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  • JAZZ AT THE BOWL CELEBRATES THE 100th BIRTHDAY OF JAZZ LEGEND COUNT BASIE
  • Jul. 28, 2004
  • Program Features Performance by the Count Basie Orchestra
    with Special Guests Ernestine Anderson, Jon Hendricks,
    Dianne Reeves, and Diane Schuur

    WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, AT 8 PM

    A Lexus Passionate Performance; media support provided by KKJZ

    The Hollywood Bowl celebrates the 100th birthday of jazz great Count Basie with the Count Basie Centennial Celebration on Wednesday, July 28, at 8:00 p.m. The program includes the finest jazz royalty and the big-band mastery of the Basie Band. Featured special guests include Ernestine Anderson, Jon Hendricks, Dianne Reeves, and Diane Schuur.

    The program features the Count Basie Orchestra (conducted by William H. "Bill" Hughes) performing jazz classics in the evening's first half. The concert's special guests will round out the night, each performing a few numbers in the second half, celebrating the legendary Count Basie.

    The Jazz at the Bowl series continues with Piano Masters on August 4 featuring the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Ramsey Lewis, and McCoy Tyner; Latin Jazz Night on August 11 featuring Willie Colón, Los Hombres Calientes, and Jazz at Lincoln Center's Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra; New Orleans Night on August 18 featuring the Neville Brothers, Terence Blanchard, and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band; Cool, Pure, 200-Proof featuring the Zawinul Syndicate, the Dave Holland Big Band, and the Michael Brecker Quindectet; and A Night With Blue Note on September 1 celebrating the legendary jazz record label featuring Van Morrison with Dianne Reeves, and special guests.

    Count Basie was one of the most important band leaders of the swing era. He led his band for almost 50 years and the COUNT BASIE ORCHESTRA has continued to perform since his death. Born in New Jersey in 1904, he started out as a piano accompanist to vaudeville acts. He soon came to the notice of writer John Hammond, who encouraged the band's national tour and created what was known as the All-American rhythm section of Walter Page, Jo Jones, and Freddie Green. The rhythm section gave the band its trademark swing. Over the years, the Basie Band has become a jazz staple and won numerous Grammys. They last performed at the Hollywood Bowl in 2002.

    Vocalist ERNESTINE ANDERSON is equally at home in jazz, pop, world and blues. As a teenager she sang R & B with the Johnny Otis band in the late '40s but by the '50s worked with Lionel Hampton's band and Gigi Gryce. She won acclaim in the '60s with a recording called Hot Cargo but it wasn't until 1975 when bassist Ray Brown heard her and became her manager that she signed to Concord records. She recorded with the likes of Hank Jones, George Shearing, Benny Carter and others, and her most recent recording is Love Makes The Changes. Ernestine Anderson last performed at the Bowl in 1995.

    Vocalese genius JON HENDRICKS was one of the founding members of the jazz vocal group Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, he formed the group in the late '50s with Dave Lambert and Annie Ross and was one of the main contributors to the trio's lyrics with his ability to write words to some of the most complex jazz improvisations. The trio has gone on to influence many other vocal groups including the likes of Manhattan Transfer. Hendricks performed several times with the Count Basie Orchestra over the years. His most recent recording is Boppin' At the Blue Note. He last performed at the Hollywood Bowl in 1995.

    A Blue Note/EMI recording artist since 1987, DIANNE REEVES has earned five Grammy nominations. She won consecutive Best Jazz Vocalist Grammys in 2000 and 2001 for her albums In the Moment, The Calling, and recently for 2003's A Little Moonlight. In 1987, Reeves became the first vocalist signed to the newly reactivated Blue Note label for which she has since recorded numerous albums, including those that garnered her Grammy recognition. Reeves was recently featured with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra for several Duke Ellington projects in celebration of Ellington's Centennial. A recording with Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony and a concert appearance at Carnegie Hall with Simon Rattle and the Orchestra of St. Lukes were among her many other appearances associated with the Ellington Centennial salute. Reeves was appointed Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association in March of 2002 and was the first vocalist to sing in the new world-renowned Walt Disney Concert Hall.

    Blind from birth due to a hospital accident, vocalist and piano player DIANE SCHUUR made her singing debut at age 10. The turning point in her career occurred when she sang "Amazing Grace" at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1979 and caught the ear of the late Stan Getz. Since then she has been a regular recording artist for the GRP label, and she collaborated with the Count Basie Orchestra in 1987. She most recently recorded Midnight for the Concord label. She last performed at the Bowl in 1990.

    One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the HOLLYWOOD BOWL has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and in 1991 gave its name to the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, a resident ensemble that has filled a special niche in the musical life of Southern California. The 2004 season introduces audiences to a revitalized Hollywood Bowl, featuring a newly-constructed shell and stage and the addition of four stadium screens enhancing stage views in the venue. To this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's concerts. While the Bowl is best known for its sizzling summer nights, during the day California's youngest patrons enjoy "SummerSounds: Music for Kids at the Hollywood Bowl," the Southland's most popular summer arts festival for children, now in its 35th season. Attendance figures over the past several decades have soared: in 1980 the Bowl first topped the half-million mark and last summer close to one million admissions were recorded. It is no wonder that the Bowl's summer music festivals have become as much a part of a Southern California summer as beaches and barbecues, the Dodgers and Disneyland.

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

    Wednesday, July 28, at 8:00 p.m.

    Jazz at the Bowl

    HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave. in Hollywood

    Count Basie's Centennial Celebration

    COUNT BASIE ORCHESTRA

    ERNESTINE ANDERSON

    JON HENDRICKS

    DIANNE REEVES

    DIANE SCHUUR

    A Lexus Passionate Performance; media support provided by KKJZ.

    Tickets ($1 - $40.50) are on sale now at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office, by calling Ticketmaster at 213.480.3232, at all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons May, Tower Records and Ritmo Latino locations), or online at HollywoodBowl.com. Groups of 12 or more may be eligible for a 20% discount, subject to availability; call 323.850-2050 for further details. For tickets, general information or to request a brochure, call 323.850.2000.

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  • Contact:

    Ryan Jimenez, 213.972.3405; for photos: Ellie Lloyd, 213.972.3448