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Wednesday’s season-opening Lexus Jazz at the Bowl program was a defining exhibition of what to expect from the balance of the summer’s programs. And an evaluation depends upon whether one prefers to see a glass as mostly full or slightly empty.

Given the predictable stresses of any opening night, compounded by the distractions of the management changes that have taken place at the Los Angeles Philharmonic since last season, the performance of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra--the centerpiece element in the series--has to be considered first-rate. Not quite up to the level of which they are capable, the members are finally beginning to achieve a sense of ensemble identity that was not always present in the past. Call it mostly full.

John Clayton--co-leader of the orchestra (with saxophone-playing brother Jeff and drummer Jeff Hamilton)--chose to devote most of the program’s lengthy first half to a kind of showcase for the ensemble and its gifted soloists.

The highlights came in a nonstop rush. There was a hard-romping “I Be Serious” led by the stirring trumpet of the veteran Snooky Young and a brightly spirited trombone section performing “On the Sunny Side of the Street.” There was a Louis Armstrong tribute via trumpeter Oscar Brashear’s Satchmo-esque delineation of “Sleepy Time Down South” and a spotlight number featuring the precise but hard-swinging brush work of Hamilton on the appropriately titled Clayton original “Brush This.”

The Clayton brothers stepped forward to perform Johnny Mandel’s “Emily” in what has become a trademark ballad duet for them, and the entire ensemble starred in “Lil’ Ol’ Groovemaker,” a tribute to Count Basie and its composer, Quincy Jones.

The nominal headliner for the evening, singer Cassandra Wilson, finally arrived near the end of the opening half to perform three numbers with the orchestra. As it turned out, two of them were her most effective offerings of the evening, largely due to the stunning orchestral accompaniments arranged by Clayton. “Blue in Green” and “ESP,” drawn from her recent Miles Davis tribute album, framed her voice in settings reminiscent of the Davis-Gil Evans collaborations.

A hard-swinging “Miss Brown to You” was less effective, its spirited buoyancy out of sync with Wilson’s laid-back, even morose, performance tendencies.

Her own set, which opened the second half, revealed how beneficial the orchestra’s accompaniment had been. Wilson’s own ensemble was vitally supportive, sometimes brilliantly so. But her monochromatic tone and static declamation rarely allowed any sense of energy or spirit to break through her shell of manner and attitude. (“Time After Time” and “Run the VooDoo Down” were exceptions.) Fortunately, she was rejoined by the Clayton-Hamilton forces for a final wrap-up in which the orchestra leader’s imaginative arrangement of “Seven Steps to Heaven” triggered a bit more performing enthusiasm from Wilson.

But slightly empty has to be the best description for her participation in an otherwise impressive opening night.