Things changed in 2010 and have thankfully continued in 2011. The fresh face in the early part was Ambrose Akinmusire, a trumpet player invoking Miles whose performance let everyone know Ambrose is a classic in the making.
her brother Avi
The Rebirth Brass Band from Nawlins got everyone waving their hankies and their successors the San Francisco Jazz Collective brought us back to serious classic jazz. They covered Stevie Wonder like we never heard before.
The dinner hour was handled by LA’s own Dianne Reeves. She was hardly dowdy or sedate. No. She was powerful and full of class; an artist at her full measure. Eddie Palmieri’s Salsa Orchestra picked up the tempo with what might have been MOR salsa except this was salsa jazz. We have seen Pancho Sanchez and Coke Esquevedo perform at this festival and they are good time salsa. Fun but derivative.
Eddie Palmieri
This outfit was jazzy and hot.
The killer act was the final performance, a spot ready made for packing up, finding missing binoculars and other housekeeping. The Roots did not allow anything less than full attention. Think Chuck D (Public Enemy) meets Jimmy Page with a rocking tuba. They rocked the house with jazzy hip hop. lyrics and rhythms. When the guitarist launched into Guns ‘n Roses Sweet Child which segued into Led Zeppelin and transformed into Bad to the Bone…we knew this was not the Old Playboy magic. This was something new, reinvented, with passion. No kidding this time.
Here is a cool video from Saturday with Bill Cosby meeting all the acts backstage prior to going on.