JAZZ REVIEW : Playboy Jazz: Enjoyable Celebration of Sun, Good Music

Bill Cosby has the key to the Playboy Jazz Festival: “Let the people enjoy the celebration,” said the actor-comedian and longtime jazz fan, taking his 15th turn as host of the event.

And on Sunday, at the climax performance of the Hollywood Bowl jazz jubilee, Cosby was right on target. Enjoyment--widespread enjoyment--was the best way to describe the 10 hours of sunshine, picnicking and good sounds.

It’s no mystery, of course, that this festival has as much to do with kick-off-the-summer, get-down-and-groove partying as it does with good music. But Sunday’s program was an unusually well-put-together package, adeptly balancing commercial sounds and dance rhythms with high-level jazz improvisations and--in one case, in particular--some envelope-stretching performances.

Perhaps appropriately, the musical high point was generated by Cosby with a carefully assembled group of all-stars identified as the Cos of Good Music. By placing a powerful lineup of saxophonists--veterans Stanley Turrentine and Charles McPherson, and young hotshots James Carter and Craig Handy--in front of the steaming rhythm section of pianist Benny Green, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Greg Hutchinson, Cosby set the bait for a classic saxophone encounter.

And it worked. Carter, the wildest of today’s young radicals, tore the place apart, ripping his way all over his tenor, double-tonguing, screeching and honking, while simultaneously managing to play some impressive, rapid-fire straight-ahead lines. Altoist McPherson, always the fastest of the fast, responded by contextualizing Carter’s effusive outpourings, playing with a blend of style, substance and invention that was the best single musical aspect of the festival.

Two other highlights featured a pair of remarkable jazz perennials. Gerald Wilson proved there still is plenty of life in the large jazz ensemble with a time-stopping revival of Count Basie and Jimmie Lunceford. And Cachao, one of the key figures in the mingling of jazz and Cuban music, urged his 12-piece ensemble (with special guest, actor Andy Garcia) through a set of infectiously rhythmic numbers that allowed his horn players to stretch out while the crowd was busily dancing through the aisles. The inclusion of Wilson and Cachao in the concert is the kind of programming decision that makes Playboy something more than just another jazz festival.

Herbie Hancock, given the unenviable task of following Cachao, happily chose to remind us that a superb creative jazz mind is still active beneath his more visible activities as television host, pop musician and around-the-town celebrity. Pianist Geri Allen’s program, however, was surprisingly low-key--especially for an artist who has performed with such panache on recent recordings--with a set notable primarily for the sterling bass playing of Ron Carter.

Hiroshima, the Brecker Brothers and Grover Washington Jr. offered few surprises. Once past the plangent sound of the koto, Hiroshima’s contribution had more to do with theatrics than music. The Breckers still can’t seem to decide if they want to be rock or jazz musicians (although each demonstrated a thorough capability for world-class improvising), and Washington’s easygoing night music kept making one wonder why so talented a player doesn’t do more to challenge his obvious skills.