When: Saturday, June 15, 2013
Where: Hollywood Bowl
Accompanied by: Birthday boy, KJ
Genre: Jazz
Hosted by: George Lopez
It was KJ's Birthday weekend, and what better event to fall during this time than the Playboy Jazz Festival. Mid June in Southern California can be hit and miss weather wise, but this weekend turned out to be absolute perfection. And thanks to the awesome shuttle system the Hollywood Bowl provides, we caught one of the first buses out of Lakewood around 1:00 pm and were dropped off at the top of the hill by 2:30. The drive to and from the venue isn't so much an issue as is the parking, so the shuttle really is the way to go. And for $5 per person, it's an absolute bargain! Just be prepared to be packed in "like lemmings into shiny metal boxes".
The show promptly started at 3:00 pm. Gotta love that! And with the rotating stage, the next 8 hours went by seamlessly.
The Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Jazz Ensemble started off the day. Their performance time is limited, but they packed a lot of sound into that time frame. I wish I had been this dedicated and talented when I was in high school - seriously, these kids were amazing! These kids...damn, I'm old.
Pedrito Martinez Group featuring Ariacne Trujillo were 2nd on the bill and were absolutely amazing. This type of music can make even the most rhythmic challenged person shake their hips and ass. There was no mistaking the Cuban roots embedded in their sound and I could wouldn't mind going to see them in small club to really get the full effect of their flavor.
I'd have to say the least memorable portion of the evening, for me, was the Robert Glasper Experiment. I don't know enough about jazz to say why I didn't like them, but it was the one band where I found myself looking at the time and ready to move on to the next act. It was a lot of auto tune sound and that just didn't feel like it belonged. There was a moment when the band brought out surprise special guest, Dianne Reeves, and she sang Afro Blue, which is a song that is usually performed by Erykah Badu. Now, that, I liked a lot.
The most memorable portion of the evening, for me, was watching Naturally 7 perform. Maybe because they were more R&B and most of their songs were recognizable to my non-jazz ears. Oh, and the fact that hearing the drum, the bass, the trumpet on top of feeling the drum, the bass, the trumpet but NOT seeing the drum, the bass the trumpet made this band amazing the watch as well as listen to. See for yourselves and you be the judge.
Naturally 7 @ TED in 2009
