanks Liz Schindler Johnson Claudia Margolis Alis Clausen Odenthal Claire Peeps Norma Provencio Pichardo David Valdez Hope Warschaw Rosalind Wyman
The Los Angeles County Arts Commission fosters excellence, diversity, vitality, understanding, and accessibility of the arts in Los Angeles County, encompassing 88 municipalities and nearly 140 unincorporated areas, and provides leadership in cultural services. The Arts Commission funds over 360 nonprofit arts organizations through a two-year $9 million grant program, implements the Arts Education Collective, the regional initiative dedicated to ensuring all students receive quality arts education in the County’s 81 public school districts, 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.
Laura Zucker EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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FEATURE
MAKING CONNECTIONS: A TRIO OF YOUNG JAZZ LIONS BY MILEN KIROV The image of the 21st-century musician as a do-it-all artist wearing many hats and fulfilling several essential career roles is not really new. As far back as the Renaissance, ordinary musicians – and even giants such as Bach and Handel – had to juggle quite a few different responsibilities and roles in their multifaceted careers. But the phenomenon of the self-producing and self-promoting independent multi-instrumentalist performer-composer did not reach full potential until the last decade. The advent of social media staples such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube allowed artists to reach audiences all over the globe, and also allowed music and art from all corners of the world to reach the artists themselves. This rapid twoway connection brought musicians closer to their fans, and accelerated the blurring of genre borders, the cross-pollination between music cultures and traditions, and the “globalization” of music. In this fertile and inspiring environment, some of the most talented musicians of today are creating consciously – and often subconsciously – new forms of ever-evolving jazz, while influencing a new generation of daring musicians, and keeping closer contact than ever before with audiences across the world. The evolution and popularity of jazz have always gone hand in hand with those JACOB COLLIER
of communication technologies, audio recording, and broadcasting. Looking at the rise of the brightest young jazz artists today, one can see how crucial for their careers are the skillful navigation of social media tools, their direct connection with fans, and the unprecedented transparency with which they share their day-to-day life. Multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier has garnered millions of views and over 110,000 subscribers on YouTube, for example, with videos he recorded in the music room of his family home in England, giving fans an intimate look into his creative process. With his #IHarmU project, in the last couple of years Jacob took a step even closer to his fans by arranging and harmonizing short musical clips sent directly to him from people all over the world. Organist and band leader Cory Henry frequently goes live on his Facebook page during sound check and shows, allowing fans at home to feel like they are there, soaking in the live show atmosphere. These types of interactions seem to be a very important vehicle for a successful music career today, as they allow musicians to reach their audience, and to interact and engage them in a conversation. In a way, the essence of social media is similar to the essence of jazz as it allows for a community MILES MOSLEY
to form and connect, and to be close to the music it loves. Jazz has always been a collective, communal, live form of art and expression, and the social media platforms have allowed this spirit to thrive beyond the concert hall, the club, and the recording. Jacob Collier embodies the global nature of today’s jazz perfectly. Born and raised in a musical family in England, Jacob became an Internet sensation long before he even began work on his debut album. Singing and playing multiple instruments flawlessly and producing his recordings alone, he infuses his music with an eclectic array of sounds and influences – from Africa, India, Latin America, and beyond. Collier’s complex chromatic language, while distinctly jazz in structure, has a unique and fresh approach to harmony, sparking the interest and admiration of musicians, aficionados, and even jazz legends such as Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock. Dozens of videos with transcriptions and analyses of his music are popping up on video streaming platforms, drawing viewers not only from the jazz community, but also from the pop, rock, and classical worlds. “I talk to Quincy [Jones] a lot,” Collier said in an interview with John Lewis in The CORY HENRY
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FEATURE
continued from pg. 14
Guardian, “and one of his pearls of wisdom is that ‘Jazz is the classical music of pop.’ As someone who started out arranging for Sinatra and Ella and Sarah Vaughan and ended up producing Thriller, he’s shown that you can apply a knowledge of jazz harmony to pop. For me, jazz is an understanding of music, rather than an end in itself.” Together with Ben Bloomberg, an innovative sound engineer at MIT’s Media Lab, Jacob developed new music hardware and software that allowed his one-man-does-itall performances to be turned into a new multimedia live experience, complete with multi-instrumental and 3D video loops paired with the Harmonizer – a synth that enables Collier to sing harmonies live by sampling his voice in real time. While his music may seem to lack certain elements of classic jazz, such as the swing and extended instrumental solos, the jazz spirit is in there, just below the surface, mixed with textures, grooves, and especially experimentation, the most jazz approach of all, thus creating an exciting amalgam of global music influences and jazz sensibility. Another up-and-coming artist who does not fit the profile of a traditional jazz musician is bassist and vocalist Miles Mosley. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Mosley studied classical and jazz upright bass at the Colburn School and UCLA. While those serious studies gave him a strong foundation and admirable jazz knowledge and skills, his career took him to a wide stylistic variety of sideman gigs, backing artists as diverse as Christina Aguilera, Jason Mraz, and Avenged Sevenfold. However, the biggest influence on Mosley’s development as a musician and composer seems to be the years spent with the acclaimed Los Angelesbased music collective the West Coast Get Down (WCGD), which he co-founded with saxophonist Kamasi Washington and a few other L.A. musicians. The mix of West Coast cool jazz, L.A. hip-hop, funk, and soul with which WCGD was experimenting seeped into Miles’ writing, creating a perfect foundation for his powerful voice and signature wah-wah, Jimi Hendrix-like crunchy bass lines. His latest album, Uprising, was recorded during the same 30-day studio sessions in 2012 that also produced Kamasi Washington’s critically acclaimed jazz album The Epic.
“When the spotlight hit with Kamasi and The Epic, we really made a commitment to him as a brother and to push our sound up the mountain as far as it would go,” Mosley told Jeff Weiss in an LA Weekly interview. “Now I’m like the sniper coming in to follow up.” On Uprising, Mosley takes the West Coast Get Down crew in a funk-rock-soul direction with songs featuring his soulful vocals and deeply personal metaphorical lyrics about struggle and redemption. Also featured are his signature bass sound, the WCGD horns, and even a string section. Mosley’s diverse career also includes work as a producer of other artists and scoring for film, TV, and video games. This is yet another way in which the new jazz generation is expanding the areas of their music making. As the platforms for creating and releasing original music have multiplied, so have the interests of young jazz artists. Brooklyn-born organist Cory Henry has a more traditional jazz upbringing, having started to play the organ at the age of two. Still a teenager, he was already touring with jazz legend Kenny Garrett, and he has also performed with a diverse group of jazz, gospel, and mainstream pop/rock artists, such as Aretha Franklin, Yolanda Adams, Bruce Springsteen, and Michael McDonald. Henry has garnered a loyal following with his impromptu videos from sound checks, live shows, or from home at the organ or the piano, which he shares on his Facebook page and YouTube channel. “I’ve been playing music since the age of two,” Henry said in a CEG Presents interview with Sam Hutchinson. “I grew up in a Christian Pentecostal church called Unity Temple, which is where I received hands-on training by being able to watch and develop my ear. I also took Jazz Studies during high school and started playing secularly at the age of 17. I’m influenced by so many people, like James Brown, Herbie Hancock, Billy Preston, Prince, and Stevie Wonder. These artists play and create music that bridges the gaps between the songs they sing and the lives they lead.” What Cory Henry is best known for is probably his work with the music collective Snarky Puppy. Winning Grammy awards for Best R&B Performance in 2014 and Best Contemporary Instrumental Album in 2016
and 2017 has brought this group into the limelight with their dynamic, engaging performances, converging both black and white American music cultures with accents and guests from around the world. The video for “Lingus,” a song from Snarky Puppy’s album We Like It Here (featuring an incredible keyboard solo by Cory Henry) has been viewed close to ten million times on YouTube. It also has sparked the creation of a number of videos with transcriptions of Cory’s mesmerizing finger work and a legion of fans following his career path with great enthusiasm. Of course, having a Facebook account does not guarantee millions of views and fans. Although the rise of social media, on-demand audio streaming services (now 38% of total audio consumption, surpassing digital audio sales according to Nielsen.com), and new venues for creating and popularizing music, such as video games, video channels, online streaming TV, podcasts, and such, have changed the rules of the game, it still begins and ends with the music. Musicians now have the tools to produce their own music alone and to create their own fan communities without the need for management, PR, or record labels. But while the ways of releasing music today are seemingly endless, the enormous quantities of musical content available online have made it much harder for artists to “make it big.” Younger jazz artists such as Jacob Collier, Miles Mosley, and Cory Henry are cutting through the clutter and noise online by utilizing brand-new technologies, playing multiple instruments, experimenting with new sounds, and self-producing their own projects, which allows them to create content as often as they want, and to share it immediately and directly with the fans. Jazz is the most inclusive, fluid, evolving, and open music form of all, and its name has come to mean a lot more than a music genre. Jazz is innovation, experimentation, a rebellion against norms and expectations, and the new generation of jazzmen and jazzwomen truly represents this spirit. Dr. Milen Kirov is a Bulgarian/American composer/pianist based in Los Angeles. He performs in the U.S. and Europe as a soloist and with his peasant funk ensemble Orkestar MÉZÉ, and he teaches at L.A. City College.
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2017/18
Season
S
TRAI EE LERS LAO pera
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Concerts Off Grand PLÁCIDO DOMINGO ELI AND EDYTHE BROAD GENERAL DIRECTOR JAMES CONLON RICHARD SEAVER MUSIC DIRECTOR CHRISTOPHER KOELSCH PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
PLÁCIDO DOMINGO 50th ANNIVERSARY AUDRA McDONALD LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE PERSONA CROSSING HOUSE / SCARE PAIR: USHER THE CANTERVILLE GHOST
TICKETS ON SALE JUNE 18, BUY EARLY AND SAVE!
LAOPERA.ORG | 213.972.8001
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FOOD + WINE
The Bowl’s culinary team – James Beard award-winning chef Suzanne Goin and partner Caroline Styne of celebrated restaurants Lucques, a.o.c., Tavern, and The Larder – are now in their second year of providing exceptional cuisine, designed to make your concert experiences even more spectacular. This season, discover new food and wine options, along with the return of favorite dishes from their acclaimed menus.
MARKETPLACES Specialty sandwiches, seasonal grab and go salads, cheese + charcuterie plates, snacks, beer, and a new selection of approachable wines await you at all three of our Marketplaces. You’ll find everything you need to build a picnic from scratch or to supplement one.
SUPPER IN YOUR SEATS
STREET FOOD & SNACKS
CATERING AT THE BOWL
Enjoy a delicious pre-concert meal served to you in the comfort of your box seats. Menu selections include Suzanne Goin’s threecourse menus, family style feasts, à la carte starters, main courses, desserts, and wine. Order by 4pm the day before your concert.
A variety of delicious options are available throughout the Bowl, including street tacos, nachos, specialty hot dogs, bánh mì, gourmet pizza, rustic BBQ, artisan baked goods, sweets, and popcorn.
Give your guests the experience of a lifetime when you host your next event at the Bowl! With seven exquisite venues available, we can handle events of all sizes; from intimate gatherings to larger, more elaborate affairs.
PICNIC BASKETS
THE BACKYARD
THE WINE BAR BY A.O.C.
Inspired by the gorgeous natural surroundings of the Bowl, this al fresco space has the feel of a chic backyard in the Hollywood Hills. Two large wood-burning grills are the focus of this farmers’ market-driven restaurant serving grilled fish, chops, steaks, vegetables, salads, and raw bar items.
Inspired by the original A.O.C. on 3rd St., the Wine Bar features a wide selection of Caroline’s favorite New- and Old-World wines to be explored by both experienced and novice wine lovers, all paired with Suzanne Goin’s signature small plates menu. Reservations recommended.
