CONCERT MARKS McBRIDE'S FIRST PERFORMANCE AS LA PHIL'S NEW CREATIVE CHAIR FOR JAZZ

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2006, AT 8 PM

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Three acclaimed heavyweights of the contemporary jazz scene - pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonist Joshua Redman and bassist Christian McBride, who makes his first official appearance as the Los Angeles Philharmonic Carolyn and William Powers Creative Chair for Jazz - each lead their own celebrated ensembles for an evening of stellar jazz and funk at the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday, August 9, at 8 p.m. Providing a sonic triptych of wide-ranging sounds, Academy Award- and eight-time Grammy-winner Hancock shares his iconic genre-defying blend of jazz, R&B, and funk, Joshua Redman trio wraps modern jazz around Redman's rich saxophone improvisation, and the Christian McBride Band showcases McBride's chameleonic virtuosity on the acoustic and electric bass.

Hancock's appearance at the Bowl caps a six-week European and U.S. tour with his hand-picked band featuring drummer Richie Barshay, bassist Matt Garrison, violinist Lili Haydn and guitarist Lionel Loueke. The legendary artist was recently featured in the film Possibilities, documenting the making of his 2005 hit album of the same name, for which he collaborated with artists from Sting to John Mayer, Annie Lennox to Joss Stone. The LA Weekly says the film "celebrates an impulse that's too rare in modern music: the love behind the labor of creation."

As the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Carolyn and William Powers Creative Chair for Jazz, McBride oversees jazz programming at Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl during his two-year tenure, starting with the Hollywood Bowl's 2006 season. This concert marks his performance debut in that capacity. He appears with his latest excursion, the Christian McBride Band (CMB), about which he says, "The CMB is going to the outest of the out and the lowest of the low, low meaning earthbound and organic. The new music takes off where the traditional jazz, fusion, pop and R&B of SCI-FI left off."

Saxophonist Redman pares down his band for his latest Bowl appearance with Reuben Rogers on bass and Eric Harland on drums, focusing on the essence of modern jazz improvisation. The Los Angeles Times proclaimed Redman "one of the most vital figures in jazz of the new century."

Jazz at the Bowl continues on August 16 with New Orleans Night, featuring The Neville Brothers, the re-united Original Meters, and San Francisco's Brass Monkey Brass Band. A Big Band Bash on August 23 summons three of the jazz world's leading ensembles - Dizzy Gillespie's All Star Big Band with special guest James Moody, Kenton Orchestra 2006: Artistry In Rhythm with drummer Peter Erskine, and the Gerald Wilson Orchestra. Jazz guitar legend George Benson and vocalist Al Jarreau take the stage on August 30. The series concludes on September 6 with the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, revisiting his 1969 jazz flavored album Soul On Top backed by a big band lead by Christian McBride, with the original arrangements by Oliver Nelson. R&B queen Angie Stone opens the show.

