CRITIC’S PICKS

Why limit yourself? You can cover all the jazz bases at this year’s Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl on June 15 and 16. Included are singers (Tony Bennett, Dianne Reeves, Gladys Knight); mainstreamers (J.J. Johnson, Nat Adderley, Lou Donaldson, Stanley Turrentine, Joe Lovano, McCoy Tyner); contemporary artists (Fourplay, the Yellowjackets, Wayne Shorter, Stanley Clarke); big bands (Lalo Schifrin’s “Gillespiana” with trumpeter John Faddis, the Brian Setzer Orchestra); and Latin sounds (Eddie Palmieri).

Other outdoor concert events worth hearing include the keyboard extravaganza with Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and Gonzalo Rubalcaba at the Hollywood Bowl on Aug. 14 and Jazz Pilgrimage ’96 on Aug. 3, when young stars Javon Jackson, Greg Osby, Tim Hagans, Kevin Hays and others venture from the East Coast to play the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre.

Must-sees in the clubs include drummer Jack DeJohnette at Catalina Bar & Grill (June 11-16) and the Jazz Hall in Santa Barbara (June 17), trumpeter Tom Harrell at Catalina (July 30 to Aug. 4), Art Farmer at the Jazz Bakery (June 26-30), pianist-composer Horace Silver at Catalina (June 18-23) and saxophonist James Carter, also at Catalina (Aug. 6-12).