It’s easier than ever to enjoy a picnic supper before your concert with four menus of delectable fresh-made picnic boxes from Food + Wine. Simply pre-order online and your choice will be waiting for you when you arrive at the Bowl.
LUCQUES AT THE CIRCLE Fine dining for subscribers of the Pool Circle, with a seasonal madeto-order menu and exceptional wine list, styled from the awardwinning restaurant Lucques.
KITCHEN 22 Kitchen 22 is the best place to indulge in fan favorites like burgers, French fries, fried chicken, specialty sandwiches, and salads.
See menus, book a table, and order ahead: HollywoodBowl.com/FoodAndWine • 323.850.1885
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IN MEMORIAM
WE CELEBRATE AND REMEMBER… Each summer we pause to honor the jazz people who passed on in the previous year, the artists and others who have contributed so much to the field. We begin with two legends who meant much to the Playboy Jazz Festival family: vocalist Al Jarreau and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. Please see pages 46 and 47 for detailed appreciations of their careers. The list of departed pianists is particularly lengthy, including Derek Smith, Claude Williamson, Don Friedman, Connie Crothers, Hod O’Brien, Horace Parlan, Misha Mengelberg, and Charles Thompson. Other keyboardists, who were perhaps better known as vocalists, include Barbara Carroll, Buddy Greco, and Mose Allison, with a callout to accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco (Stanley Dural, Jr.). The chorus of expressive and soulful singers passing this year includes Ruby Wilson, Shelly Moore, Sharon Jones, Linda Hopkins, and Kay Starr. We lost two harmonica masters of very different styles, Frenchman Toots Thielemans and bluesman James Cotton. Legendary Dixieland clarinetist Pete Fountain passed, as did saxophonists Charles Davis and Arthur Blythe. Guitarists Larry Coryell, Roland Prince, Louis Stewart, and Al Caiola died, and final cadences came for drummers Clyde Stubblefield, Charles “Bobo” Shaw, and Randy Jones. Danish swing violinist Svend Asmussen passed, as did his compatriot bassist Nicolai Munch-Hansen; bassist Bob Cranshaw also died. A number of important behind-the-scenes figures have passed, including sound engineer Rudy Van Gelder; producers-arrangers-label owners such as Tommy LiPuma, Claus Ogerman, Louis “Buddy” Bregman, Phil Chess, and Jean Karakos; photographer Chuck Stewart; influential Village Voice critic Nat Hentoff, and writer-teacher Ed Berger.
BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO
SHARON JONES
PETE FOUNTAIN
These people have enriched so many people with their creative artistry and dedicated work. Their inspiration lives on, as we are reminded every summer as we witness the great traditions renewed and new paths blazed here at the Hollywood Bowl.
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JAZZ AT THE BOWL
SUMMER À LA JAZZ Inspiring audiences since 1980, the Jazz at the Bowl series returns with another stellar lineup. Herbie Hancock, who recently extended his tenure as the William Powers & Carolyn Powers Creative Chair for Jazz, again guides the Wednesday series, reflecting the ever-evolving influence of jazz in a diverse range of celebrated and emerging artists.
JULY 19
AUGUST 23
An all-star Gillespie big band led by trumpeter Jon Faddis tears it up with Dizzy’s original charts, followed by today’s vocal stars and musicians performing classics from Ella’s songbook with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, conducted by Vince Mendoza. (See page 44 for a retrospective on Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie.)
Continuing to re-imagine jazz, the ever-ingenious Oscarand multiple Grammy-winning pianist Herbie Hancock will bring his newest mind-blowing explorations to life with his amazing band. L.A. native Kamasi Washington’s groundbreaking debut album The Epic and his stunning live performances around the world have brought the legacy of 20th-century jazz to a new cohort of millennial hip-hop fans and more.
Ella and Dizzy: 100 Years, 1,000 Memories
AUGUST 2
The Brian Setzer Orchestra – 25th Anniversary Show! Known for taking two forgotten genres, rockabilly & swing, and adding his own blend of gunpowder and rockin’ style, three-time Grammy-winner Brian Setzer and his orchestra celebrate their 25th anniversary with this landmark show. Don’t miss this world-class guitarist and band leader!
AUGUST 9
A Night in Cuba Latin Grammy-winning Gente de Zona mixes reggaetón with traditional Cuban styles for an exuberant party complete with dancers, horns, and more. “Africa’s premier diva” Angélique Kidjo brings her eclectic mix and the sounds of Cuban salsa, and Pedrito Martinez (Grammy nominee) and his group open with their celebrated blend of Latin jazz and world influences.
AUGUST 16
Jill Scott • Robert Glasper Experiment
Singer, poet, actress, and Philadelphia native Jill Scott makes her Bowl debut with her powerful mix of sensual R&B, jazz, hiphop, and spoken word. The Robert Glasper Experiment’s organic, genre-jumping mix of R&B and hip-hop, rooted in jazz, will be firing on all cylinders!
Herbie Hancock • Kamasi Washington
AUGUST 30
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue St. Paul & The Broken Bones • Lake Street Dive
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue blend rock riffs and horn solos with the rolling groove of a New Orleans parade. Alabama’s St. Paul & The Broken Bones ignite the stage with a homegrown mix of blues, soul, and gospel. Lake Street Dive is a tour de force of musical brilliance, steeped in Motown, soul, and pop.
SEPTEMBER 6
Quincy Jones: The A&M Years We shine a light on three masterful A&M jazz albums from Quincy Jones – Walking in Space, Gula Matari, and Smackwater Jack – from a peak creative time in his life that mirrored a transition in jazz history. Christian McBride is our musical director and John Clayton conducts. Opening the evening are artists who are examples of Quincy’s prodigious ear for talent.
SEPTEMBER 13
Steve Winwood • Mavis Staples Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and rhythm & blues multi-instrumentalist Steve Winwood digs deep into his treasure trove of ’60s British rock classics, as well as his hits “When You See a Chance” and “Back in the High Life” and other vintage gems. 2016
Kennedy Center Honoree Mavis Staples (“I’ll Take You There,” “Respect Yourself,” and more) promises a joyful, spiritual opening set of unmatched gospel and rhythm & blues masterpieces. There are also a number of concerts outside the jazz series that are of special interest, including our annual smooth jazz mini-festival and weekends with Tony Bennett and Diana Krall.
JULY 14, 15
Tony Bennett & Dudamel After opening selections from Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil, the ageless 90-year-old legend Tony Bennett joins them for three classic songs, followed by an intimate set with Tony and his jazz quartet. Witness history in the making!
AUGUST 11, 12
Diana Krall
With her sultry, expressive vocals and evocative piano playing, Diana Krall returns to the Hollywood Bowl to mesmerize you with her take on the American Songbook. (Thomas Wilkins conducts the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.) Don’t miss one of the Bowl’s most romantic evenings under the stars.
AUGUST 17
Gershwin Under The Stars The ever-charming Bramwell Tovey leads the LA Phil in an all-American program focused on the extraordinary music of George Gershwin. We’re delighted to have 29-yearold jazz virtuoso Aaron Diehl as soloist for Gershwin’s tricky “I Got Rhythm” Variations.
AUGUST 20
Smooth Summer Jazz From the classic smooth jazz of Dave Koz to the funky sounds of the Ohio Players and more, prepare yourself for a laid-back, groove-filled midsummer evening.
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OSKA 9693 Wilshire Boulevard Beverly Hills, CA 90212 310 271 2806 OSKA 13 Douglas Alley Pasadena, CA 91103 626 432 1729 Shop online beverlyhills.oska.com
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MASTER OF CEREMONIES
GEORGE LOPEZ George Lopez’s multi-faceted career encompasses television, film, standup comedy, and late-night television. Lopez is currently on his standup comedy tour, The Comedy Get Down, with Charlie Murphy, Eddie Griffin, D.L. Hughley, and Cedric the Entertainer in arenas across the country. The comedians also recently wrapped a BET scripted comedy series based on their tour. Lopez is also starring in his new comedy series, Lopez on TV Land. Starring and produced by Lopez, the series explores how he struggles between his two worlds and crises that are often of his own making. The half hour single camera serialized comedy consists of 12 episodes and has been renewed for a second season. 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 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. In 2015, Lopez was 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 on FX, Lopez starred in the multi-camera ensemble comedy Saint George, 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. He released his third standup CD, El Mas Chingon,
in 2006, 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 Best Sellers 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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SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 2017 In order of appearance (subject to change)
CSULB Pacific Standard Time Vocal Jazz Ensemble Under the direction of Christine Guter Gracelyn Hedrick, Angelica Villarreal, Ashley Miner, Attia Arenas, Marisa DiCamillo, Terrence Taylor, Morgan Davi, Jonny Arenas, Tama Shutts, Christian Valdez, Colin Monaco, vocals • John-Michael O’Brien, piano • Zane Johnson, guitar • Julian Esparza, bass • Pat Malone, drums
The California Honeydrops Lech Wierzynski, lead vocal, trumpet, guitar • Ben Malament, drums, washboard, percussion • Johnny Bones, tenor saxophone, clarinet Lorenzo Loera, keyboards, melodica • Beau Bradbury, bass, percussion
The Django Festival Allstars Samson Schmitt, lead guitar • Amati Schmitt, lead, rhythm guitar • Ludovic Beier, accordion, accordina • Pierre Blanchard, violin DouDou Cuillerier, rhythm guitar • Antonio Licusati, bass
Celebrating Bobby Hutcherson Stefon Harris, Musical Director With special guests Roy Ayers, Joel Ross, and Warren Wolf Stefon Harris, vibraphone, marimba • Roy Ayers, vibraphone • Joel Ross, vibraphone • Warren Wolf, vibraphone • Patrice Rushen, piano Joshua Crumbly, bass • Eric Harland, drums
TajMo’: The Taj Mahal and Keb Mo’ Band Taj Mahal, vocals, guitar • Keb’ Mo’, vocals, guitar • Marcus Finnie, drums • Deva Mahal, Zoe Mahal, background vocals • Dana Robbins, saxophone David Rodgers, keyboards • Stan Sargeant, bass • Quentin Ware, trumpet
Hudson With Jack DeJohnette, Larry Grenadier, John Medeski, John Scofield Jack DeJohnette, drums • Larry Grenadier, bass • John Medeski, piano, keyboards • John Scofield, guitar
Corinne Bailey Rae Corinne Bailey Rae, vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion • Steve Brown, musical director, keyboards, background vocals, bass Mark Walker, keyboards, background vocals, bass • John McCallum, electric guitar, background vocals • Mykey Wilson, drums, percussion
Jacob Collier Vocals, harmonizer, piano, keyboards, acoustic guitar, electric bass, upright bass, drums, percussion, melodica
Arturo Sandoval Latin Big Band With special guest Andy Garcia Arturo Sandoval, trumpet • Andy Garcia, bongos • Kemuel Roig, piano • David Siegel, keyboards • Dustin Higgins, guitar John Belzaguy, bass • Johnny Friday, drums • Ricardo “Tiki” Pasillas, percussion • Daniel Rodriguez, timbales Dan Higgins, Rusty Higgins, Bob Sheppard, Rob Lockart, Jay Mason, saxophones • Wayne Bergeron, Gary Grant, Charlie Davis, Rashawn Ross, trumpets Andy Martin, Francisco Torres, Dave Ryan, Craig Gosnell, trombones
Marcus Miller With special guest Rahsaan Patterson Including a Salute to Al Jarreau Marcus Miller, bass, bass clarinet • Alex Han, saxophone • Alex Bailey, drums • Marquis Hill, trumpet • Dave Delhomme, keyboards • Rahsaan Patterson, vocals Master of Ceremonies
George Lopez Produced in association with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association by FestivalWest Inc.
