Smooth Jazz’s Biggest Names Join the Cause

Thirty years after George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh, the smooth jazz genre produced its own similarly impressive benefit performance Sunday. “A Wave of Peace--the Unity Concert” at the Forum was a large-scale, all-star event, a program that somehow managed to include almost every major name in the field.

The concert, produced by smooth jazz station KTWV-FM (94.7, known as the “Wave”), was free, presented as an effort to create an environment for charitable donations, with attendees urged to make on-site contributions to the American Red Cross. The tickets, distributed at Best Buy locations on Oct. 5, were gone in less than an hour. Not surprising, given a lineup that ranged from Kenny G, Boney James and Keiko Matsui to Al Jarreau, James Ingram, George Duke and Patti Austin.

All-star events, however, are only as good as the quality of the production and the overall vibe that they create. And the concert started with an out-of-sync moment, when Tim Pohlman, KTWV general manager, introduced the program--standing in front of a banner proclaiming “A Wave of Peace”--with the dramatic assertion: “We are at war!” The balance of the program, fortunately, took a more subtle stance, a reflection of the quest for musical healing that was a primary goal of the principal organizers, saxophonist and KTWV radio personality Dave Koz, his morning show partner Pat Prescott and their producer, Rosemary Jimenez.

So it was no surprise that the most impressive segments of the evening were those that transformed the large arena into a communal gathering--”no white race, no black race, only the human race,” as one of the performers noted. Those moments began almost immediately via an impassioned duet rendering of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Koz and Kenny G. Even more touching was Phil Perry’s soulful version of “Imagine,” in an interpretation that surely would have pleased John Lennon, further enhanced when the song segued into “Hey Jude,” with the Perry Sisters and the audience joining in.

More audience sing-along was triggered by Jarreau with a typically idiosyncratic take on “God Bless America,” Peter White with “America the Beautiful” and a finale with the entire cast performing “What’s Going On.” Less patriotically oriented, but equally memorable offerings were delivered by Austin with “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and “To Dream the Impossible Dream”; Austin and Ingram with an impassioned pairing on “Somewhere Out There”; Jarreau with his trademark “We’re in This Love Together”; and the trio of Duke, Marcus Miller and Harvey Mason starting out with “Amazing Grace” and concluding with “Come Together.”

Add to that individual performances from singer-songwriter Brenda Russell and instrumentalists James Matsui (who flew in from Japan to appear on the program), Marc Antoine, Rick Braun, Norman Brown, Kirk Whalum, Brian Culbertson, Najee, Wayman Tisdale, David Benoit, Jeff Golub, Jeff Lorber, Everette Harp and Freddie Ravel.

And the concert still had one climactic all-star element--Stevie Wonder, appearing unannounced, startled many in the crowd by starting out with a romp through John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” (not exactly smooth jazz fare) before delivering a brisk medley of originals.

According to the producers, the early donation count from the on-site Red Cross stations is around $100,000--a relatively modest figure given the quality of the performance. But numerous requests to continue donations after the event--especially a poignant appeal from Tom and Melanie Frost of Rancho Santa Margarita, whose 22-year-old daughter, Lisa, died in one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center--may well increase the total.