_________________________________________________________________________

1986

An evening of music celebrates the sounds of Benny Goodman: Box seat tickets sold out in late January only 24 hours after the on-sale announcement. The festival also sold out its Sunday concert five weeks before the event. A "Cinco de Mayo" concert reached an unprecedented crowd of 5000-plus at the Keyes Motor/LA Valley College Concert in Van Nuys. Sponsored for the second consecutive year by Keyes Motors to salute the Playboy Jazz Festival, this was part of the series of annual free community events. Saturday's concert was dedicated to the memory of Benny Goodman with a musical tribute by festival artist and producer George Wein. Goodman appeared on the lineup at the inaugural Los Angeles festival in 1979 as part of Playboy's 25th anniversary celebration and returned again the following year. Multi-Grammy Award-winning gospel singer Andre Crouch made the first appearance by a gospel performer. Herbie Hancock returned to the lineup of the Playboy Jazz Festival for an unprecedented fifth appearance. NBA superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and his newly created record label, Cranberry Records, provided the winner of the Second Annual Hennessy Jazz Search (Terra Nova) with a master quality demo recording of their music. Jabbar also introduced the winning group as the opening act for Sunday's concert.

2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 |

1994 | 1993 | 1992 | 1991 | 1990 | 1989 | 1988 | 1987 | 1986 | 1985 | 1984 | 1983 | 1982 | 1981 | 1980 | 1979 | 1959 |