Acura is a proud sponsor of the Hollywood Bowl. Media sponsors: Programs and artists subject to change.
Official Automotive Partner of the Hollywood Bowl
Official Airline of the Hollywood Bowl
Official Cruise Line of the Hollywood Bowl
Pianos provided by Steinway Piano Gallery – Beverly Hills.
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
PACIFIC STANDARD TIME, directed by Christine Guter, is the top vocal jazz ensemble at California State University Long Beach, Bob Cole Conservatory of Music. It is a highly select 8- to 12-member ensemble, requiring refined musicianship and improvisation skills. The group has had the honor of performing at the most prestigious educational events in the country, including the Jazz Education Network International Conference, the International Association for Jazz Education Conference, multiple National and Regional American Choral Directors Association Conferences, and the California All State Music Education Conference. Pacific Standard Time has also performed at the New York Voices Jazz Festival, Los Angeles Jazz Festival, the Newport Beach Jazz Party, and the West Coast Jazz Party. Pacific Standard Time has competed at the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival, and taken first place in the Collegiate Vocal Jazz Ensemble division all three times they competed. As a part of this honor, they were invited back to perform at the 52nd, 54th, and 57th Annual Monterey Jazz Festivals. Many students from Pacific Standard Time have received national recognition through winning DownBeat Student Music Awards in the categories of Solo Jazz Vocalist, Pop/ Rock Soloist, Latin Group, and Jazz Arrangements. In the Graduate College Vocal Jazz Ensemble category, Pacific Standard Time has been honored with DownBeat Awards for the past seven years in a row (2010 – 2016). Graduates of Pacific Standard Time have been featured on The Voice, The Sing-Off, National Harmony Sweepstakes, national TV commercials, movie soundtracks, and national tours (Jennifer Lopez, The Jacksons).
To those who have seen THE CALIFORNIA HONEYDROPS, it may come as a shock that the young frontman, Lech Wierzynski, was born in Warsaw, Poland. The son of Polish
political refugees raised in Chicago and Washington DC, Lech was exposed to a wide range of musical influences. “When my dad was growing up in communist Poland in the ’40s and ’50s, old American music was illegal and therefore very cool,” he says. “He passed on the love of old stuff to me: everything from Louis Armstrong to Sam Cooke.” When Lech was ready to combine all his influences into one cohesive sound, he formed The California Honeydrops. By the time the band put out its first tip jar, at an Oakland train station, Lech had already established himself in the Bay Area music scene. In just a few years’ time this group of street performers would be selling out venues across California and bringing its infectious sound to festivals across the U.S. and Europe. With a background in West African and New Orleans drumming, Ben Malament has provided a funky rhythmic backdrop to Wierzynski’s soulful vocals and soaring trumpet playing since their subway busking days. The addition of saxophonist Johnny Bones brought to the band his influences from time working with Eddie Palmieri, Nell Carter, and Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums, to form the core of the group. Growing bigger and gathering steam, The Honeydrops have expanded from an acoustic street trio to a full band: piano and keyboards, electric bass, and additional percussion round out their sound. Beyond the band’s shared musical vision remains a greater purpose: to make people dance, sing, and enjoy themselves. The Honeydrops’ music speaks not just to the heart and soul, but also to the body; people have no choice but to dance. Drawing heavily on Southern soul and Bay Area R&B with a twist of New Orleans second-line street music, The Honeydrops defy genres. Their style may not have a name, but one thing is certain: The California Honeydrops don’t just play music. They throw parties.
Traveling the world with their unique, high-energy performances, the DJANGO FESTIVAL ALLSTARS pay tribute to
CALIFORNIA HONEYDROPS
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
the style of Django Reinhardt (1910-1953), one of the greatest guitar players of all time and the first European jazz musician to make major contributions to the development of the guitar genre. His driving, swinging style became known as “hot jazz” and it continues to grow in popularity globally. The Django Allstars honor the best energetic traditions of this French Gypsy Jazz, but add their own creative interpretations, arrangements, and original compositions, all with the stunning virtuosity typical of these highly regarded players. The Django Festival Allstars include Dorado Schmitt, legendary gypsy guitarist, his guitar-playing sons, Samson, Amati, and Bronson, accordion phenomenon Ludovic Beier, Pierre Blanchard on violin, Franco Mehrstein on rhythm guitar, and Brian Torff on bass.
CELEBRATING BOBBY HUTCHERSON A quartet of mallet masters has come together to salute the late pioneering vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. For an appreciation of Hutcherson and his art, see the feature story on page 47. Educator, vibraphonist, and composer Stefon Harris has been heralded as “one of the most important young artists in jazz” by the Los Angeles Times. A four-time Grammy nominee, he is a seven-time Best Mallet Player honoree by the Jazz Journalist Association, the recipient of Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, DownBeat’s Critics Poll Winner for Vibraphone (2013, 2015), and the 2014 Expanded Critics’ Poll winner for Vibes from Jazz Times. He won a 2014 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album for Wonder: The Songs of Stevie Wonder as a member of the SF Jazz Collective. Harris earned a BM in Classical Percussion and a MM in Jazz Performance from Manhattan School of Music. He tours worldwide with his bands Sonic Creed, Blackout, and Ninety Miles. Harris teaches at New York University and is Artistic Director of Jazz Education at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). Harris currently teaches at the Brubeck Institute
DJANGO FESTIVAL ALLSTARS
through their Distance Learning program and at the Institute’s Summer Jazz Colony. This past November it was announced that Harris will join the Manhattan School of Music in July 2017 as Associate Dean and Director of the Jazz Arts program. Vibraphonist/vocalist Roy Ayers is among the best-known, most-loved, and respected jazz/R&B artists on the music scene today. Now in his fourth decade in the music business, Ayers, known as the Godfather of Neo-soul, continues to bridge the gap between generations of music lovers. In the ’60s he was an award-winning jazz vibraphonist, and transformed into a popular R&B bandleader in the ’70s/’80s. Today, the dynamic music man is an iconic figure still in great demand, whose music has been sampled by music industry heavyweights including Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu, 50 Cent, A Tribe Called Quest, Tupac, and Ice Cube. Ayers recently recorded with hip-hop artist Talib Kweli (produced by Kanye West) and jazz/R&B singer Will Downing. Many of Ayers’ songs, including “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” “Searchin’,” and “Running Away,” have been frequently sampled and remixed by DJs worldwide. Highly acclaimed vibraphonist Joel Ross is making waves across the nation. The Chicago native has performed with notable jazz musicians, including Herbie Hancock, Louis Hayes, Christian McBride, Stefon Harris, Gerald Clayton, The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and many others. Ross has been twice selected as a Thelonious Monk Institute National All-Star and a 2013 YoungArts Jazz Finalist. He has had the opportunity to perform at the Brubeck, the Monterey and Chicago Jazz Festivals, along with performing at venues such as Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in New York, SF Jazz in San Francisco, Club Vibrato in Los Angeles and a host of others. Recently, Ross completed a two-year fellowship with the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet in California. He now is a New York resident attending the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music studying under the direction of Stefon Harris.
STEFON HARRIS
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Warren Wolf is a multi-instrumentalist from Baltimore, MD. From the age of three, Warren has been trained on the vibraphone/marimba, drums, and piano. Under the guidance of his father Warren Wolf Sr., Warren has a deep background in all genres of music. Warren has several recordings as a leader. Warren’s first two records are on the M&I label, which is based in Japan. The first record is titled Incredible Jazz Vibes, which features Mulgrew Miller on piano, Vicente Archer on bass, and Kendrick Scott on drums. The second record is titled Black Wolf. That record features Mulgrew Miller on piano, Rodney Whitaker on bass, and Jeff “Tain” Watts on drums. Warren has a selfproduced CD which is titled RAW. The fourth recording is titled Warren “Chano Pozo” Wolf. Warren has recently signed to the Mack Ave recording label.
soulful spin on Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change,” on which Bonnie Raitt lends her unmistakable vocals. “He’s a stellar human being, just a brilliant man,” Keb’ says of Taj, who first saw him play at a high school assembly. “Making this record was a really big deal for me.” “Keb’s really good at keeping the ball up in the air,” Taj notes. “He’s a hell of a guitar player, and I’m just amazed at some of the stuff that he put out there.” Taj Mahal has been recording and performing his unmistakable blend of blues and world music for over 50 years, winning multiple Grammys and collaborating with the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and more along the way. Keb’ Mo’, who has often cited Taj as one of his musical heroes, is a threetime Grammy winner who has collaborated with everyone from Raitt to Jackson Browne and Buddy Guy.
TAJMO: THE TAJ MAHAL & KEB’ MO’ BAND sees Blues titans Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ share the stage for an exciting night of music performing songs from their long-anticipated collaborative album, recently out on Concord Records. While the two have known and influenced each other for decades, and Taj played a key role in Keb’s first record deal, TajMo marks the first proper collaboration between Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’. The album was self-produced by the duo and was mixed by Grammy-winner Ross Hogarth and mastered by Grammy-winner Richard Dodd. The 11-song set includes covers of John Mayer and The Who, as well as six original songs. TajMo brings out the best in both artists, with the pair merging their distinctive voices, personalities, and guitar styles to create vibrant, immediate music that’s firmly rooted in tradition yet ruled by a playful sense of adventure. “Don’t Leave Me Here” is a love letter to the south that sounds like an instant classic, and “Soul” interweaves world music with blues in a way that only Taj could pull off. Taj and Keb’ put a
This cooperative all-star band calls themselves HUDSON, named after the Hudson River Valley they all affectionately call home. There’s a belief that geography defines destiny, that the place in which you live and the community with which you interact can have a profound impact on the choices you make and the individual you ultimately become. The collective known as Hudson demonstrates qualities and virtues that are consistent with the place from which it takes its name – creatively rich, highly interactive, and loaded with possibility. Drummer Jack DeJohnette, bassist Larry Grenadier, keyboardist John Medeski, and guitarist John Scofield team up to celebrate their mutual musical histories and Jack’s 75th birthday in an amazing new collaboration. In a career that spans five decades and includes collaborations with some of the most iconic figures in modern jazz, NEA and Grammy winner Jack DeJohnette has established an unchallenged reputation as one of the greatest drummers in the history of the genre. The list of creative associations throughout his career is lengthy and diverse: John Coltrane,
ROY AYERS
WARREN WOLF
TAJMO: THE TAJ MAHAL & KEB’ MO’ BAND
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Keith Jarrett, Chet Baker, George Benson, Stanley Turrentine, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, Joe Henderson, Freddy Hubbard, Betty Carter, and so many more. Along the way, he has developed a versatility that allows room for hard bop, R&B, world music, avant-garde, and just about every other style to emerge in the past half-century. As one of contemporary jazz’s most respected and accomplished bassists, Larry Grenadier has built an expansive body of work that encompasses a variety of significant projects with many of the genre’s most inventive and influential musicians. Over the course of a performing and recording career that spans three decades, he’s earned a far-reaching reputation, for his instrumental talent, for his instantly recognizable tone, and for the sensitivity, imagination, and creative curiosity that have established him as an in-demand sideman and valued collaborator. Famed keyboardist John Medeski is not easily contained to a single project or genre; he is credited on over 300 works to date, most notably as one third of the groundbreaking trio Medeski Martin & Wood. Equally comfortable behind a Steinway grand piano, Hammond organ, or any number of vintage keyboards, Medeski is a highly sought-after improviser and band leader whose projects range from work with John Zorn, The Word (Robert Randolph, North Mississippi Allstars), Phil Lesh, Don Was, John Scofield, Coheed & Cambria, Susana Baca, Sean Lennon, Marc Ribot, Irma Thomas, Blind Boys of Alabama, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and many more. He released his first solo piano record, A Different Time, on Sony’s Okeh Records in 2013, and current projects include a new album in the works with his band MadSkillet and HUDSON (a collaboration with Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield, and Larry Grenadier), plus a documentary on Medeski Martin & Wood. John Scofield’s guitar work has influenced jazz since the late ’70s and is going strong today. Possessor of a very
HUDSON
distinctive sound and stylistic diversity, Scofield is a masterful jazz improviser whose music generally falls somewhere between post-bop, funk-edged jazz, and R & B. After a debut recording with Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker, Scofield was a member of the Billy Cobham-George Duke band for two years. In 1977 he recorded with Charles Mingus, and joined the Gary Burton Quartet. From 1982–1985, Scofield toured and recorded with Miles Davis. Since that time he has prominently led his own groups in the international Jazz scene, recording over 30 albums as a leader, many already classics.
