Sunday’s headliner is The Ramsey Lewis Quintet. Also on the bill are Jazmine Sullivan, Charles Lloyd and the Marvels with special guest Lucinda Williams, Tower of Power celebrating their 50th Anniversary and more.

The program begins each day at 3 PM. As he has for several years, George Lopez returns as Master of Ceremonies.

Look for our interview with jazz legend Charles Lloyd later this week.

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Jazz may not enjoy the same widespread popularity as it did in its heyday, but Lopez says the idea that the genre is on the outs couldn’t be further from the truth. “It is more prevalent than people know,” he says. “Even those Seinfeld bumpers were jazz. It’s used as almost the broth of anything you are going with. When I graduated from high school, Chuck Mangione’s Feels So Good was part of summer. And seeing Howling Wolf, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones—it’s all connected. So many things are derived from jazz.”

If given the chance to program the festival himself with anyone alive or dead, Lopez comes up with an eclectic and classic line-up of musicians. “I would get Miles Davis to play,” he says “And I’d get Don Cheadle to play with him. I would get John Coltrane. I would get Dizzy Gillespie. I would get Sammy Davis Jr. to introduce him. I would get Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and I’d get Santana to play. Man, I’d get Steely Dan out there. I’d get a little bit of some funk, some George Clinton, those guys. I’d bring Prince out there. He’d love that. He was funky. I’d ask Playboy if I could go into Monday, too. I’d lengthen the sets to 90 minutes.”

And he’d love to see himself up there, but not performing a full set. “I’ve gotten to learn how to play guitar since I was 15,” he says. “I’m traveling with one now. I’m friends with Eddie van Halen, and he just gave me a lesson a couple days ago. I think every comedian wants to be a musician and every musician wants to be a comedian.”

Photography Courtesy: Playboy Jazz Festival/Matthew Imaging

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