Playboy Jazz Festival

Playboy Jazz Festival 2007

The Playboy Jazz Festival is a 1959 music festival that was previously held in Chicago and is now held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles . In addition to jazz , other styles of music are presented at the festival , such as African music (first King Sunny Adé 1988, 1998) and Gospel - Andre Crouch 1986, Take 6 1989), Zydeco music ( Buckwheat Zydeco 1989), hip-hop (DaKAH 2005) , Soul ( Isaac Hayes et al.), Rhythm & Blues ( Sharon Jones with the Dap Kings 2009) or Cuban music ( Cachao 1995, Chucho Valdés with Irakere 1996, Los Van Van 1997).

history

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner , a jazz fan, had published the Playboy Jazz Poll in his magazine from 1957 and held a first festival on August 7, 8 and 9, 1959 at Chicago Stadium , which attracted 68,000 visitors. The orchestras of Stan Kenton , Count Basie (whose concert on August 8 was also to celebrate his 25th anniversary as band leader) and Duke Ellington , the Dave Brubeck Quartet and the quintet of Dizzy Gillespie performed . In addition, Sonny Rollins , June Christy , Chris Connor , Jack Teagarden , Nina Simone , Dakota Staton , Jimmy Giuffre , JJ Johnson , Kai Winding , Coleman Hawkins , Red Nichols , George Brunis , the Austin High Gang , Earl Bostic , Oscar Peterson , the Dukes of Dixieland , Joe Williams , Jimmy Rushing , The Four Freshmen , Lambert, Hendricks & Ross (with Basie, as on July 2nd at the Newport Jazz Festival ), Ahmad Jamal , Don Elliott , David Allyn , The Signatures, Mort Sahl and Bobby Darin . The Miles Davis Quintet performed on the first night and the Louis Armstrong All Stars and Ella Fitzgerald on the last night . Hefner held a similar concert in Los Angeles. Regular festivals took place at the Hollywood Bowl from 1979. It takes place on two days on Father's Day weekend in mid-June. Since its inception, it has attracted tens of thousands of viewers (e.g. 36,000 in 1985).

The executive producer of the Playboy Jazz Festival was the company's vice president and chairman of Playboy production company Alta Loma Entertainment, Dick Rosenzweig, who died in 2020.

In 1981 Helen Humes had her last appearance here with the Count Basie Orchestra and Joe Williams . Count Basie performed at the first festival in 1959, 1979, 1981 and 1983, and on the occasion of his death, the 1984 festival was dedicated to him (1984 was also remembered for Willie Bobo ). In 1984 Bill Cosby was the Emcee and Ray Charles and Mel Tormé performed with the Shorty Rogers Reunion Band , among others . In 1985 Miles Davis performed (as in 1959) and a jazz competition for young people took place (Hennessy Jazz Search Competition). The 1986 concert was dedicated to the late Benny Goodman , who appeared at the festival in 1979 and 1980, and in 1987 Lionel Hampton was honored. Dianne Reeves performed as part of Sing Sing Sing in 1985 and solo in 1989. In 1996 there was a tribute to Dizzy Gillespie with the Lalo Schifrin Big Band (Gillespiana Suite) and in 1999 to the Adderley brothers. In 2002 Pete Fountain performed with the New Orleans Preservation Hall Orchestra.

Next came in part to the Ella Fitzgerald (1959), Terry Gibbs Dream Band (1989), Herbie Hancock , Chick Corea (1990 with its electrical and Akoustic Band), Pat Metheny , Dave Holland , Jay McShann (1990 with Joe Williams) Béla Fleck and the Flecktones , The Manhattan Transfer (1992), Mario Bauzá , Grover Washington , McCoy Tyner , Joe Zawinul , Al Jarreau (1993, 1994, 1998, and 2003 with Dave Brubeck Take Five ), Patti Austin , Hubert Laws , Marcus Miller , David Sanborn , Tony Bennett (1996), JJ Johnson (1996), Etta James , Bruce Hornsby , George Benson (1997), Wynton Marsalis (1998), Nancy Wilson , Lou Rawls , Michael Brecker , Lizz Wright (2003), Renee Olstead , Hugh Masekela , the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra (2005 with Dee Dee Bridgewater ), Jamie Cullum (2006), Stanley Clarke / George Duke (2006), Terence Blanchard (2007), Angélique Kidjo , Buddy Guy , Tower of Power (2008), Esperanza Spalding (2009), Alfredo Rodriguez .