From Leeds, England, artist CORINNE BAILEY RAE released her self-titled debut album in 2006, debuting at #1 in the UK and #4 in the USA, featuring the global hits “Put Your Records On” and “Like A Star.” Now with over 5 million albums sold, Bailey Rae has been awarded 2 Grammys, including Best R&B Performance, and multiple Grammy, BRIT, MOBO, BET nominations (among others). Bailey Rae returned with her third studio album in six years, The Heart Speaks In Whispers, which debuted at No. 3 on Billboard’s R&B chart, featuring “Stop Where You Are” and “Green Aphrodisiac.” The album has received critical acclaim worldwide, with NPR naming it “one of their favorite 30 albums of the year so far” and The Guardian “one of the best R&B [releases] of 2016.” Described as the “bewitching queen of British soul,” Bailey Rae has performed a stunning live set on tour and at various festivals in the UK, Europe, USA, and Asia including as special guest for Stevie Wonder at his Hyde Park BST, London concert for a crowd of 100,000. Bailey Rae was selected by NASA for the historic DESTINATION: JUPITER campaign (when Juno spacecraft entered Jupiter’s orbit on July 4th); she represented Europe for the International Olympic Committee’s PSA Campaign; and
CORINNE BAILEY RAE
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President Obama selected “Green Aphrodisiac” for his Spotify Summer “Night” Playlist. Bailey Rae has enjoyed this year performing and/or collaborating with many of her peers from Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, and Lionel Richie to her contemporaries Pharrell Williams, Andra Day, Alabama Shakes, and more! Most recently, she performed with Amos Lee for WFUV’s holiday show and appeared on A Prairie Home Companion alongside Marcus Mumford in her final performance of the year.
JACOB COLLIER is among the most innovative musicians of his generation. A prodigious multi-instrumentalist, Jacob first rose to fame by charming millions on YouTube. In his videos, he recreates popular songs by layering vocals, looping live-recorded sounds, and visualizing all the parts in a mosaic of screens. Jacob’s unique sound and groove are a testament to his musical roots and sonic influences, spanning jazz to pop to trip-hop. Since his inaugural video in 2011, Jacob’s online social channels have garnered over 250K international followers and more than 10 million YouTube views. His viral hits, such as his rendition of Stevie Wonder’s Don’t You Worry ’Bout A Thing, also made him popular among the jazz community. Some legendary fans include Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, Steve Vai, and Take 6, to name a few. In his 2016 debut album, In My Room, Jacob further demonstrates his virtuosity as producer and songwriter. The album topped 23 international iTunes Jazz charts, and won him two Grammys. The album was also well-received critically. NPR premiered it on their First Look program and said, “Jacob’s warmly humanistic debut In My Room securely positions him as this year’s wunderkind-to-watch.” Billboard simply summed it up, “Jacob Collier is Blowing Minds.” Jacob, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has designed a revolutionary live
JACOB COLLIER
performance that realizes his one-man, multi-instrumental, multi-visual format to the stage. It first debuted at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2015, while opening for Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. After witnessing the pre-debut run at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, The Guardian heralded Collier as “Jazz’s New Messiah.” Jazzwise magazine named him “The Future of Music.” Today, Collier is touring the world, arranging commissioned work for orchestras and bands, teaching masterclasses, and collaborating with various musicians. Among his most notable collaborations is his feature on Snarky Puppy’s Family Dinner Vol. 2. Jacob was also involved in Beats by Dre’s Ruby World Cup The Game Starts Here campaign – Jacob arranged and recorded “Jerusalem” as the soundtrack for their spot. Jacob has most recently helped score DreamWorks’ newest film, The Boss Baby, with world-renowned composer Hans Zimmer.
A protégé of the legendary jazz master Dizzy Gillespie, ARTURO SANDOVAL was born in Artemisa, a small town in the outskirts of Havana, Cuba, on November 6, 1949, just two years after Gillespie became the first musician to bring Latin influences into American Jazz. Sandoval began studying classical trumpet at the age of twelve, but it didn’t take him long to catch the excitement of the jazz world. He has since evolved into one of the world’s most acknowledged guardians of jazz trumpet and flugelhorn, as well as a renowned classical artist, pianist, and composer. Sandoval has been awarded 10 Grammys, and nominated 19 times; he has also received six Billboard Awards and an Emmy Award, the latter for his composing work on the entire underscore of the HBO movie based on his life, For Love or Country, which starred Andy Garcia as Arturo. His two latest Grammywinning albums, Dear Diz “Everyday I think of you” and Tango “Como Yo Te Siento”, are now available worldwide. Arturo
ARTURO SANDOVAL
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Sandoval’s newest CD, Eternamente Manzanero, which features the music of revered Mexican romantic pianist/singer/ songwriter, Armando Manzanero, is a true labor of love. Recently released is a new book chronicling Sandoval’s relationship with Dizzy Gillespie entitled The Man Who Changed My Life. Arturo also is the 2013 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Sandoval was a founding member of the Grammy-winning group Irakere, whose explosive mixture of jazz, classical, rock, and traditional Cuban music caused a sensation throughout the entertainment world. In 1981, he left Irakere to form his own band, which garnered enthusiastic praise from critics and audiences all over the world, and continues to do so. Arturo Sandoval’s versatility can be heard on recordings with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Woody Shaw, Michel Legrand, Josh Groban, Tony Bennett, Bill Conti, and Stan Getz to Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, Paul Anka, Rod Stewart, and Alicia Keys, among many others. He has performed with John Williams with the Boston Pops, and in the Super Bowl with Tony Bennett and Patti LaBelle.
MARCUS MILLER, winner of two Grammys and appointed UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2013, is not only an exceptional musician – a world-renowned bassist and multi-instrumentalist – but also a highly-gifted composer and producer. The legendary album Tutu, which he wrote and produced for Miles Davis, sealed his international fame when Marcus was only 25. He has collaborated with artists as varied and talented as Eric Clapton, George Benson, Luther Vandross, Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Al Jarreau, George Duke, Wayne Shorter, Lalah Hathaway, and Herbie Hancock. At the same time he has produced his own genre-defying albums, among them The Sun Don’t Lie, Tales, M2, Silver Rain, Marcus, A Night in Monte Carlo (with the Monte Carlo Philharmonic
MARCUS MILLER
Orchestra), Renaissance, and his 2016 Grammy-nominated album Afrodeezia. Marcus is a regular host of Entertainment Cruise Productions Jazz Cruises and you can catch him weekly on his SiriusXM radio show, Miller Time. At today’s performance, Marcus Miller will include a tribute to the late Al Jarreau, featuring Rahsaan Patterson. Please see page 46 for an appreciation of the beloved singer. Inspired by Prince, Rufus, Miles Davis, Earth, Wind & Fire, Donny Hathaway, Sarah Vaughn, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson, young Rahsaan Patterson was performing in his Pentecostal church choir by the age of 6. His talent and precociousness led his family to relocate to California, where he started a TV career on Kids Incorporated with the likes of Fergie (of the Black Eyed Peas), Jennifer Love Hewitt, Shanice, and Mario Lopez. But music was in his soul, and Patterson began honing his craft and reaching out to other musicians in the Los Angeles area. His unique sense of melody and lyrics soon netted him songwriting placements, with hit songs for Tevin Campbell, Chico DeBarge, Christopher Williams, and Jody Watley. Together with producer Keith Crouch, he wrote the triple-platinum selling “Baby,” which reached No. 1 on the national charts in 1994 and helped launch Brandy’s multi-faceted career. MCA came calling soon after, and Patterson released his self-titled debut in 1997, helping to fuel what was then the nascent neo-soul movement. The album included what has become his signature tune, “Where You Are,” as well as the funky “Stop By,” immediately putting him on the radar with R&B fans. The artist followed that effort with 1999’s critically praised album, Love In Stereo. After Hours, his long-awaited 2004 follow-up, was released on the independent Artistry Music label, and only cemented Patterson’s reputation as a deeply thoughtful, adventurous artist with a unique point of view. Rahsaan’s sixth studio CD, Heroes & Gods, will be released in 2017.
RAHSAAN PATTERSON
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HOLLYWOOD BOWL MUSEUM
JAZZ AT THE BOWL: NEW EXHIBIT Summer Nights: Jazz at the Bowl, the new exhibit at the Hollywood Bowl Museum, traces the history of jazz performance at the Bowl from the earliest days of the swing era through today, as jazz – and all its tributaries – is globally embraced and recognized as an original American art form. On August 5, 1939, Benny Goodman, the King of Swing, brought his group to the Hollywood Bowl for a special Saturday night non-subscription concert. Four years later Frank Sinatra became the first pop singer to appear with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Identified in the program as “baritone soloist,” the singer apologized to the crowd for appearing with a symphony orchestra. Sinatra returned to the Bowl in 1945 and 1946 and opened the door to other jazz singers, who began appearing regularly: Nat “King” Cole, Billy Eckstine, Lena Horne, Peggy Lee, Jo Stafford, and Sarah Vaughan among them. It is no wonder that in 2002 the LA Phil’s first William Powers & Carolyn Powers Creative Chair for Jazz was singer Dianne Reeves. Reeves was succeeded by bassist Christian McBride in 2006. Next to hold the post, beginning in 2010, was composer/pianist Herbie Hancock, reaffirming his long association with the venue, which started in 1964 when he played with the Miles Davis Quintet. The 1950s was an important decade in the early history of jazz at the Bowl. In August 1955, Leonard Bernstein collaborated with the LA Phil, curating one of the most ambitious projects of its time, the “Festival of the Americas.” This progressive week-long event brought together artists as diverse as Isaac Stern, the Martha Graham Dance Company, Mexican composer Carlos Chávez, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Billie Holiday, André Previn (then known primarily as a jazz pianist), and Cal Tjader’s Afro-Cuban ensemble. Latin jazz and dance music has endured as an elemental component of the Bowl programming from its earliest days. Cal Tjader returned to the Bowl in 1959 for the inaugural concert of the Los Angeles Jazz Festival, which also featured influential Afro-Cuban jazz master Machito. Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, one of the fathers of bebop who also brought attention
to the link between Afro-Cuban jazz and American music, first appeared at the Bowl in 1967. Gillespie was important to the evolution of jazz in an even more significant way. Along with Charlie Parker and Bud Powell, he led the transition of the genre from a dance-oriented to a listening-based music, as artists started to explore more avant-garde harmonic progressions and instrumental virtuosity. In 1956, legendary jazz entrepreneur Norman Granz brought together Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, piano virtuoso Art Tatum (Fats Waller famously said when Tatum walked into a club in which he was playing, “I only play piano, but tonight God is in the house.”), and the Oscar Peterson Trio for a sold-out concert. This concert became the first live jazz recording made at the Bowl, still in print on Verve Records. Ella was intent on jazz being considered as serious programming. She wanted to be recognized as a concert artist, preferring a concert setting, with the music front and center.
