Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band at The Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival

Summer is officially here which means the Hollywood Bowl plays host to elite artists from all music genres. The Hollywood Bowl also celebrates its centenary having opened in 1922. The annual festival, formerly the Playboy Jazz Festival, celebrated its 42nd year at the Bowl the weekend of June 25-26, 2022.

With Arsenio Hall hosting both Saturday and Sunday, this year's lineup featured several Grammy-winning musicians including composer/arranger Gordon Goodwin who performed music from his five-decade career with his 18-piece jazz orchestra known as Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band.

Goodwin's set included his 2006 Grammy-winning arrangement "The Incredits," known for being featured in Disney's animated feature The Incredibles. "The Incredits" was one of his four Grammys in a career that rewarded Goodwin with a whopping 22 Grammy nominations.

One of the highlights of the night was the Big Phat Band pierced the air with "Rhapsody In Blue's" world-famous intro, the soulful cry of a clarinet glissando. Of course, many have grown up hearing this as a United Airlines jingle, its soothing composition and relaxing tune accompanying the friendly skies.

The soft, satin vocals of songstress Vangie Gunn propelled the set with her rendition of "Through the Fire" by David Foster, which was famously sampled by Kanye Wesrt in his breakout single "Through the Wire" from his debut album College Dropout (Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings, 2004). Gunn, according to her IMDb credits, has been a vocalist and soloist for blockbuster films such as Spider-Man: No Way Home, Jurassic World, Lightyear, and the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder transitioned into the second Gershwin aria of the set, "Summertime," a perfect sultry lullaby encapsulating the ambiance of the nice, summer Bowl evening in front of nearly 18,000 attendees.

Goodwin was in his element the entire evening playing behind they keyboards and also playing saxophone alongside trombonist Andy Martin before ended his set with "The Jazz Police," a rock infused jazz piece from his second studio album XXL (Silverline, 2003).

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