At the Bowl, a Summer of New Ideas

Despite the still cloudy situation regarding Willem Wijnbergen’s departure from the post of L.A. Philharmonic general manager, the enhanced role of jazz and world music in the Hollywood Bowl’s programming appears to remain secure. At least for this season.

The eight jazz and six world music events will continue as scheduled, featuring jazz artists ranging from Diana Krall and Ray Brown to Shirley Horn and Dr. John, and a range of world music acts that includes Carlinhos Brown (see story, Page 12), Oumou Sangare, Musafir and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Equally important, the new-ideas approach to programming that arrived when John Clayton was appointed as the Philharmonic’s artistic director of jazz and Tom Schnabel took over as world music producer-consultant is still very much in place. Faced with the hemorrhaging of attendance that had begun to leave rows of empty seats at midweek Bowl concerts in recent years, Clayton and Schnabel each decided that a different perspective was in order.

Schnabel, a longtime world music expert, realized that despite enormous potential interest, there were few world acts well-known enough to fill the 17,000-plus-seat venue. He decided instead to create thematic programs focused around generic types of music. Saturday and Sunday’s opening program, for example, features Brazilian music. An evening of tango follows on July 11, followed by an African-themed evening on July 25.

“What I wanted to do,” Schnabel says, “was to let people know that coming to a world music event at the Bowl was going to be an entertaining and informative evening, even if the names of the performers were unfamiliar.”

Clayton has taken a somewhat different tack. By placing the talented and versatile Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra in the position of resident jazz ensemble at the Hollywood Bowl, he is attempting to create a familiar musical ambience that will, presumably, provide the sort of familiar continuity that the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra offers for its programs.

Toward that end, the Clayton-Hamilton ensemble will prominently support each starring act. And it will be the centerpiece for the programs, sometimes in a showcase position, sometimes as accompanists for the evening’s headliners.

The concerts, Clayton notes, “will be one-of-a-kind programs that you won’t hear again, anywhere else. We’re not going to invite, say, a Diana Krall or a Dee Dee Bridgewater, and have them just do their thing. Instead, we’re going to incorporate what they do with the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra . . . with new pieces and/or arrangements to feature them with the orchestra, as well as in smaller settings.”

BE THERE

World Festival ‘99: Saturday-Sunday, July 11, 25, Aug. 15, 22 and Sept. 12. Tickets: $3-$75; Lexus Jazz at the Bowl: July 7, 21, Aug. 4, 11, 18, 25, Sept. 8, 15. Tickets: $5-$35. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., (323) 850-2000.