The Playboy Jazz Festival, established in 1979, has become a renowned tradition known for its day-long, weekend-long party atmosphere, with kerchief-waving dancers through the aisles, celebratory mood, and days jam-packed with music. As a complement to the Playboy Festival, Ernest Fleischmann, then Executive Director of the LA Phil, established Jazz at the Bowl as a distinct concert series the following year. Allowing for longer sets, the series was inaugurated by Chick Corea, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Carmen McRae, and Mel Tormé, among others, and it continues today, as their inheritors build on the storied tradition of jazz at the Hollywood Bowl. Hollywood Bowl Museum Summer Hours (JUN 20–SEP 27) Monday: closed Tuesday–Saturday: 10AM–show time Sunday: 4PM–show time
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2016 PLAYBOY JAZZ FESTIVAL
Jon Batiste and Stay Human
THE WORLD OF PLAYBOY JAZZ Last summer the 38th Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl was a supercharged celebration – as always! George Lopez was on hand for the fourth year to master the ceremonies, and 20 diverse and exciting acts covered the full range of jazz over the weekend. It is always hard to call out highlights, but on Saturday young Joey Alexander made his Bowl debut, Cécile McLorin Salvant sang with a trio led by pianist Aaron Diehl, sax master Joshua Redman joined The Bad Plus, and the Naturally 7 crew displayed the wonders of the human voice. Actor/writer/ director Seth MacFarlane sang with a big
band conducted by Joel McNeely, Los Van Van showed how they revolutionized Cuban pop music, and Jon Batiste and his Stay Human band capped the evening. There were hard-charging ensembles aplenty Sunday as well, including Christian Scott aTunde Ahjuah’s Stretch Music, Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr. and the Congo Nation-New Orleans Cultural Group, and the Pete Escovedo Orchestra atop the bill with his percussion family. But there were also elite singers Liv Warfield and Janelle Monáe, and the classic contemporary jazz quartet Fourplay celebrating their silver anniversary.
Cécile McLorin Salvant
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David King of The Bad Plus
Naturally 7 Janelle Monáe
Seth MacFarlane
Robert Cray
Liv Warfield Los Van Van
Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr. and the Congo Nation-New Orleans Cultural Group
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SUNDAY, JUNE 11, 2017 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, Aidan Cini, William Brandt, Max Roberts, Larry Alvarez, Chris Triggs, woodwinds • Marcelo Aguinaga, Oswaldo Sandoval, Jasmin Villa, Nestor Carrillo, Rene Cruz, Isaiah Rodriguez, trombones • Jack Houlihan, Kameron Carey, Jeremy Davalos, Kenneth Brown, Justin Gilmore, trumpets Joey Cuerreri, piano • Dario Bizio, bass • Terran Artis, drums • Simon Carlaftes, guitar
Hamilton de Holanda Trio Hamilton de Holanda, ten-string mandolin • Vitor Gonçalves, piano, accordion • Or Bareket, bass
The DIVA Jazz Orchestra Sherrie Maricle, leader, drums • Tomoko Ohno, piano • Noriko Ueda, bass • Alexa Tarantino, lead alto saxophone • Scheila Gonzalez, 2nd alto saxophone Janelle Reichman, 1st tenor saxophone • Roxy Coss, 2nd tenor saxophone • Leigh Pilzer, baritone saxophone • Leisl Whitaker, lead trumpet Jami Dauber, 2nd trumpet • Rachel Therrien, 3rd trumpet • Barbara Laronga, 4th trumpet • Jennifer Krupa, lead trombone Sara Jacovino, 2nd trombone • Leslie Havens, bass trombone
Carl Allen and the Art of Elvin Carl Allen, drums • Freddie Hendrix, trumpet • Yasushi Nakamura, bass • Donald Vega, piano • Keith Loftis, saxophone
Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles Cory Henry, keyboards, organ • Taron Locket, drums • Nick Semrad, keyboards • Sharay Reed, bass • Adam Agati, guitar Denise Stoudmire, Tiffany Stevenson, vocals
The Kenny Garrett Quintet With JazzAntiqua Dance Ensemble, Pat Taylor, Artistic Director A World Premiere Collaboration Kenny Garrett, alto, soprano saxophone, Corcoran Holt, acoustic bass • Marcus Baylor, drums • Vernell Brown, acoustic piano • Rudy Bird, percussion JazzAntiqua Dancers: Keisha Clark-Booth, Albertossy Espinoza, James Mahkween, Ilze Mattson, Bridget Murano, Sarah Platte, Latrice Postell, Jason Poullard, Shari Rhone, Stacey Strickland
Gregory Porter Gregory Porter, vocals • Chip Crawford, piano • Jahmal Nichols, bass • Tivon Pennicott, saxophone • Emanuel Harrold, drums
Miles Mosley and The West Coast Get Down Miles Mosley, upright bass, vocals • Tony Austin, drums • Ryan Porter, trombone • Philip Dizack, trumpet • Cameron Graves, piano, keyboards Maiya Sykes, Sonnet Simmons, Dessy Di Lauro, background vocals
Lalah Hathaway Lalah Hathaway, vocals • Eric Smith, bass, musical director • Errol Cooney, guitar • Lynette Williams, keyboards • Tavarius Johnson, drums Jason Morales, Dennis Clark, background vocals • DJ Spark, DJ
Common Common, lead vocals • Andre Smith, musical director, DJ • Johnnie Smith, Junius Bervine, keyboards • Eric Greene, drums • Dwayne Moore, bass Maimouna Youssef, background vocals • Elena Pinderhughes, flute, background vocals Master of Ceremonies
George Lopez Produced in association with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association by FestivalWest Inc.
Acura is a proud sponsor of the Hollywood Bowl. Media sponsors: Programs and artists subject to change.
Official Automotive Partner of the Hollywood Bowl
Official Airline of the Hollywood Bowl
Official Cruise Line of the Hollywood Bowl
Pianos provided by Steinway Piano Gallery – Beverly Hills.
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THE LAUSD BEYOND THE BELL ALL-CITY JAZZ BAND, in partnership with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, comprises the top high school music students currently enrolled in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest public school district in the nation. Under the co-direction of Monk Institute VP for Education and Curriculum Development JB Dyas and LAUSD Beyond the Bell Music and Entertainment Coordinator Tony White, the Band rehearses and performs all styles of jazz from its inception to today. Instruction in jazz improvisation, theory, and history is included at every rehearsal. The program also provides the students with further insight into the deeply held American values that jazz represents: teamwork, unity with ethnic diversity, democracy, and the vital importance of really listening to one another.
HAMILTON DE HOLANDA started to play at the age of 5 (1981) and today is one of the most acclaimed Brazilian musicians, with a career full of prizes. His latest prizes were the Latin Grammy for the Best Instrumental Album of 2016 and the Echo Jazz 2016 in Germany. Hamilton refreshed the history of the instrument by adding two extra strings to the mandolin (10 strings) and creating a unique technique for it. He performs all over the world with different ensembles and collaborations. From solo to orchestras, from samba to jazz, from clubs to big crowds, and collaborations and recording with names like Wynton Marsalis, Chucho Valdés, Stefano Bollani, Richard Galliano, John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), and Chick Corea, just to name a few. He has over 135 thousand fans on Facebook.
Headed by swinging drummer Sherrie Maricle, DIVA exudes the excitement and force found in the tradition of the historic big bands but with an eye towards today’s progressive sound of originality and verve. With New York as their home base, DIVA performs all over the world playing contemporary, mainstream
HAMILTON DE HOLANDA
big band jazz composed and arranged to fit the individual personalities and styles of the musicians themselves. Audiences can expect to hear high-energy performances packed with unique improvisation, spontaneity, and fun. The inspiration for DIVA came from Stanley Kay, one-time manager and relief drummer for Buddy Rich. In 1990, Kay was conducting a band in which Sherrie Maricle was playing the drums. Stanley immediately picked up on her extraordinary talent and began to wonder if there were other women players who could perform at the same level. The search was on; through nationwide auditions, the foundation for DIVA was poured in 1992, and what emerged is the dynamic musical force that holds forth to the present day. Since their premiere performance over 21 years ago, DIVA has toured the world to critical and popular acclaim. To fully grasp how wide is the appeal of this incredibly gifted ensemble, one has only to read the catalog of prestigious venues in which the band has performed. Here is but a partial list: Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops Orchestra; John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC; Verizon Jazz Festival at Lincoln Center; Blue Note; Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center; Birdland; and the Apollo Theater in New York. Add to that the Jazz Showcase in Chicago, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild in Pittsburgh, and Symphony Halls in St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Cleveland, plus the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl and Cinegrill in Hollywood. International appearances include Le Meridien Hotel in Paris, France; Teatro de Sistina in Rome, Italy; Berlin Jazz Festival in Germany; Salzburg Music Festival in Austria; Bern Jazz Festival in Switzerland; Montreal and Ottawa International Jazz Festivals in Canada; Bogota International Jazz Festival in Colombia; Jamaica Jazz Festival; Zagreb Jazz Festival in Croatia; and the Pori Jazz Festival in Finland. As if the list of settings in which DIVA has performed isn’t impressive enough, from 2013 to the present day the band is featured in Maurice Hines’ autobiographical musical Tappin’
DIVA
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Through Life, performing extended runs at New World Stages in New York City; Arena Stage in Washington, DC; the Alliance Theater in Atlanta; the Wallis Performing Art Center in Los Angeles; Cleveland Playhouse; and Delaware Theatre Company. DIVA has also shared the stage with Joe Williams, Diane Schuur, Dee Daniels, DeeDee Bridgewater, Rosemary Clooney, Ann Hampton Callaway, Jack Jones, Clark Terry, Dr. Billy Taylor, Terry Gibbs, Tommy Newsom, Randy Brecker, and Dave Brubeck. The band has also made several notable television and film appearances, including performing the soundtrack for the 2014 NBC/Macy’s Fireworks Spectacular; a feature in the award-winning documentary film, The Girls in the Band; multiple appearances on CNN Arts Break; a dedicated segment on CBS Sunday Morning; and musical features as part of the Kennedy Center’s 25th Anniversary Special, the Japanese television network NHK, and Metropol TV in Germany. DIVA proudly boasts of a very impressive series of recordings. Their most recent release, Special Kay, was preceded by the critically-acclaimed A Swingin’ Life, featuring Grammywinner Nancy Wilson and the soulful Marlena Shaw. Other DIVA recordings include: Johnny Mandel: The Man and his Music, recorded live and conducted by Mandel himself; Live from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, featuring supremely swinging vocalist Carmen Bradford (2008); TNT – Tommy Newsom Tribute, a compilation of charts the late Mr. Newsom arranged exclusively for DIVA (2005); Live in Concert (2002); I Believe in You (1999); Leave It to DIVA (1997); and Something’s Coming (1995).
