Playboy picks span the genre

Balance is the key word for the 27th annual Playboy Jazz Festival, scheduled for June 11 and 12 at the Hollywood Bowl.

The lineup of performers, announced Wednesday at the Playboy Mansion, includes a nearly equal number of artists from the jazz mainstream and from the pop-blues-fusion-instrumental wing of the genre.

The quest for programming balance reflects the Playboy Jazz Festival’s tendency in recent years to move beyond its mainstream origins into a broader role as a more generic music festival -- an acknowledgment of the changing reality of the contemporary jazz scene. Legendary artists are far fewer in number today than they were in the festival’s early years, when bills routinely included names such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie -- all now passed away.

Festival producer George Wein and associate producer Darlene Chan’s solution has been to take a big tent approach, embracing jazz in all its manifestations.

Saturday’s schedule, for example, juxtaposes mainstreamers Joshua Redman, the Joey DeFrancesco/Kenny Burrell Quartet, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Jon Faddis (performing with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra Legacy), and Ramsey Lewis against crossover artists Boney James and Keb’ Mo’, veteran Cuban bassist-bandleader Israel “Cachao” Lopez and his orchestra, Stix Hooper with Viewpoint and Norman Brown’s Summer Storm (with Peabo Bryson), Brenda Russell and Everette Harp.

A Saturday performance by Lynn Dally’s Jazz Tap Ensemble and the young tappers of the Caravan Project follows in the jazz dance footsteps of Savion Glover, who gave an electrifying appearance at last year’s event.

On Sunday, the schedule displays similar balance. Straight-ahead jazz is provided by the Saxophone Summit (with Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano and Dave Liebman), the Heath Brothers, Roy Ayers, Chico Hamilton and Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band.

The crossover banner is carried by George Benson, Dr. John, the daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra, Puerto Rican salsa singer Gilberto Santa Rosa and jazz R&B; singer Ledisi.

Kevin Eubanks returns as master of ceremonies, and each day opens with an appearance by a local high school jazz ensemble: the L.A. Multi-School Jazz Band on Saturday, the North Hollywood High School Jazz Band on Sunday.

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