By Don Heckman
I don’t know exactly how many years I’ve been covering the Playboy Jazz Festival. At least twenty, probably more. And that big, two-day party in the sun at the Hollywood Bowl always has its delights – musical and otherwise. A quick montage comes to mind, jump cutting from one memorable moment to another: Jamie Cullum tearing the place apart in 2006; Thirteen year 
old Renee Olstead bringing an afternoon crowd to its feet with a stunning version of “At Last” in 2003; Michael Brecker’s extraordinary, five minute unaccompanied solo in 2002, Al Jarreau’s several definitive displays of jazz vocalizing; a rare appearance by J.J. Johnson in 1996; Terry Gibbs’ Dream Band in 1989; Wayne Shorter; Herbie Hancock; Dizzy Gillespie; Miriam Makeba; the great Cuban bassist “Cachao.” And I could go on, and on – a montage that would never stop.
Then there were the “otherwise” delights. The most memorable being the afternoon in 1998 when Pete Fountain was laying down New Orleans riffs before an excited capacity crowd. But it wasn’t just Pete who was causing the excitement. Many in the crowd – probably most – were either listening to portable radios or watching on portable TVs as the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz were in the last seconds of game six of the NBA finals. With five seconds left, and the Jazz leading 86-85, Michael Jordan hit a 20 foot jump shot to win the game and the finals. At the point, the Hollywood Bowl erupted with cheers, giving Pete Fountain one of the most unexpected responses of his long, stellar career.
As I said, great delights. But there were others, too – at locations away from the Hollywood Bowl, presented at the best possible price; free. In 1995, Playboy began to offer a series of Free Community Concerts – first in Pasadena, eventually at locations reaching from Watts to Beverly Hills to the San Fernando Valley. Some of the performers (not all, by any means) may have had less international visibility than those on the star-studded Bowl programs, but they were no less skilled, and no less entertaining. And the camaraderie – the rainbow mix of listeners that makes the Bowl such a come-together experience — has continued at the Community events.
On Sunday, at Warner Center Park in Woodland Hills, the third 2009 Playboy Jazz Community concert takes place at Warner Center Park in Woodland Hills from 4:30 P.M. to 8 P.m.. And the headliners are a trio of artists whose work ranges across the full spectrum of the music.
Start with Diane Schuur – known to fans and friends 
alike as Deedles. In a more than two decade career that has embraced both pop and jazz qualities, Grammy-winning Schuur has demonstrated – at her best – a sense of swing, musicality and interpretive veracity that places her in the top level of jazz vocalizing. “My father really wanted me to become a country singer, and I kind of dabbled with the rock ‘n’ roll thing,” she told me, for a Jazz Times story. “But for me it was jazz. It is Jazz. That’s what was basic”
Interestingly, Schuur performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1975 with Energy Force, the big band of Ed Shaughnessy, who shares the bill with her at Warner Center. Although he’s well known as a big band drummer – most visibly with Doc Severinson on the Tonight Show – he’ll be performing at the Center with his own small, bebop-oriented group. My own recollections of Shaughnessy, however, date back to the ‘60s, when he was augmenting his mainstream skills with many of the avant-garde ideas coursing through the New York City jazz world. Always curious, always eager to explore new territory, always brightening his surroundings with a whimsical sense of humor, he was – and still is – a pleasure to know and to hear.
The third starring act at Warner Center is the inimitable jazz violinist Susie Hansen, currently celebrating the 20th anniversary 
of her Latin Jazz Band. And, even after years of seeing her in action – hair flying, a beatific smile on her face as she whips her bow across her electric violin – it still seems a little counter-intuitive for her to be standing in front of a dynamic band of Latin jazz musicians. Yet there she is, Scandinavian heritage and all, a girl from the mid-West, fronting one L.A.’s most rhythmically exciting Latin jazz ensembles. Expect your feet to start moving.
Opening the show – the El Camino High School Jazz Band directed by Kevin Glaser.
As I mentioned above, all this is free – Playboy’s gift to the L.A. community. And there will be, understandably, a big turnout. So get there early, find a cozy spot in the Park’s grassy surroundings, and enjoy your own neighborhood installment of the Playboy Jazz Festival..