Born on April 25, 1961, CARL ALLEN grew up on gospel, R&B, and funk, but later turned to jazz after hearing a recording by the legendary saxophonist Benny Carter. During his early years he studied with instructor Roy Snieder and band director Robert Siemele. His first hometown gigs were with sax greats Sonny Stitt and James Moody. Allen joined trumpeter
CARL ALLEN
Freddie Hubbard a year before his graduation, served as his Musical Director for eight years, and recorded several recordings with the trumpeter, including Double Take and Life Flight. Allen also played with Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Benny Golson, Jennifer Holliday, J.J. Johnson, Rickie Lee Jones, Sammy Davis Jr., Branford Marsalis, Kenny Garrett, Lena Horne, Ruth Brown, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson, Mike Stern, Nellie McKay, Terence Blanchard, Phil Woods, Benny Green, Cyrus Chestnut, Joe Henderson, Billy Childs, and many others. Allen’s phenomenal sideman discography also includes Jackie McLean (Dynasty), Donald Harrison (Indian Blues, Noveau Swing), Donald Byrd (A City Called Heaven), and Art Farmer (The Company I Keep). With over 200 recordings to his credit, the gifted Milwaukee-born, New York-based drummer, sideman, bandleader, entrepreneur, and educator, Carl Allen’s profound and propulsive percolations have provided soulful and syncopated support for over three decades. Piccadilly Square (Alfa Records and Timeless Records) was Allen’s first CD as leader, released in 1989, followed by The Dark Side of Dewey (Alfa Records and Evidence), The Pursuer (Atlantic), and Testimonial (Atlantic). Allen’s 2007 release, Get Ready (Mack Avenue Records), a gospel/Motown accented debut with co-leader, bassist Rodney Whitaker, was followed up by Work to Do (also Mack Avenue) featuring Kirk Whalum. Some of Allen’s educational affiliations include: Director of the Snow College Jazz Camp in Ephraim, UT, where he currently serves as the Artistic Consultant for Jazz Studies; Director of the Summer Jazz Intensive at Trinity College in Melbourne, Australia; Artistic Director of the Valley Christian School Jazz Camp in San Jose, CA; and Director of the Summer Jazz Camp at The Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches. In May of 2012 Allen received an honorary doctorate from Snow College in Ephraim, Utah in Humane Letters. Carl recently completed a 6-year tenure serving as the Artistic Director of Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School in New York City.
CORY HENRY
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Allen is also an accomplished businessman. He co-founded Big Apple Productions in 1988 with saxophonist Vincent Herring, produced several recordings for various Japanese labels with future stars Roy Hargrove and Nicholas Payton, and created The Art of Elvin, a tribute band dedicated to his two drum influences, Art Blakey and Elvin Jones. Allen has also produced recordings for pianist Eric Reed, Dewey Redman, Pharoah Sanders, Freddie Hubbard, Kris Bowers, and guitarist Lage Lund, the winner of the 2005 Thelonious Monk International Monk Competition, and many others, totaling nearly 70 credits as a producer. Carl Allen’s multifaceted career provides the perfect template for what a modern musician should be. As Sid Gribetz of Jazz Times wrote, “more than just another fine drummer, Carl Allen has it all together as a bandleader, businessman, and producer, becoming a force in today’s jazz world.” Allen maintains an exhaustive schedule of recording, touring, producing, and teaching. He remains active as a sideman with Christian McBride and Inside Straight, Benny Golson, and others. As a leader, Allen’s most recent projects are The Carl Allen Quartet and The Art of Elvin.
CORY HENRY is a multi-instrumentalist and producer with a catalog worthy of a man twice his age. His primary instrument is the organ, and he began playing at the age of two. At the age of six he competed at the Apollo Theater and made it to the finalist round. In 2010 he co-produced Jay White’s Larger than Life. Later that year he released his first album, Christmas With You, which featured his lively renditions of Christmas classics and prominently showcased his skill as an improviser. Kim Burrell’s Grammy-nominated and Stellar Award-winning Love album released in 2011 boasted several tracks that were written and produced by Henry. That year he wrote for and produced much of Krishnar Lewis’ One Lover’s Trilogy album and released his first, Leave You Alone.
Henry is primarily known for harmonically rich organ playing that owes a greater debt to the virtuosic unpredictability of Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson than it does to Jimmy Smith and other members of the Hammond organ pantheon. In his best moments he seems to capture the breadth of the jazz and gospel idioms and produce something altogether new through his unique blending of the two genres. Although he possesses a great deal of technique, in his solos he regularly subordinates it to a narrative arch and exhibits a maturity that surpasses his years. Unlike many virtuosos he is a great accompanist, and perhaps this is why he excels also as a producer and sideman. At the tender age of 19 he had the opportunity to begin traveling with the jazz legend Kenny Garrett as his organist in a stint that lasted three years. He has done television work playing on the third season of Sunday’s Best for BET and on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. He has worked with Yolanda Adams, Sara Bareilles, Stanley Brown, Ray Chew And The Crew, P. Diddy, Kirk Franklin, Rob Glasper, Ron Grant, Lalah Hathaway, Derrick Hodge, Israel Houghton, Joe, Shaun Kingston, Donald Lawrence, Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin, Michael McDonald, Boyz 2 Men, NAS, Snarky Puppy, Tommy Sims, Bruce Springsteen, The Roots, Hezekiah Walker, Bishop Jeffrey White, Betty Wright, the late Timothy Wright, and many others. Henry’s awe inspiring impromptu YouTube performances have gained him a loyal and sizable following. His 2014 release, First Steps, went to No. 1 on the iTunes Jazz Chart. As a member of Snarky Puppy, he earned a 2017 Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album (Culcha Vulcha) and a 2016 Grammy win for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album (Sylva).
For more than 30 years, Grammy-winning saxophonist, arranger, composer, and bandleader KENNY GARRETT has garnered critical recognition for his versatility in jazz, blues, and R&B contexts. The Detroit native began his career performing with the Duke Ellington Orchestra and the Mel Lewis
KENNY GARRETT
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Orchestra. In the early 1980s, Garrett began working with Miles Davis, becoming a member of Davis’ working group – a collaboration that lasted for five years. With more than 20 recordings as a leader as well as appearing on more than 230 as a sideman, Garrett has performed and recorded with a multitude of musical icons, including Art Blakey, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Q-tip, among others. Garrett maintains a prolific touring and recording schedule with his own band as well as the world’s most acclaimed jazz legends. In 2008/2009, Garrett joined Chick Corea and John McLaughlin’s supergroup, “Five Peace Band,” featuring label mate Christian McBride and Vinnie Colaiuta (later Brian Blade). The group’s eponymous album won a Grammy in 2010. Additionally, he was a featured member of Corea’s “Freedom Band” (2010), that included Christian McBride and Roy Haynes. In 2011 Garrett presented the commencement address at Berklee College of Music and was awarded an honorary doctorate of music by that prestigious institution. Garrett’s album Pushing the World Away (2013), which features the band that he’s mentored for the past few years, including Corcoran Holt, Vernell Brown, Rudy Bird, and Marcus Baylor, received a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. Garrett’s “Seeds From The Underground” won the 2013 Echo Award (German Grammy) for “Best International Jazz Saxophone Performance.” Garrett’s Do Your Dance! – his fourth album for Mack Avenue Records – was released in June 2016. Founded in 1993, JAZZANTIQUA DANCE ENSEMBLE celebrates the jazz tradition as a vital thread in the cultural fabric of African American history and heritage, and a defining element of the American experience. Dedicated to EDUCATION / PRESERVATION / CREATION, the company’s mission is to increase awareness of and appreciation for jazz as an American legacy through collaborative dance and music projects (performances, classes, lecture-demonstrations,
JAZZANTIQUA DANCE ENSEMBLE
symposiums, community outreach efforts) that inspire, as well as entertain. Exploring original music compositions along with the works of Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and other greats, JazzAntiqua delves deep into the heart of jazz and the stories within the music. From jazz clubs to concert halls, performing arts centers to schools, museums to festivals in the park – JazzAntiqua shares the art of jazz with audiences of all ages and backgrounds. The Company has been presented at the Playboy Jazz Festival (Hollywood Bowl), Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (Music Center of Los Angeles), Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California African American Museum, The Jazz Bakery, Irvine Barclay Theatre, Ford Amphitheatre, Japan America Theatre, Dance Mission Theatre (San Francisco), Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, UCLA Hammer Museum, McCallum Theatre (Palm Desert), Watts Towers Jazz Festival, Southern Theatre (Minneapolis), Laney College (Oakland), and many other venues. Pat Taylor (Artistic Director/Choreographer) blends her love of jazz and blues music, visual art and spoken word with a distinctive historical perspective to create JazzAntiqua’s very own brand of “jazz theatre.” Taylor was raised in a household where jazz served as a musical backdrop to daily life. Yet, it was while living, teaching and choreographing throughout Europe for seven years and experiencing firsthand the world’s love and respect for America’s original art form, that her passion for jazz and the stories within the music was truly kindled. Taylor’s background in Katherine Dunham and Lester Horton techniques, West African, American vernacular, and classic jazz dance, along with her love for the collage nature of improvisation, combine to form her signature “afro-modern-jazz” style and approach to movement. She is also chair of the dance department at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences in Santa Monica, CA.
PAT TAYLOR
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An artist whose music is at once timeless yet utterly of its time, GREGORY PORTER solidified his standing as his generation’s most soulful jazz singer-songwriter with the May 2016 release of Take Me to the Alley, the much-anticipated follow-up to his million-selling Grammy-winning 2013 Blue Note debut, Liquid Spirit. Liquid Spirit – which followed Porter’s critically-acclaimed and Grammy-nominated albums Water (2010) and Be Good (2012) – quickly grew into a global phenomenon, selling a million albums worldwide and becoming the most streamed jazz album of all-time with over 20 million streams. The album sold Platinum in the U.K. and Germany, and in the U.S. Porter made his first-ever national TV appearances on The Tonight Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live. Esquire and NPR Music both declared him “America’s Next Great Jazz Singer.” Liquid Spirit won Porter his first Grammy in 2014 for Best Jazz Vocal Album, while also earning him a Best Traditional R&B Performance nomination for his affecting ballad, “Hey Laura.” In the fall of 2015 Porter finally found the time to return to the studio in New York City to record Take Me to the Alley. As on his previous three albums, Porter teamed with producer Kamau Kenyatta to craft a collection of stirring originals that juxtapose the personal and political. His partnership with Kenyatta started in the mid-1990s when he was a student at San Diego State University. (Porter began his college years playing football on a full athletic scholarship before a shoulder injury diverted him into a music career.) It was through Kenyatta’s mentorship that Porter’s professional musical career began. In 2017, Take Me to the Alley earned Porter his most recent Grammy.
MILES MOSLEY is an upright bassist, vocalist, producer, composer, and arranger. As a teen, Mosley was selected to play bass for the Grammy All-American High School Jazz Band & Choir, and was acclaimed
GREGORY PORTER
as a “technical virtuoso” by Los Angeles Times jazz critic Don Heckman. He received his classical training at the Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles, had years of study with jazz bass legends John Clayton, Ray Brown, and Al McKibbon, and received his undergraduate degree in music at UCLA. Since then Mosley has greatly expanded his repertoire, mastering the bass and a vast array of instruments, deftly blending jazz with rock, pop, funk, and R&B. Mosley has successfully combined bow work, effects, and in-your-face dexterity to give his instrument his own signature sound. The last few years have been the busiest of Mosley’s career. He has been featured in Bass Player Magazine, (U.S., Brazil, and Japan), Bass Gear Magazine, Player Magazine, Japan, and was named one of Vanity Fair’s Rising Stars. He recently co-designed his signature line of upright basses for BLAST CULT, and has a line of signature pick-ups. He has recorded, toured, and collaborated with artists including Andra Day, Christina Aguilera, Jason Mraz, Chris Cornell, Lauryn Hill, Mos Def, and Avenged Sevenfold. He co-produced, composed, arranged, and performed on actor Terrence Howard’s debut CD, Shine through It. He appeared on the Grammy Awards telecast with the Gnarls Barkley Orchestra, at the Greek Theater with Jeff Beck, and at the Staples Center with Rihanna, and headlined his own project at The Alex Theatre with the Glendale Pops Orchestra. He accompanied singer Jonathan Davis of rock group Korn through North America and Europe, where he pulled double duty as the opening performer and as Davis’ solo band bassist. He recorded three tracks on Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-winning album To Pimp A Butterfly, and he is the upright bass player for long-time band-member Kamasi Washington’s The Epic triple CD release, named one of Rolling Stone’s and Pitchfork’s “best albums of 2015.” The Epic Tour has sold out arenas worldwide for the past eighteen months. Mosley is a founding member and upright bass player for the acclaimed Los Angeles-based group, the West Coast Get
MILES MOSLEY
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Down (WCGD), a collaborative group of musicians born and raised in Los Angeles. Apart, they are some of the most sought after musicians in the world; together they are uninhibited innovators moving effortlessly through multiple genres of music. He also has a new duo project, BFI, with WCGD drummer/producer Tony Austin. Mosley’s solo album UPRISING featuring the West Coast Get Down, was released on January 27, 2017. The first single release, “Abraham,” was named one of NPR’s Top 100 songs of 2016; the second single, “Young Lion,” was released in the fall of 2016 to critical acclaim from publications including the Los Angeles Times, who featured the song in their California Sounds section; and Rolling Stone named him one of the “Top 10 New Artists You Need to Know.” In addition to performing and producing, Mosley is an accomplished composer, scoring for film, TV, and video games. His compositions have been used by numerous entertainment companies including DreamWorks, Warner Brothers, The Weinstein Company, Capcom, and Activision. His original composition was featured on Disney’s The Muppets movie trailer, and was listed as one of MTV’s Top 10 trailers of 2012, received a Golden Trailer Nomination for Best Music and a Key Art Award win for Best Music. Mosley’s score for Island Creek Pictures’ short film Me and Her (no dialogue) was an official entry for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. He was commissioned to compose for the Elisa Monte Dance Company (NY). He recently completed the original score for Halfway, an upcoming feature film starring Quinton Aaron (The Blind Side).
