Hancock to headline Playboy Jazz Festival

Grammy winner Herbie Hancock is set to headline at the 30th Annual Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in June.The event, founded by Hugh Hefner in 1959 will, is widely considered one of the most important jazz festivals of the year.Comedian Bill Cosby, who has hosted the event since 1995, will reprise his role as emcee at the two-day event.Cosby revealed his memories of first being asked to compare the show.He said: "Well, we're very close friends, George Wayne, Hugh Hefner, Dick Rozenzweig and I, and they established this Playboy Jazz Festival at the bowl, and I wasn't there, but they came to me, and they said would you love to be the MC."For me to sit in the chair onstage, about 12 feet away from Dexter Gordon, or Miles Davis, or Oscar Peterson, I'm not saying anything, but they pay me and I'm laughing."The Playboy Jazz Festival was first held in Chicago in 1959, but the second festival wasn't held until 1979 when it moved to its new home at the Hollywood Bowl, where it has remained since.Hefner said: "The first of these events was held in celebration of our 25th anniversary back in the late seventies. It was intended as a single event, it proved to be so popular, that here we are 30 years later."© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.

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ITN | February 28, 2008

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