In 1991 a festival of the same name was held in Japan for the first time as an offshoot. From 1992 there were nationwide radio broadcasts of the festival. In 1994 the festival joined a US tour.

Current status

Saxophonist Michael Lington and Herbie Hancock (right) at the 2008 festival

In 2010 the vocal group Naturally 7 , Trombone Shorty and ukulele musician Jake Shimabukuro performed .

In 2011 Terence Blanchard performed with The Roots, Dianne Reeves, the Eddie Palmieri Salsa Orchestra, SFJazz Collective (with music by Stevie Wonder ), Fourplay ( Bob James , Nathan East , Chuck Loeb , Harvey Mason ), Bill Cosby's Cos of Good Music (with Geri Allen ), Ambrose Akinmusire , Naturally 7, Terence Blanchard, Geri Allen with her Timeline Band, John Scofield and Robben Ford , Carlos Varela , Bill Cunliffe and the Resonance Big Band, Harmony 3 with Ronnie Laws , Walter Beasley and Stanley Jordan and Tributes to New Orleans and James Brown (with African musicians and Pee Wee Ellis ). Bill Cosby was an emcee.

In 2012 the Christian McBride Big Band, Ozomatli , Sheila E. , Boney James , Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Soul Rebels, Terri Lyne Carrington 's Mosaic Project, Keb 'Mo' , the Ramsey Lewis Electric Band, the Preservation Hall Orchestra, Spectrum Road with Cindy Blackman and John Medeski , Robin Thicke and The Cookers. Emcee was again Bill Cosby, who also put together his Cos of Good Music.

2013 performed on George Duke with Jeffrey Osborne , Naturally 7 with Herbie Hancock, Angelique Kidjo with Hugh Masekela, the Poncho Sanchez Big Band (with a Latin American John Coltrane tribute) with James Carter , the Big Phat Band of Gordon Goodwin with Lee Ritenour , Gregory Porter , Robert Glasper Experiment, the Grace Kelly Quintet with Phil Woods, and the Pedrito Martinez Group.

Discographic notes

Count Basie Orchestra: Count Basie in person, with Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Natural Organic 7002 (Playboy Jazz Festival 1959)
Playboy Jazz All Stars Vol.3, Playboy PB1959B, in it from the Playboy Jazz Festival 1959:
- Oscar Peterson The Golden Striker , Ella Fitzgerald How High The Moon (with Lou Levy , Herb Ellis , Wilfred Middlebrooks , Gus Johnson ), Jimmy Giuffre Mighty Cool Penthouse (with Hank Jones , Ed Thigpen , Ray Brown )
In Performance at the Playboy Jazz Festival, Elektra Musician 60298-1-1, 1984, 2 LP (Live at the Hollywood Bowl June 19 and 20, 1982, with Art Farmer / Benny Golson Jazztet and Nancy Wilson, The Great Quartet (McCoy Tyner, Freddie Hubbard, Ron Carter, Elvin Jones), Pieces of a Dream ( James Lloyd , Cedric Napoleon Bass, Curtis Harmon drums), Dexter Gordon Quintet (with Woody Shaw), Weather Report (Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul) and Manhattan Transfer (Birdland), Grover Washington)
Coleman Hawkins-Hawk, Shoestring SS107 (with recordings from the Playboy Jazz Festival 1959, including Body and Soul, with Eddie Higgins , Bob Cranshaw , Walter Perkins ), the recordings have also appeared on Verve and Spotlight
Miles Davis Unissued at Birdland 1952-1959 , RLR Records 88666, in So What , Live Chicago Stadium August 7, 1959 (with Cannonball Adderley , Wynton Kelly , Paul Chambers , Jimmy Cobb )
DVDs of the Playboy Jazz Festivals 1982, 1984, 1993, 1994 and the Playboy Jazz Festival in Japan 1991 also exist