HERBIE HANCOCK is a true icon of modern music. His creative path has moved fluidly between almost every development in acoustic and electronic jazz and R&B since 1960. He has attained an enviable balance of commercial and artistic success, arriving at the point in his career where he ventures into every new project motivated purely by the desire to expand the boundaries of his creativity. Hancock won the 1987 Academy Award for his soundtrack to the film 'Round Midnight. He has won eight Grammy Awards in the past two decades, including three for his 1998 classic Gershwin's World. Few artists in the music industry have gained more respect and cast more influence than Herbie Hancock. As the immortal Miles Davis said in his autobiography, "Herbie was the step after Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and I haven't heard anybody yet who has come after him." Born in Chicago in 1940, Hancock was a child piano prodigy who performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 11. He began playing jazz in high school and developed a passion for electronic science. As a result, he took a double major in music and electrical engineering at Grinnell College. In 1960, at age 20, Hancock was discovered by trumpeter Donald Byrd. Hancock's subsequent 1963 debut album, Takin' Off, was an immediate success, producing "Watermelon Man," an instant hit on jazz and R&B radio. Also in 1963, Hancock was invited to join the Miles Davis Quintet - a life-changing experience for the keyboardist. During his five years with Davis, Hancock and his colleagues thrilled audiences and recorded classic after classic. Most jazz critics and fans regard this group, which also included Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), Ron Carter (bass), and Tony Williams (drums), as the greatest small jazz group of the 1960s. Even after he left Miles' group, Hancock appeared on Davis' groundbreaking recordings In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, which heralded the birth of jazz-fusion. Simultaneously with his work for Miles, Hancock's own solo career blossomed on Blue Note. In 1966, he composed the score to Michelangelo Antonioni's film, Blow Up, which led to a successful career in feature film and television music, including his Oscar-winning 'Round Midnight. After leaving Miles Davis in 1968, Hancock stepped full-time into the new electronic jazz-funk that was sweeping the world. In 1973, Headhunters, the second LP in his new deal with Columbia Records, became jazz's first platinum album. Hancock also stayed close to his acoustic jazz heart in the '70s. He recorded and performed with VSOP (a reunification of the '60s Miles Davis Quintet, substituting the great Freddie Hubbard for Davis), with various trios and quartets under his own name, and in duet settings with fellow pianists Chick Corea and Oscar Peterson. In 1980, Hancock introduced the young Wynton Marsalis to the world as a solo artist, producing the trumpeter's debut album as a leader. The legendary Headhunters reunited in 1998, recording an album for Hancock's own Verve-distributed imprint, and touring with the Dave Matthews Band at the arena-rock giant's own request. But the crowning achievement of Hancock's Verve years thus far has been the triple Grammy-winning Gershwin's World. Recorded and released in 1998, this masterwork brought artists from all over the musical spectrum together in a celebration of George Gershwin, including Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Kathleen Battle, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Wayne Shorter, and Chick Corea. Hancock is the Distinguished Artist in Residence at Jazz Aspen Snowmass in Colorado and also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.

Grammy Award-winner CHRISTIAN McBRIDE is THE bassist-in-demand. Over the course of three albums as a leader and over a hundred as a sideman, Christian McBride has arguably become the most acclaimed acoustic and electric bassist to emerge from the jazz world in the 1990's. His passion for musical diversity has led him to work with everyone from Chick Corea to Pat Metheny, from Kathleen Battle to D'Angelo, from Diane Krall to Bruce Hornsby, from Quincy Jones to Sting. Given that the bass is the heart and soul of any music, this makes McBride's versatility all the more impressive. McBride has a recording coming out on Ropeadope that resists pigeonholes. His first release for the label, Live at Tonic, captures his capacious quartet joined by an array of guest artists, including eight-string guitar ace Charlie Hunter, Logic, pianist Jason Moran, violinist Jenny Scheinman, beat boxer Scratch, and Soulive guitarist Eric Krasno. McBride holds Artistic Director posts at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass summer program. In January 2005, he was named co-director of The Jazz Museum in Harlem. While working for the museum in Harlem, McBride will be racking up frequent flyer miles as the second Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. He will work with the organization year-round, building on the Philharmonic's presence in the musical community as a leading presenter of jazz.

A native of the Bay Area, composer and saxophonist JOSHUA REDMAN began his musical career in 1991. Having just graduated from Harvard with plans to pursue a law degree, he instead went on tour and recorded with his father, the legendary saxophonist Dewey Redman, as well as with other noted musicians, including Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, McCoy Tyner, Roy Haynes, Chick Corea, Elvin Jones, and Paul Motian. The younger Redman created a sensation by taking first prize in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz saxophone competition that fall and landed a major record deal. To date, he has recorded ten albums as a leader, including 2002's Elastic, showcasing the 21st-century grooves of his sax-keyboard-drums trio, and a forthcoming disc to be released this spring on Nonesuch Records. Redman has garnered numerous honors in his career, including multiple first-place finishes in the Rolling Stone Critics' Poll, the Jazziz Readers' Poll, and Down Beat's Critics' and Readers' polls.

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 introduced 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 38th season. Attendance figures over the past several decades have soared: in 1980 the Bowl first topped the half-million mark and close to one million admissions have been recorded. In February 2006, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue for the second year in a row at the 17th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards; the Bowl's summer music festival has become as much a part of a Southern California summer as beaches and barbecues, the Dodgers, and Disneyland.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2006, AT 8 PM

HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave. in Hollywood

HERBIE HANCOCK

CHRISTIAN McBRIDE BAND

JOSHUA REDMAN

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Tickets ($5 - $111) 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 general information or to request a brochure, call 323.850.2000.

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