11th Playboy Festival Due June 17-18; McRae Takes Grammy Nomination in Stride

Tickets for the 11th annual Playboy Jazz Festival, to be held June 17-18 at the Hollywood Bowl, are now available by mail. Order forms for tickets, which range in price from $10 to $55, may be obtained by phone; call the Playboy Jazz Festival Hotline at (213) 450-9040.

“Once the forms are returned (to the Hollywood Bowl box office, which handles advance sales), tickets are apportioned on a first-come, first served-basis,” said Bill Farley, director of communications for Playboy Enterprises, sponsor of the festival, which is produced by Festival Productions Inc.

Tickets will go on sale at Ticketron April 1.

The festival’s lineup will be released Feb. 15. Other than stating that Bill Cosby will once again be the master of ceremonies, Farley declined to discuss other performers because, he said, “many of the artists have not been confirmed.”

GRAMMY BEAT: Although singer Carmen McRae has been nominated for two Grammys this year, she says she’s not really that concerned whether she wins. Having received four prior nominations but no Grammy, McRae laughed in her trademark dusky, resonant voice and said, “I have just about given up on it. I used to get excited, but now I have other things to get excited about.”

Still, her nominations for best jazz performances by a female vocalist--”Fine and Mellow” (Concord Jazz)--and by a duo or group--”The Carmen McRae-Betty Carter Duets” (Great American Music Hall)--bring her a degree of delight.

“Oh, it’s nice to be nominated. I’m not knocking it, but if I win, they can mail me the trophy,” she quipped.

“Fine and Mellow,” a set of blues and standards recorded at Birdland West in Long Beach last year, featured a blues-oriented cast--organist Jack McDuff, saxophonist Red Holloway, guitarist Phil Upchurch, bassist John Clayton and drummer Paul Humphrey. It was a new and pleasurable experience for the singer.

“I had never worked with that type of band before,” she said, “and those guys knocked me out. Red is very underrated, and while I’m not really into organ that much, Jack McDuff can play for me anytime.”

The collaboration with Carter, recorded live in San Francisco with a backing trio of Eric Gunnison (piano), Jim Hughart (bass) and Winard Harper (drums), was McRae’s idea. “(Betty and I are) such different (stylists) that I thought it would be a novelty and something that people would enjoy listening to,” the 66-year-old singer said.

In the female jazz vocal category, McRae is vying with Rickie Lee Jones (“Autumn Leaves,” from Rob Wasserman’s “Duets”/MCA), Betty Carter (“Look What I Got!”/Verve), Lena Horne (“The Men in My Life”/Three Cherries) and Peggy Lee (“Miss Peggy Lee Sings the Blues”/Musicmasters).

In the jazz duo or group division, McRae and Carter compete against Lena Horne and Joe Williams (“I Won’t Leave You Again” from Horne’s “The Men in My Life”), Jackie Cain and Roy Kral (“One More Rose”/Audiophile), Take Six (“Spread Love”/Reprise), and the Cunninghams (“Strings ‘N’ Swing ‘I Remember Bird’ “/Discovery). McRae candidly says she hasn’t even kept track of her competition. “I just can’t go through that anymore,” she said.

McRae, who was first heard with Benny Carter and Mercer Ellington in the ‘40s and has been working as a single since the mid-’50s, travels intermittently from her Los Angeles base. This week, she and her trio--Gunnison, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Mark Pulice--work Yoshi’s in Oakland. Then, after a week’s rest, she’s off to Chicago, where she plays George’s. The off-and-on engagement schedule suits her.

“I love to work but I hate flying,” she said. “If only I could rub a jar and get a genie that would get me to a job in a minute. Touring takes all your strength.”

However, she will be glad to go to Europe this May. “There’ll be a week or two in Paris, and some other jobs that are not the ‘same old, same old,’ ” she said. “It’s good to see how the other half lives.”

AROUND TOWN: Drummer Dick Berk has revamped his Jazz Adoption Agency. The mainstream band, which utilizes the talents of top young Southland jazz talents, will now feature two ace trombonists--Andy Martin and Mike Fahn--in the frontline, instead of the brass-and-reeds meld the leader has used in the past.

“I wanted to get a different sound,” said Berk, “and maybe it will appeal to the public. We worked Alfonse’s a month ago and it sounded great.” Fahn and Martin, both of whom have appeared and recorded with past versions of the Adoption Agency, have worked with Louis Bellson, John Patitucci, Kim Richmond, Charlie Shoemake and Les Brown, collectively.

Berk is appearing tonight at Alfonse’s with his trio--pianist Tad Weed and bassist Jeff Littleton--along with New York-based baritone saxophonist Nick Brignola. On Sunday, he leads the new Adoption Agency, plus Brignola, in a free concert at the Wadsworth Theatre at 7 p.m. Monday, the latter group will go into Sage and Sound, the Hollywood recording studio owned by former trumpeter James Mooney, to record a tribute to Sonny Rollins for Discovery Records. The band and Brignola can be heard on the recently released “Lover” (also on Discovery).

The day after the recording session, Berk--a San Francisco native who was Billie Holiday’s last drummer in 1958-59 and who’s also played with Charles Mingus, Cal Tjader and altoist Richie Cole, among others--travels to Upstate New York to play a few dates with Brignola.

“Then I plan to go to New York (City) and hang out,” he said. “I haven’t been there since 1975, and and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m going to try to make one trip a year. I feel I need that exposure.”

RECENT REISSUE: Jackie McLean’s “New Soil” (Blue Note LP/CD), recorded in 1959, is the kind of rollicking, inventive stuff that represented the best of post-bop mainstream. The altoist catches fire on both “Hip Strut,” a smoking, stop-and-go tune, and “Greasy,” a modern boogie blues that quickly changes to swing. Trumpeter Donald Byrd flies on the speedy “Minor Apprehension,” while pianist Walter Davis adds a warm touch with his attractive “Sweet Cakes.”