Small groups provide a big payoff

Jazz actually managed to find its way on to the Hollywood Bowl’s 2006 summer jazz series in Wednesday night’s program of small groups.

And it was a good one, as one might expect from a concert featuring the bands of Joshua Redman, Christian McBride and Herbie Hancock. It also was, for Southland jazz fans, a welcome respite from the series’ choice of programming only marginally related to the genre, tucked in between last week’s Al Green program and next week’s New Orleans night with the Meters and the Neville Brothers.

Although there was plenty of firepower on stage, the intensity heightened by the multiple keyboards of Hancock and Geoffrey Keezer (with McBride’s band), the evening’s most appealing moments traced to smaller, more intimate passages.

Most were provided in the opening set by the trio of saxophonist Redman, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland.

But not with Redman, whose gift for melodic variation made every solo a fascinating excursion. On “Zarafah,” his soprano saxophone playing showcased the most engaging timbres of this often-maligned instrument. His romp through the multi-note demands of Thelonious Monk’s “Trinkle, Tinkle” was an adventure in technical virtuosity. And his high-spirited interaction with Rogers and Harland on “Surrey With the Fringe on Top” -- and elsewhere -- balanced inventive improvising with audience connectivity.

Hancock’s set included three high points -- his own utterly original playing on “Maiden Voyage,” violinist Lili Haydn’s touching vocal/instrumental work on her “Unfolding Grace” and, especially, the extraordinary guitar and vocal offerings of Benin’s Lionel Loueke, who is surely destined to become a major jazz figure.

McBride, easily the star of his own ensemble, displayed the musicality and virtuosity that have made him the most potent bassist of his generation. Let’s hope that, in his role as the Philharmonic’s creative chair for jazz, he will use his musical excellence as the foundation for his future programming choices.