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  • Los Angeles Philharmonic Association Announces Initial Lineup for 2023 Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival
  • Jan. 26, 2023
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    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC ASSOCIATION
    ANNOUNCES INITIAL LINEUP FOR
    2023 HOLLYWOOD BOWL JAZZ FESTIVAL

    Co-curated by Herbie Hancock and Kamasi Washington

    Beloved two-day festival celebrates 43rd year June 17-18 at the Hollywood Bowl

    Hosted by Arsenio Hall, with artists slated to appear including Kamasi Washington, Leon Bridges, West Coast Get Down, St. Paul and The Broken Bones, Digable Planets, Poncho Sanchez, Aziza, The Soul Rebels with Big Freedia, Samara Joy, Lionel Loueke and Gretchen Parlato, Boukman Eksperyans, Butcher Brown, Andrew Gouché and Prayze Connection and more

    Single tickets on sale March 14 at 10 a.m. PT

    Spanish Translation Here.

         

    LOS ANGELES (Jan. 26, 2023) – The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association today announced initial details of the Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival presented by the LA Phil over Father’s Day weekend, Saturday and Sunday, June 17-18, 2023. Two-day packages are currently available to returning package holders and single tickets will be on sale Tuesday, March 14, at 10 a.m. PT.

    Celebrating 43 years, the festival is for the first time co-curated by jazz titans Herbie Hancock and Kamasi Washington, frequent collaborators who performed together at the Bowl in August 2017. Oscar and 14-time Grammy winner Hancock is the LA Phil’s Creative Chair for Jazz and has been performing at the Bowl for seven decades and continues to reimagine jazz. Bringing the lineage of hard bop and spiritual jazz into the 21st century with a decidedly contemporary musical approach, Grammy- and Emmy-nominated LA native Washington will also return to the Bowl with his stunning live performance style.

    Herbie Hancock said, “I was thrilled when the LA Phil asked me to co-curate this festival with Kamasi and explore his extraordinary artistic vision. Our celebration this year includes so many artists—both emerging and established—at defining moments in their musical journeys. Together, we hope to create community and connection through the music we make and leave audiences feeling uplifted and inspired. It has been a joy to partner with Kamasi and the LA Phil, an organization committed to innovative jazz programming and nurturing our humanity through the arts.”

    Kamasi Washington said, “I am so honored to be invited by the LA Phil to co-curate this year’s Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival with the great Herbie Hancock. Herbie is one of the greatest musicians to ever live and I am so grateful to be working with him on this special show. Herbie and I have been working with the LA Phil team to create a one-of-a-kind experience that we hope will leave the audience with excitement, joy, life, soul and most of all great music!"

    Celebrated comedian Arsenio Hall will reprise his role as this year’s host. An artistically exciting and eclectic lineup of performers has been confirmed to appear, including saxophone virtuoso Kamasi Washington; boundary-pushing recording artist and songwriter Leon Bridges; influential LA-based collective the West Coast Get Down; eight-piece soul band St. Paul and The Broken Bones; pioneering hip-hop trio Digable Planets; trailblazing Latin Jazz conguero Poncho Sanchez; Aziza superstar quartet featuring Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Lionel Loueke and Eric Harland; New Orleans brass and bounce sensations The Soul Rebels with Big Freedia; once-in-a-generation vocalist Samara Joy; Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke and singer-songwriter Gretchen Parlato; legendary Haitian band Boukman Eksperyans; expansive jazz and hip-hop hybrid quintet Butcher Brown; gospel greats Andrew  Gouché and Prayze Connection; next-generation student groups: the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance Ensemble at UCLA; The Cardinal Divas of SC; LACHSA Jazz; LAUSD Beyond the Bell All-City Jazz Band and more, with a complete lineup to be announced in March.

    Tickets for the Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival are available online at hollywoodbowl.com or via phone at 323 850 2000 on the following dates. Programs, artists, dates, prices and availability subject to change.

    • Two-day packages currently available to returning package holders
    • Two-day packages available to the public Tuesday, February 7
    • Single tickets and groups sales available Tuesday, March 14

    # # #

    About Herbie Hancock
    Herbie Hancock is a true icon of modern music. Throughout his explorations, he has transcended limitations and genres while maintaining his unmistakable voice. With an illustrious career spanning six decades and 14 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for River: The Joni Letters, he continues to amaze audiences across the globe. In December of 2013, Hancock was the recipient of a prestigious Kennedy Center Honor, and, in 2014, he was named the 2014 Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University, completing his lecture series, The Ethics of Jazz, as part of the Charles Eliot Norton Lecture Series for a period of six weeks. His memoirs, Herbie Hancock: Possibilities, were published by Viking in 2014, and, in February 2016, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. A member of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Hancock is currently in the studio at work on a new album. Now in the sixth decade of his career, Herbie Hancock remains where he has always been: at the forefront of world culture, technology, business and music. Though one can’t track exactly where he will go next, he is sure to leave his inimitable imprint wherever he lands. 

    About Kamasi Washington
    Kamasi Washington is a multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer born and raised in Los Angeles. His three bodies of work to date—The Epic; Harmony of Difference, an EP originally commissioned for the 2017 Whitney Biennial; and Heaven and Earth, are among the most acclaimed of the past decade. Washington has released two films: As Told To G/D Thyself, a short film companion to Heaven and Earth which debuted at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival; and the concert film Kamasi Washington Live at The Apollo Theater in partnership with Amazon Music. In 2020, Washington scored Becoming—Netflix's documentary profiling First Lady Michelle Obama—and was nominated for Grammy and Emmy awards for his contributions. In February 2022, Washington released to critical acclaim a brand new single titled The Garden Path with a world premiere live performance on The Tonight Show. Washington has toured the world over, and collaborated and shared stages with Kendrick Lamar, Florence + the Machine, Herbie Hancock and many more.

    About the Hollywood Bowl
    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 plays host to the finest artists from all genres of music, offering something for everyone. It remains one of the best deals anywhere in Los Angeles; to this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many classical and jazz performances. In June 2021, the Hollywood Bowl was awarded Amphitheater of the Decade at the 32nd Annual Pollstar Awards. It was also awarded the Outdoor Concert Venue of the Year award at the 31st Annual Pollstar Awards, an honor bestowed 14 previous times, as well as Top Amphitheater prize at the 2017 and 2018 Billboard Touring Awards. For millions of music lovers across Southern California, the Hollywood Bowl is synonymous with summer. HollywoodBowl.com
  • Contact:

    Sophie Jefferies, sjefferies@laphil.org
    Holly Wallace, hwallace@laphil.org
    Laura Cohen, lcmediapr@gmail.com
    Kassandra Winchester, kwinchester@laphil.org