Stars Lead a Jam Session at the Bowl

The Lexus Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl concerts finally began to come into focus Wednesday night in the third of eight concerts in the series. The lineup of talent, the pacing of the show and the quality of the performances were all first-rate. Perhaps most important, John Clayton, creative director and the series’ key figure, ran the performance with easygoing but convincing control. Whether leading the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra or pulling the disparate elements of the concert together, he was more relaxed and more effective than he has been in the earlier programs--a major plus for the series’ future.

A good part of the evening’s high quality traced to the choice of headline talent: violinist Regina Carter, singer Dee Dee Bridgewater and the trio of veteran bassist Ray Brown.

Carter has burst into visibility in the past few months, and the quality of her playing made it easy to see why. Starting off with a loping, swing-driven romp through “Lady Be Good,” she quickly switched gears with a passionate rendering of “Don’t Explain,” in which a portion of melody emerged via a sliding sequence of high string harmonics. Underlying everything Carter played was a rhythmic drive, an innate and utterly irresistible sense of swing.

Like Carter, Bridgewater is also a performer with the capacity to generate a sense of propulsion from note one. And she was in rare form in the opening half of the program, backed with scintillating force by the Brown trio. Bridgewater’s tunes ranged from an insinuating take on “Bye Bye Blackbird” to a buoyant, floating interpretation of “Wave.” And on an intriguingly arranged “Cherokee,” she cranked up her scat singing to fever pitch, knocking out phrases with the hard-driving insistence of a tenor saxophonist at a jam session.

The Brown trio, with Geoff Keezer on piano and Kareem Riggins on bass, was elegant as usual, kicking off its set with an unexpected but thoughtfully done version of “America the Beautiful” and closing with typically hard-driving blues. The chemistry between Brown and Keezer was a joy to hear, a rewarding interaction between the bassist’s experienced mastery and the pianist’s youthful enthusiasm.

Clayton led the orchestra through a set of brisk arrangements in the second half, prominently showcasing the ensemble’s sterling soloists--among them tenor saxophonists Ricky Woodard and Charles Owens, alto saxophonist Jeff Clayton, trombonists Isaac Smith and George Bohannon, pianist Bill Cunliffe and trumpeters Clay Jenkins, Oscar Brashear and Bobby Rodriguez. A set of forceful collaborations between the orchestra and the evening’s guests followed, climaxed by an all-join-in interpretation of “Centerpiece”--chosen as a tribute to the recently deceased trumpeter Harry “Sweets” Edison, and a fitting closer for a jazz concert that delivered on all counts.