*Los Angeles – The Cultural Affairs Commission of UCLA hosted the 33rd Annual Jazz Reggae Festival, Monday, May 27, 2019.
Jazz Reggae Festival celebrated over three decades of good vibes, jammin’ music, delicious cuisine and cultural enrichment with this amazing signature UCLA event under the bright Los Angeles sun.
Jazz Reggae Festival returned to the intimate, tree lined park of the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center. Several hundred people were in attendance, a mixture of UCLA students and the broader Los Angeles Community. A vibrant mosaic of blankets and beach towels covered the lawn of the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center.
DJ QBWOY back by popular demand as Master of Ceremony and to spend some righteous rhythms while manning the ones and twos.
Roswell Universe got the program underway by taking the crowd on a fantastic musical voyage into their galaxy. They performed three tunes, “Circle View, Part 2,” “SOS,” and “Come Up” with Hugh Salk dropping some soulful spoken words.
The UCLA Contemporary Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Hitomi Oba exploded onto the stage. They provided a set of Big Band sounds and a magnificent soundtrack for movies. Their set consisted of the tunes “Junk Wagon,” by John Daversa and “The Sooner the Better” by Dafnis Prieto.
The multi-cultural, diverse crowd continued to grow as the day progressed. DJ QBWOY had the audience moving and grooving in between acts.
Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance Ensemble at UCLA delighted a captivated audience with tunes from the catalog of their namesake. They opened their set with “Actual Proof,” by Herbie Hancock, followed by “Racial Profiling” by the drummer Malachi Whitson. They concluded their set with a funky arrangement of “Watermelon Man” that would make Herbie Hancock proud.
Bay area vocalist Rayana Jay had the crowd vibing to her soulful vocal stylings. Rayana Jay was accompanied on stage by Alexis on keyboards, and DJ Red Corvette on the ones and twos. Their extended set featured the tunes “Magic,” “Sleepy Brown,” “Cooler than Cool,” and “Prototype” by Outcast. They continued with “Chill,” “Do Betta,” and “Lovely Day” which served as the unofficial theme song for the festival. Rayana Jay concluded her set with “Love Me Like” with special surprise guest Doug Worth.
Etana is a Grammy nominated singer, songwriter, record producer and guitarist from Jamaica. She rocked this edition of the Jazz Reggae Festival during her time in the spotlight. She had the crowd grooving with the tunes “Passing Thru,” “Jamaican Women,” “People Talk” a song that resonated with the crowd. Her set continued with “Reggae,” “Free,” “Stepping Out of Babylon,” “No, No, No” by Dawn Penn followed by “Is This Love” by Bob Marley. Etana closed her set with “Ganja Lovers extolling the medicinal benefits of said product.
The crowd abandoned their blankets and towels to gather at the front of the stage to see and hear Tobi Lou. His high-octane set consisted of the songs “The Blue,” “Troop,” “Game Ova,” “Your Kind of Love,” “Like my Mom,” “Orange,” and closed with “Buff Baby” with plenty of audience participation.
The 33rd Annual Jazz Reggae Festival ended with a rousing set by Freddie McGregor. Freddie McGregor entertained the crowd with a wonderful set of roots rock reggae.
Ricky Richardson is a Southern California based writer, music reviewer and photographer. Contact him via: [email protected]
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