Jazz Review : Putting Faces to Names During the Bowl’s ‘Jazz Royalty’

What a difference a picture can make. There they were, in full-color, high-definition close-ups on an enormous video screen positioned at the top of the Hollywood Bowl stage--all the members of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.

Often introduced in previous programs, frequently featured as soloists, they were finally completely visible as real people, even from the far reaches of the top rows. It worked beautifully. And the big-screen video projection at Wednesday night’s “Jazz Royalty� concert at the Hollywood Bowl--the first time the technique was used for a jazz program--was just what the sometimes uneven summer series has needed.

John Clayton, the Bowl’s artistic director of jazz, has often spoken of his desire to create a familial relationship between the audience and members of the orchestra. But too often that connection has been hampered, in part by the orchestra’s difficulty in establishing its own unique, immediately identifiable musical voice, but even more so by the distance created by the venue’s vast size.

Although this was a program with plenty of talent--singer Carmen Bradford and an Alumni All-Star Band consisting of numerous veteran jazz performers, in addition to the Clayton ensemble--it was essentially an event without a national headliner. Even so, the big-screen projections created more audience responsiveness than has been apparent at virtually any previous concert. Cost factors aside, it’s a component that should be given serious consideration as a vital element for next summer’s programming.

Which is not to say that audiences can be entertained by visual images alone. In fact, the music for Wednesday’s performance, leaning heavily on material from the Count Basie and Duke Ellington bands, was performed with spirit and enthusiasm. Among the numerous high points were the brief set featuring Bradford’s lush sound on “April in Paris� and the Mandel-Bergman classic “Where Do You Start,� a wildly enthusiastic drum duel between Jeff Hamilton and Ed Shaughnessy, and the collective ensemble playing of Clayton’s troops and the alumni band.

Unfortunately, the sound mix--once again--was deficient, its inadequacies especially noticeable in the context of the big-screen projections. Time after time, individual solos were virtually inaudible while the performers’ giant images were present on the screen. Can it really be all that complicated for microphones to be turned on at the beginning rather than the middle of a soloist’s performance? Given that the sound of the entire orchestra--with the frequent exception of the saxophone section--is generally produced accurately, there’s no excuse for such casual handling of the soloists. They deserve better access to their listeners.