Photo credit: Timothy Norris/Los Angeles Philharmonic Association
In addition to a handful of transcendent performances by Dianne Reeves and Billie Eilish, one of the most key thematic elements at last summer’s Tribute to Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra at the Hollywood Bowl was the opening black and white video clip offering a glimpse of the easy rapport shared by the two legends. Even if we didn’t know the full story of their career intersections and collaborative musical history, this clip set the tone for the evening and provided context for the eclectic presentations to come.
The all-star Quincy Jones 90th Birthday Tribute: A Musical Celebration at the Hollywood Bowl would have benefited from a scene setter like this. For as spectacular, stylish, spirited, soulful and powerful (that’s me accentuating the positive) as many of the individual performances at the all-star show were, they were presented without much context, any mention of their historical significance, or understanding of why Q is a grand man and talent whose life and career merits such celebration. A simple retrospective on the trumpeter, composer, arranger and producer’s impactful, wildly eclectic career would have been a sublime way to accomplish this – not to mention add some musical achievements/cultural touchstones that the show itself puzzlingly overlooked in an overall “Qwest” (pun intended) for crowd-pleasing entertainment.
When the great Patti Austin (who counts Q as one of her godparents and whose biggest hits were on Qwest) came onstage to introduce the show, she promised a night of major entertainment – and the many artists who participated on this second night of the extravaganza, not to mention the eminently swinging Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, truly delivered on that. To wit, pianist Alfredo Rodriguez instance, was all aces on one of Jones’ most indelible, quirkily exotic instrumentals “Soul Bossa Nova” (resurrected in the 90s by Austin Powers). Likewise, budding jazz great and recent Grammy winning New Artist Samara Joy took the classic “Misty” to hypnotic, surreal vocal heights. Aloe Blaac brought his hipster coolness to Q’s unique arrangement of Frank Sinatra’s version of “Fly Me to the Moon.” Building from subtle sultriness to dramatic emotional outpouring, Jennifer Hudson seriously owned “You Don’t Own Me,” while another contemporary vocal powerhouse, pulled out all the stops on “You Put a Move on My Heart.” Perhaps the greatest surprise of the first half was the intensity that local singer Stevie Mackie brought to “Just Once,” the classic James Ingram-sung ballad from Jones’ classic 1981 album The Dude.
This great collage of Jones arranged and produced tunes, however, came without any insight into why these were significant milestones. While each guest received a verbal introduction, we surely could have benefitted from an anecdotal mention, for instance, that “Misty” (a song recorded by many greats) wasn’t a random selection, but a reflection of Jones in the late 50s, arranging a session for Sarah Vaughan. Or that Q did that indelible Sinatra arrangement as part of a long history with Ol’ Blue Eyes. That “You Don’t Own Me” was Jones – a decade and a half before his streak of history making Michael Jackson albums – producing a pop legend of an earlier time, Lesley Gore. And letting Mackie sing without mentioning “Just Once” was the start of the great James Ingram’s career? Or having Shelea work her magic without mentioning Tamia’s original version on Q’s Juke Joint? You get the idea. None of these oversights cut into the sheer enjoyment of the celebration on a tune-by-tune basis, it’s just that a night dedicated to Jones should have included the reasons these great songs were significant.
On a more intimately connective level, the highlights of the first half were performances by Patti Austin and Stevie Wonder, two lifelong Jones friends and legends in their own rights. Austin gave a loving shout out to songwriter Marilyn Bergman and her late partner Ingram before bringing her trademark romantic charm and heartfelt intensity to “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” Wonder came out to great applause and backed her on his infectious, easy grooving “Betcha Wouldn’t Hurt Me” (also from The Dude) before taking the spotlight and sharing a hilarious story about being a 14-year-old kid in a studio trying to track down Jones, who “could tell me about how Ray Charles could drive a car.” He met him and it was magical. He thanked Q for being such an incredible influence on his life before singing the dreamy, seductive “You Got It Bad Girl” – an album cut from Talking Book that Q appropriated as the title track to his album the following year. More personal stories like this one would have taken this party to a higher level of meaning and intimacy.
Because people’s love, respect and nostalgia for all things Michael Jackson profoundly endures 14 years after his passing, it’s hard to blame the curators of this Q celebration for making the second half of the concert a full-on MJ tribute, without so much as a spoken reminder that Jones produced Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad. They just assumed everyone knew who manned the boards as we were treated to exciting renditions of a sampling of classic tunes from those albums featuring Vula Malinga (“Wanna Be Startin’ Something,” “P.Y.T”), Avery Wilson (“Rock With You” and “Thriller,” featuring some classic MJ monster dance moves during the narration) and Stevie Mackie (“Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”). Adding a bit of unique artistic dimension to the MJ tribute were five-time Grammy winning jazz/R&B auteur Jacob Collier performing a thoughtful, classically tinged rendition of “Human Nature,” with his mom Suzy conducting the orchestra, and Siedah Garrett delivering a passionate, gospel tinged take on her classic MJ co-write “Man in the Mirror.” The extreme MJ-ness of the show actually started before the end of the first set, with trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf bringing a sweet sensitivity to “She’s Out of My Life.”
Austin, Joy and Collier returned to the stage for a romp through “Let the Good Times Roll” (featuring Maalouf, Rodriguez and drummer Gregg Field on the instrumental passages) before Wonder closed the show by singing his rousing MLK-inspired jam “Happy Birthday” to the guest of honor – who may or may not have been on hand. If we’re blessed enough to have Q around at 100, it would be nice to have a more balanced show focusing on his diverse genius – and maybe even a funky rendition of his theme to “Sanford & Son,” which would surely bring down the house.
