Jazz honored its past and charted new horizons June 13-14 at the 37th annual Playboy Jazz Festival at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl. Comedian George Lopez, in his third year as master of ceremonies, kept the energy high as he presented a lineup that testified to jazz’s breadth and depth.
Crowd-pleasing vocalists kept the Bowl consistently rocking. On Saturday, Morgan James offered scorchingly sexy soul and, with her composition “Say the Words,” a ballad “to maybe make Aretha jealous.” High-powered “folk-soul” superstar Aloe Blacc married Sam Cooke vocal flavor with dance-driven, near-supernatural cool, while the volcanic voice of Ray Green, backed by one of R&B’s mightiest horn sections, ignited Tower of Power’s Saturday-closing set. Sunday brought soul siren Ledisi, who preached tough-love wisdom with a swagger that recalled Tina Turner in her prime.
