A planet’s worth of sounds from Playboy

Oregon natives like to tell visitors, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes.” A similar admonition applied Sunday at the second day of the Playboy Jazz Festival: If you didn’t like a particular group, there was a good chance that in a few minutes, the next one, or the one after, would be more to your liking.

Variety, in other words, was the theme of the day at the Hollywood Bowl. Variety embracing Brazilian music and funk, African rhythms and songs from the Great American Songbook, cutting-edge contemporary jazz and simmering Latin rhythms.

It’s a theme that recurs frequently in the jazz festivals of the 21st century, which reach out to embrace every tendril of the music, no matter how far they may extend from the fundamental roots.

After a spirited opening by the Hamilton High School Academy of Music Jazz Ensemble “A,” for example, Sunday’s program immediately dipped into Brazilian sounds with singer Katia Moraes & Sambaguru. Delivering a program that ranged exuberantly across Brazil’s multiplicity of rhythms, Moraes was a bundle of galvanized energy, her quick-paced singing empowered by Sambaguru’s driving rhythm section and the well-crafted arrangements of Bill Brendle.

The only problem with the set, in fact, was its scheduling; music with so many engaging elements should have been programmed later in the day, after most of the seats were filled.

Nigerian superstar Femi Kuti and Dominican Republic pianist Michel Camilo added different international touches. Kuti led his big, colorful ensemble -- replete with vigorous dancers and a robust horn section -- through a set of tunes in which lyrics filled with social imperatives were driven by irresistible dance rhythms.

Grammy Award-winning Camilo’s trio brought the sound of the Caribbean to a probing set of improvisations, slyly tossing in an off-center tune in 7/4 time to further enliven his program.

In the unusual instrument category, there were banjo (Bela Fleck) and pedal steel guitar (Robert Randolph). Fleck long ago established his credentials in jazz (and beyond), and his smoothly articulate set reflected the longtime togetherness and symbiotic interactivity of his Flecktones ensemble.

Randolph, a much newer arrival, was a wildly ebullient force, ripping off rock-style lead guitar-like lines and dancing enthusiastically, celebrating the linkages between jazz, gospel and funk.

Nor was Randolph the only one to emphasize the groove. Roy Hargrove’s RH Factor positioned the world-class jazz trumpeter in a hard-edged, synth-dominated environment -- an odd arena for his skills. BWB, featuring trumpeter Rick Braun, saxophonist Kirk Whalum and guitarist Norman Brown, did a more authentic job of exploring groove-driven, jazz-tinged instrumental pop.

More traditionally, the Gerald Wilson Orchestra brought the excitement of big-band jazz to the program.

Sadly, their glorious renderings of classics such as “Blues for the Count” and “Milestones” were deeply distorted by audio mixing (with piano and bass overpowering five trumpets) more properly suited for a rock concert.

Singers Barbara Wilson, the delightful teenager Renee Olstead (singing with Wilson) and Peter Cincotti (performing with his quartet) provided vivid reminders of the joys of jazz vocalizing.

Finally, in the anticipated musical highlight of the day, the quartet of Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland and Brian Blade added another reminder -- that of jazz as an exploratory art. Wandering somewhat aimlessly at the start, they soon found their way, via Shorter’s “Footprints” and “Prometheus Unbound,” into the fertile, inventive roots that nourish the panoply of jazz’s variety.