An instrument embodied, timbre unmatched, with words that call our most internal emotion…LALAH HATHAWAY’s presence is never mistaken nor forgotten. Skilled to the highest order, Hathaway’s voice possesses both power and vulnerability with a quiet resonance that fills spaces of grandeur and the
LALAH HATHAWAY
hearts of many. “Lalah Hathaway is, quite simply put, the truth.” (Diriye Osman, Huffington Post) With three back-to-back R&B Grammy wins in 2014, 2015, and 2016 respectively, Hathaway made history as the firstever artist to win Best Traditional R&B Performance two consecutive years in a row. Hathaway describes how her career continues to rejuvenate with new beginnings and possibilities. “Throughout my career there have been points where new recognition or opportunity has emerged that inspires me in new ways.” Lalah Hathaway is, in every sense, a live performer, evidenced by the recent release of Lalah Hathaway LIVE, Hathaway’s first-ever live album. Supported by her international fans and peers, Lalah Hathaway LIVE is a result of a successful internet-based crowd-funding campaign. “I wanted to make an album for the fans and with the fans. My fans constantly relay to me how the music they love on my records is taken to a whole new level when they experience it live.” She was born into a musical legacy, the offspring of musicians Donny Hathaway and Eulaulah Hathaway, and Lalah Hathaway’s career was never a choice: “I was always a musician,” Hathaway clarifies, “there was never a moment of ‘maybe I’ll be…’ ” Preparations for the release of Hathaway’s debut self-titled album were firmly in motion during her final semester at Berklee College of Music, where the Chicago-native nurtured her multi-instrumental and songwriting talents. Since its inception, Hathaway’s musical journey has remained devoted to education and musicianship. “I never wanted to be known as just a singer. I always wanted to be a well-rounded musician, with my voice as my primary instrument.” Proof of Hathaway’s musical prowess is evident in her work, as performer, musician, writer, and producer. She is revered by some of the greatest musicians of the last century: a myriad of collaborations and international performances signpost Hathaway’s 25-year success. A true bridge between
COMMON
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
masters of the jazz and soul traditions and new generations of popular-music innovators, Lalah Hathaway has performed with greats such as Kendrick Lamar, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Anita Baker, Mary J. Blige, Metropole Orkest, Esperanza Spalding, David Foster, Snoop Dogg, Natalie Cole, Robert Glasper Experiment, Terri Lyne Carrington, Marcus Miller, Dianne Reeves, Frank Ocean, Dizzy Gillespie, David Sanborn, Rachelle Ferrell, Take 6, The Winans, Meshell Ndegeocello, Kirk Whalum, Donald Lawrence, Kirk Franklin, Snarky Puppy, Christian McBride, and many more. Enamored with color, space, and the evolution of music, Hathaway’s seven albums chronicle an emotive journey through R&B, jazz, and soul. The inflections of blues, funk, gospel, classical, country, rock, and folk cited in her work are a reflection of this virtuoso’s versatility. Underscored by singing three notes at one time (a chord), the Grammy-winning performance of Hathaway’s 1991 single “Something,” recreated with Jazz collective Snarky Puppy, affirms Hathaway’s timeless relevance and documents the vast breadth of her vocal capabilities. Whether live, recorded, televised, or online, Lalah Hathaway’s incomparable skill, talent, musicianship, and presence are recognized by artists and fans the world over. Like her father before her, Lalah Hathaway stands as music quality personified, optimum in every way.
Academy Award-winning actor and musician COMMON continues to break down barriers with a multitude of critically acclaimed, diverse roles and continued success at the box office. He recently appeared in the Oscar-nominated Selma, a film centered around the civil rights marches that changed America. He won a 2015 Academy Award, alongside John Legend, for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture for “Glory” from the motion picture.
Common was seen on the big screen in the cast of Suicide Squad, Warner Bros.’ all-star action movie directed by David Ayer and featuring actors Jared Leto as the Joker, Will Smith as Deadshot, and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. He starred in John Wick: Chapter 2 (February 2017) as the movie’s chief villain, opposite Keanu Reeves. Prior to acting, Common rose to prominence as one of hiphop’s most poetic and respected lyricists. He has recorded ten studio albums and garnered multiple Grammys, including those for Best R&B Song (“Love of My Life (An Ode To HipHop),” 2003) and Best Rap Performance (“Southside,” 2008). His most recent album, Nobody’s Smiling, was released on Def Jam/Atrium Records and debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip Hop Chart. Common also offers an even younger generation a better understanding of self-respect and love, by utilizing the cultural relevance of hip-hop in the children’s books he has written. His first book, entitled The Mirror and Me, teaches lessons of life, the human spirit, and human nature. His follow-up book, I Like You but I Love Me, was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. In 2008 he released his third book, M.E. (Mixed Emotions). Common’s revealing memoir One Day It’ll All Make Sense made The New York Times Best Sellers list upon release. Common is a regularly requested guest speaker known to motivate and empower collegiate minds while speaking at prestigious universities across the country. In 2000, he launched his own philanthropic effort, The Common Ground Foundation, whose mission is dedicated to the empowerment and development of disadvantaged youth in urban communities by mentoring in three areas: character development, creative expression, and healthy living. Whether inspiring audiences through music, movies, television, books, or his foundation, Common continues to break new ground, and remains one of hip-hop’s most innovative, positive voices.
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FEATURE
ONE HUNDRED YEARS, ONE THOUSAND MEMORIES BY DAVE KOPPLIN Though 1917 was among the most injurious years in modern history – the year the U.S. entered World War I and the onset of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia – there was also plenty of good news that year: it was the very first year that jazz was commercially recorded and released on record. In early 1917, in New York City, the Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded the “Livery Stable Blues” and “The Dixie Jass Band One Step” on a single double-sided disc. That record became the first commercial jazz release and one of the first “million sellers” in recording history. Some credit its success with a wave of early jazz recordings that followed, helping to usher in the so-called “Jazz Age.” That year was also a landmark year for births among jazz musicians (see inset). Certainly among the most significant among those 1917 births were two musicians being honored this summer at the Hollywood Bowl: vocalist Ella Fitzgerald (April 25, 2017 – June 15, 1996) and trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Dizzy Gillespie (October 21, 2017 – January 6, 1993). Ella Fitzgerald, nicknamed “The First Lady of Song,” was among the greatest vocalists of the 20th century. Born in Virginia, she moved north with her family at age two. After her mother died when Ella was 15, she moved to Harlem to live with her aunt. It was not a good time for the young singer. She began ditching school, her grades dropped, she even worked as a lookout for a numbers runner, and eventually landed in a reform school. She escaped from the school and survived for a time singing on the streets of Harlem. That all changed in 1934 at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theater. Ella Fitzgerald performed on the legendary Amateur Night at the Apollo and won first prize her first time out. More importantly, jazz saxophonist and arranger Benny Carter was there that night and helped introduce her to people who would launch her career. She soon landed a gig with Chick Webb’s band, one of the hottest and
hardest-swinging bands in Harlem. When Webb died in 1939, she took over as bandleader renaming the group “Ella and Her Famous Orchestra.” She recorded several singles in those early years, one of which – “A Tisket, A Tasket” – was her first big hit. Keeping a big band together was a thankless task, and Ella left in 1942 to focus on her solo career. During the post-war years, while on tour with Dizzy Gillespie, Ella met bassist Ray Brown, whom she soon married. Brown had been working with jazz impresario Norman Granz, producer and founder of the very successful “Jazz at the Philharmonic” (JATP) series. Ella joined JATP and Granz soon began to manage her career. A string of memorable recordings and concert tours followed. It was also during this post-WW II period that Ella began to perfect a signature technique: scat singing, in which she would improvise melodies, much like a horn player might, using various vocal syllables. One of Granz’ JATP regulars, Louis Armstrong, with whom Ella toured and recorded, was considered among the greatest scat singers in jazz. She took it to the next level over the next several years while on tour with Gillespie, another accomplished scat singer. Ella soon joined them as the best of the best. If you get a chance to hear a recording of her singing “Air Mail Special,” from a live album at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival, you’ll get the idea.
Over the next decades, she toured incessantly, logging thousands of miles around the world, sometimes singing two shows a day. She played for three different American presidents, and memorably performed with a trio in the lounge of an inaugural jumbo jet flight from Los Angeles to Denver. She regularly was in the recording studio, releasing more than 200 albums in her career. She barely slowed down until very late in life. Her legacy is significant: she won 13 Grammys and sold over 40 million albums during her nearly 60-year career. She received honorary doctorates from Yale and Dartmouth, the National Medal of Freedom, the Order of Arts and Letters (France), the Kennedy Center Honors, the UCLA Medal for Musical Achievement, and the NAACP and Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement awards, among many others. From a musical point of view, she was one of the most articulate, ebullient, and hardest swinging singers jazz has ever known, plus she could take a song to a whole new level, even songs that were already considered standards. As lyricist Ira Gershwin once remarked: “I never knew how good our songs were until I heard Ella sing them.” Indeed, the five-LP Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook is a release that every jazz fan should have in their collection or on their playlist.
