Catering to all sorts of tastes at the Bowl

The witching hour at the Playboy Jazz Festival usually strikes between 5 and 6 o’clock. That’s the time at which a long afternoon of imbibing, under skin-searing sunlight, generates mass receptivity to the groove -- an opportunity to shake out all the kinks before dinner leads into the performances of the prime-time headliners.

In the best of circumstances, this results in spontaneous lines of jazz enthusiasts snaking through the aisles, waving handkerchiefs, collecting followers in an exuberant response to the music. New Orleans bands generally have the greatest success, probably because the jazz they play is so basic, so familiar and so dynamic.

On Saturday, the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl took a different slant. African all-star Baaba Maal was positioned in the critical 5 p.m. slot, probably because of his reputation for producing intensely energetic, body-stirring music. But he is at his best in a club setting, and his Bowl performance -- despite his dynamic singing, the rhythmic quality of his groove, and the athletic female dancers -- never quite succeeded in bringing the crowd to its feet.

Interestingly, Maal was the only nonjazz act in a program that departed from the recent Playboy Jazz tendency to include a stylistically omnivorous lineup of performers. Which made the Saturday program a happy day for serious jazz heads.

Groove and synth fans could revel in the irrepressible rhythms of the Stanley Clarke/George Duke Project and the steaming, multitextured keyboard work of Japanese keyboardist Hiromi.

Classic mainstream jazz was all over the program: the marvelous subtleties of the Golden Striker Trio (Mulgrew Miller, Ron Carter and Russell Malone); the memorable melodies of the Benny Golson Quartet; the crisp, big band sounds of the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra in a tribute to Milt Jackson that featured soloing from the gifted vibist, Stefon Harris; the youthful enthusiasm of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Jazz Ensemble; and the good-time, improvisational fun of Bill Cosby’s all-star collective, the Cos of Good Music (featuring Steve Turre’s astounding conch shell solo on Miles’ Davis’ “All Blues”).

Branford Marsalis added a brilliant touch of contemporary jazz to the proceedings, and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra closed the show with a delightful blend of Afro-Cuban rhythms and big city jazz.

But the day was nearly stolen by young English singer-pianist Jamie Cullum. His ebullient stage manner, imaginative singing and playing and innate capacity to bring joy and life to everything he did gave the festival the witching hour excitement it had been missing.

At a different hour and in a different style, to be sure, but vital and mesmerizing nonetheless.