Bennett Makes Crossover to Headline Playboy Festival

The lineup for the 18th annual Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl on June 15 and 16 has some new faces, old faces, a few surprises and one unanswered question. The program, announced today, includes such major jazz names as trombonist J.J. Johnson, saxophonists Wayne Shorter and Joe Lovano, bassist Stanley Clarke, singers Tony Bennett, Dianne Reeves and Gladys Knight and contemporary groups Fourplay and the Yellowjackets.

The most significant new face is Saturday headliner Bennett, who has crossed genres recently, becoming far more closely associated with jazz than in his early pop years. Knight, Lovano, Fourplay, Eddie Palmieri, Everette Harp and Hugh Masekela are also making their first Playboy appearances.

Johnson, one of the founding voices of be-bop and the virtual inventor of modern jazz trombone playing, is a veteran of past festivals, but has rarely been heard locally in the last decade. Shorter, Clarke, Reeves, the Yellowjackets and T.S. Monk are all making return appearances.

But one of the festival’s anticipated high points, a rare appearance by composer-pianist Jesus “Chucho” Valdes with Irakere, Cuba’s foremost Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble, is perhaps in jeopardy. According to Richard Rosenzweig , Playboy Jazz Festival president, a request to the State Department for permission to allow the group to perform will be subject to sanctions resulting from the recent shooting down of civilian planes by Cuban military jets.

“We’re still hoping to have

them,” said Rosenzweig. “And we’re going to stay with it. But we’ll just have to see what comes out of D.C. in the next few weeks.”

The programs follow the familiar Playboy Festival fashion of attempting to provide a little something for everyone. The Stray Cats’ Brian Setzer appears with his “17-Piece Rockin’ Big Band.” And Bill Cosby, who will again host the festival, has again assembled an all-star jazz team (with Stanley Turrentine, Nat Adderley and Lou Donaldson) for his “Cos of Good Music.” Lalo Schifrin’s large ensemble (featuring Jon Faddis and Tom Scott) performs his “Gillespiana,” and Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Ambassadors (with Bill Cunliffe and Tim Warfield Jr.) also are scheduled to perform.

Other festival highlights include the world premiere of a musical version of Maya Angelou’s poem “On the Pulse of Morning” (written for President Clinton’s 1992 inauguration), with music composed by Russell Ferrante. The work will be performed by Ferrante’s group, the Yellowjackets, with the Crenshaw High School Elite Choir and singer Lori Perry.

Jazz archivist Mark Cantor once again presents a free program of jazz-related documentary films and videos in a pre-festival screening at the Pacific Design Center, June 13 at 7:30.

Other free events associated with the festival include the following community concerts: Bill Berry L.A. Big Band with Corky Hale on May 5 at 2 p.m. at the Beverly Hills Civic Plaza; the Multi-School Jazz Band on May 10 at 11 a.m. at the Watts Senior Citizens Center; Harold Land and Carmen Bradford on May 17 at 5:30 p.m. at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza/Magic Johnson Theatres; Ronnie Laws, Billy Mitchell, Huayucaltia and others May 25-27 at the Old Pasadena Summer Fest in Central Park, Pasadena; Pancho Sanchez, Dale Fielder and others June 9 at 1:30 p.m. at Santa Monica College’s Corsair Field. For information regarding all Playboy Jazz Festival events, call the Festival Hotline at (310) 449-4070.