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John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie did it all: he sang, played trumpet, wrote tunes that would become jazz standards, played sideby-side with Charlie Parker in one of the most important and innovative jazz combos in history, and later went on to lead several important bands of his own. The youngest of nine, Gillespie was born into a musical family: his father James was an amateur bandleader in rural South Carolina, and encouraged his children to learn music. Dizzy first played piano, then taught himself trombone and trumpet. After hearing trumpeter Roy Eldridge on the radio, the young Gillespie decided he’d make jazz his life’s work. His family moved to Philadelphia and it wasn’t long before he had gigs in jazz orchestras there, including Teddy Hill’s band (his idol, Eldridge, was formerly a member), and in the band of Cab Calloway. Gillespie began writing big band arrangements under Calloway, and continued writing for the bands of Woody Herman and Jimmy Dorsey. He also freelanced regularly on trumpet with “Ella and Her Famous Orchestra.” (They also toured together.) Next, he joined the Earl Hines band, which included Charlie Parker among its members. It was while in Hines’ band that Gillespie wrote one of his most celebrated compositions, “A Night in Tunisia,” now a standard and among the earliest jazz tunes using Afro-Cuban rhythms and percussion. Gillespie would go on to write such Afro-Cuban jazz standards as “Manteca” and “Cubano Bop.” It wasn’t long before alto saxophonist Parker and Gillespie struck out on their own with a small combo that defined a new style of jazz, bebop. That band revolutionized jazz
and influenced generations. Wynton Marsalis said of Gillespie’s playing: “Nobody had ever even considered playing a trumpet that way, let alone had actually tried.” Jazz historian Mark Gridley points out that some of Gillespie’s signature trumpet licks can be heard on a myriad of later recordings by other trumpet players, as well as pianists, guitarists, saxophonists, and trombonists. As a composer, Gillespie ultimately penned a number of important bebop standards, including “Groovin’ High” and “Salt Peanuts,” and “Anthropology” (with Charlie Parker). Other important tunes of his include “Birk’s Works,” “Oop Bop Sh’bam,” “Johnny Come Lately,” and “Dizzy Atmosphere.” From the early 1950s on, Gillespie led important big bands of his own and wrote numerous arrangements for those bands, many of which are still performed by the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band. Those bands were also proving grounds for many of today’s movers and shakers in jazz, artists such as Roy Hargrove, Cyrus Chestnut, and Lewis Nash. Gillespie also served as inspiration and mentor to a host of other important jazz musicians, including Milt Jackson, John Coltrane, Jon Faddis, and many others. Like Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie casts a long shadow in the jazz world. He was an innovative trumpet player, creative composer, celebrated bandleader, and pioneer in the fusing of other styles of music with jazz. More than that, he became the “face” of jazz. Famously, Life magazine featured him prominently in a 1948 article on bebop (Parker was conspicuously absent from that article). Gillespie’s beret, goatee, and glasses became iconic, as did his trumpet, bent up at a
45-degree angle. The U.S. State Department sent Gillespie and his band on tours of Africa, the Middle East, and South America, one of the first formal acknowledgements of jazz as an American cultural contribution to the world. Like Ella, he played the White House and was showered with honors, including a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, and numerous honorary doctorates. 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. Jazz at the Bowl salutes these landmark performers on a special Wednesday-night tribute, July 19. For full details, visit HollywoodBowl.com or call 323.850.2000.
OTHER NOTABLE 1917 BIRTHS Jimmy Maxwell, trumpeter (JANUARY 9 – JULY 20, 2002)
Tadd Dameron, pianist and composer (FEBRUARY 21 – MARCH 8, 1965)
Curley Russell, bassist (MARCH 19 – 3 JULY 1986)
Mongo Santamaría, percussionist (APRIL 7 – FEBRUARY 1, 2003)
Helen Forrest, vocalist (APRIL 12 – JULY 11, 1999)
Lena Horne, actress and vocalist (JUNE 30 – MAY 9, 2010)
David Lambert, vocalist (JUNE 19 – OCTOBER 3, 1966)
*John F, Kennedy, 35th U.S. President (MAY 29 – NOVEMBER 22, 1963)
Les Elgart, trumpeter and bandleader (AUGUST 3 – JULY 29, 1995)
James Charles Heard, drummer (AUGUST 10 – SEPTEMBER 27, 1988)
Laurindo Almeida, guitarist (SEPTEMBER 2 – JULY 26, 1995)
Buddy Rich, drummer (SEPTEMBER 30 – APRIL 2, 1987)
Thelonious Monk, pianist, bandleader, and composer (OCTOBER 10 – FEBRUARY 17, 1982)
Sylvia Syms, vocalist (DECEMBER 2, 1917 – MAY 10, 1992) * Among JFK’s last acts as President was to grant a pardon to jazz pianist and LA native Hampton Hawes, who had been serving a 10-year term in a Texas prison on drug charges.
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FEATURE
REMEMBERING AL JARREAU BY SCOTT YANOW Al Jarreau, who passed away this past February 12 at the age of 76, was one of the most beloved of all singers, and a perennial favorite at the Playboy Jazz Festival. Jarreau had the rare talent of crossing over musical boundaries and excelling at every genre in which he performed.
Miller first met Jarreau in 1978. “At the time, I was in David Sanborn’s band and we were the opening act for Al, who was already considered a No. 1 pop artist. I was 19, so I knew Al my entire adult life. Al Jarreau, who was never constrained by styles, always represented freedom. He had records on the pop, jazz, and R & B charts. If one listens to his music through the years, then you
“HIS MUSIC WAS A TRUE REFLECTION OF HIS PERSONALITY: WARM, VERY GIVING, AND OFTEN QUITE FUNNY.” —MARCUS MILLER Born in Milwaukee, Al Jarreau first gained experience singing jazz in the San Francisco Bay area in the mid-to-late 1960s, often using a teenage pianist named George Duke. In 1975 he was signed to Warner Bros. Records and had his first hit album with We Got By. Success followed success during the next 40 years as Al Jarreau became a household name. Among Jarreau’s successes were his 1981 hit “We’re In This Love Together” from his album Breakin’ Away, his singing of the theme song from the late 1980s television series Moonlighting, the single “After All,” and his classic vocal version of “Take Five.” In his career he won seven Grammys and was nominated for many more. Jarreau was also an especially inventive scat-singer and he gave one the impression that he could sing anything while always having a smile in his voice. A legendary electric bassist, producer, and bandleader in the jazz and funk worlds, Marcus Miller, is paying tribute to Al Jarreau at this year’s Playboy Jazz Festival. Like Jarreau, Miller is famous for performing a wide variety of music while always sounding like himself. While his first instrument was the clarinet (and he excels at playing bass clarinet with his group), he switched to bass as a teenager in order to play soul music. He has since been involved in a countless number of performances and recordings, with everyone from Aretha Franklin to McCoy Tyner, including particularly important associations with Miles Davis and Luther Vandross.
basically know Al. His music was a true reflection of his personality: warm, very giving, and often quite funny.” Marcus Miller played with Jarreau in many situations through the years, including the 1993 album Tenderness. “He asked me to be a part of Tenderness, so I put together the group which included Steve Gadd, Eric Gale, Joe Sample, David Sanborn, Paulinho Da Costa, and Kathleen Battle who sang ‘My Favorite Things’ with Al. We recorded it in front of a small audience in a studio since Al was such a great live
performer. More recently, after George Duke passed on, we got together and did a tribute album for George. We also often played together at the International Day of Jazz, which takes place in a different city each year on April 30. For that, we performed in Paris, Istanbul, and last year at the White House.” Miller looks forward to paying tribute to his long-time friend. “I’ll be using my regular band, which includes Marquis Hill who won the Thelonious Monk trumpet competition a few years ago. We will also be featuring special guest vocalist Rahsaan Patterson, who is great and loves Al Jarreau. We’ll play a variety of Al’s songs, including of course ‘Take Five.’ “I have appeared at Playboy six or seven times through the years and love the atmosphere. The view from the stage at the Hollywood Bowl is as beautiful as the view from the audience. People go to Playboy to have a good time and we hope to recreate the joyous vibe that Al Jarreau used to create every time he hit the stage.” Scott Yanow, veteran jazz journalist/historian, is the author of over 800 liner notes and 11 books, including The Great Jazz Guitarists, The Jazz Singers, and Jazz On Film.
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FEATURE
CELEBRATING BOBBY HUTCHERSON BY KIRK SILSBEE At the time of his passing last August, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson was hailed internationally as an innovator and the most distinctive voice on his instrument to emerge in the 1960s. He crafted a style that was wholly personal and yet versatile in its flexibility. It’s time to look at his Pasadena origins. Students and fans of jazz history like to consider the work of significant figures in relation to their predecessors: Lester Young’s floating tenor saxophone inspired bebop avatar Charlie Parker’s alto flights and also founded a whole school of swing-rooted modern tenors; without swing era trumpet master Roy Eldridge, there would be no Dizzy Gillespie; and Art Tatum’s arpeggio-based piano was the fertile soil from which Oscar Peterson’s brilliant improvisations sprang. But even the most studious jazz observers come up short when they try to follow vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson’s stylistic trail. None of the landmark mallet masters who preceded him – Red Norvo, Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, Terry Gibbs, and Don Elliott – can be discerned in Hutcherson’s singular style. Hutcherson (1941-2016) could hammer out single-note melodies in the middle of a collectively improvised maelstrom that added an almost enchanted focus to music
Charlie Parker’s honor and home to working players like guitarist Dave Koonse (father of guitarist-for-all-seasons Larry Koonse) and bassist Putter Smith, but young musicians were quietly developing and trying their wings: saxophonists Pete and Richard Aplanalp, Rene Pineda, and Jack Fulks, drummers Mike Romero and Jim Keltner, and bassists Herbie Lewis (soon to join Les McCann’s trio), Lewis Large, Jack Bruce, and the exceptionally gifted Albert Stinson. “Bobby was such an amazing musician,” recounts Keltner, the celebrated rock drummer, “we just followed him around.” That inevitably led to the Dragonwyck, a coffeehouse on Pasadena’s Colorado Boulevard. A striking alto saxophonist from Memphis who led the house band was studying the music of Bartók at USC: Charles Lloyd. “Bobby used to come to the Dragonwyck,” Lloyd says, “and then he became a part of the band. He had big ears; Bobby could hear around corners.” Keltner adds: “It was the spot for young musicians to see and hear something they’d never seen before – something you could carry with you the rest of your life.” While Lloyd acknowledges Hutcherson’s mature playing as one-of-a-kind, he discerned some influence. “We all stand on someone’s shoulders,” he advises, “and Bobby listened to Milt Jackson very closely
HIS QUICKSILVER ATTACK COULD DEFY THE EYES OF HIS AUDIENCES AND LEAVE HIS BAND MATES GASPING TO KEEP UP. that bordered on chaos. He could go headto-head with a saxophone or piano at the most withering of tempos, and he could also discreetly play color-rich voicings of the chord changes of a tune behind soloists. His quicksilver attack could defy the eyes of his audiences and leave his band mates gasping to keep up. Hutcherson’s playing was full of surprises – to his fellow musicians and well as listeners. Within jazz’s SoCal profile of the 1950s, Pasadena was a sleepy enclave. It may have been the scene for an occasional party in
in those days.” The Modern Jazz Quartet vibraphonist alternated between the punctilious chamber jazz of that group and the gospel-soul of his own bands. A note or chord at the end of a phrase that rang in the air for seconds was a Jackson trademark, and it was part of Hutcherson’s syntax as well. Most of the young jazz players in SoCal were tuned in to the opening of form and extended improvisations heard in the bands of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. “Some guys stay asleep,” Lloyd cautions, “but we
all listened to Trane. If you were alive and aware, you tried to get a piece of it.” Drummer Donald Dean left Kansas City for L.A. in 1961 and quickly heard Hutcherson. “He was a fantastic talent,” Dean confirms. “For such a great player, we all knew he was gonna get there.” Bassist Henry Franklin, who would play with Hutcherson in the ’70s, says, “His voicings were unbelievable, and I loved his energy. He’d play a song so fast that it was the fastest music I ever played in my life. Then he’d turn around and play a ballad slower than slow. That’s what made him one of the greatest vibraphonists of all time.” “Bobby was an explorer,” Keltner declares. “Always searching, reaching and a sweetheart of a man, and he never changed.” Kirk Silsbee is a veteran Los Angeles arts journalist who specializes in jazz. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles magazine, Downbeat, Downtown News, Jewish Journal, MOJO, and elsewhere.
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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 text can be placed to the Customer Courtesy Line using the keyword BOWL to 69050. 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.
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