So How Did It Go? - Me And The Playboy Jazz Festival

As I mentioned on Sunday, my Husband and I received free tickets to the Playboy Jazz Festival.

In spite of my early misgivings, I got on board with attending the event and off we went.

The Hollywood Highland bus does not run after the concert begins, so we aimed for the almost last bus. We ended up on the property at exactly 3PM and we could hear the first group, as we worked our way up to the almost nosebleed section of the venue.

The one thing that I was pretty confident of, at that location, we were going to get the shade first. I was spot on, with that prediction and my hat could have been taken off at 4PM. I left it on for a few hours, especially since I intended to take a walk down to the Bowl Store and check out this year's souvenirs.

The LAUSD Beyond The Bell Jazz Band - We hardly heard them, but what we did hear, sounded like good Jazz. We were both sorry we missed most of their performance.

ELEW and JazzAntiqua Dance Ensemble - OMG, this man was awesome! (He is performing in my photo) Here's how his website describes how he plays. ELEW is making a substantial impression on the music world with a thunderous new style of playing: an inspired melding of ragtime, rock and pop that he calls Rockjazz.
As a matter of fact, he played, "People are Strange" and a wonderful rendition of the Cranberries "Zombie", which drove me crazy, because I knew the song and couldn't figure out what it was. Obviously, I did eventually put the clues together. He reminded me of Liberace, just a little bit. He studied under Wynton Marsalis, so he has some heavy performance creds. I totally recommend him.
The dancers performed on a few numbers and gave a different feel to the set. I enjoyed them, too.

Brubeck Brothers Quartet - A Tribute to their Father and as you would expect in a tribute, the usual suspects were there, including "Take 5". It was a nice set. Basically straight ahead Jazz.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Again, totally what you would expect from these performers who were made famous by Paul Simon. I heard some of it, but not all, as that was the time I did my shopping. They were good though and my Husband really liked them.

Taj Mahal and the Real Thing Tuba Band - Someone needs to teach this band how to end a set. They are the only performers who got the hook. Unfortunately for one of the tuba players, he fell down backwards, as the circular stage began moving. I felt so bad for him. Their set was good and the 4 tuba players were definitely a different sound.

The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra with special guests Patti Austin and Hubert Laws - Patti Austin didn't make it, due to illness. The band played straight ahead Jazz (or as straight as you can be, when your setlist features a Tribute to Quincy Jones). He was in the audience celebrating his 80th Birthday and they kept showing him at his seat.

Bob James/David Sanborn featuring Steve Gadd and James Genus - Steve Gadd played the infamous drum solo on the Aja title cut and so he is a bit of a idol of the Steely Dan fans, that I hang out with. Unfortunately for me, Aja was not one of their numbers. :-(
The players did a great job playing and I enjoyed their set.

India.Arie - She was having the most trouble with her "in-ear" and that was affecting her set. She never got it totally resolved, but she soldiered on. She explained at the very beginning that she calls her set a songversation and that we needed to listen to the words. All in all, it was well done and one of the last things she did was have her Mom come out and play with the band.

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue - This, This was when the concert kicked into overdrive. I am up and dancing and enjoying this band. They played "Sweet Home Alabama" at one point and then a bunch of wonderful stuff, including a long Louis Armstrong trumpet solo done by Trombone Shorty. You could hear his roots on the streets of New Orleans. Great stuff...I was sorry to see them go.

Sheila E. - She did not come on until 10PM and so she totally lost the vast majority of the audience, due to the fact that it was a Sunday Night. I felt bad for her, cause she puts on a good show. Sheila had her Dad, Peter Escovido play with her and then had her Mom come out at the end of his performance, to dance with Peter. I thought that was very touching. She didn't play the song that I expected would be the encore, but the set was good.

All in all, I was glad I went.