
DATE: Friday, June 27, 1997                 TAG: 9706270696

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ADAM BERNSTEIN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: HAMPTON                           LENGTH:   76 lines

HAMPTON FESTIVAL-GOERS TASTE JAZZ SEASONED LIBERALLY WITH R&B

While about 5,000 hepcats strutted inside Hampton Coliseum Thursday for the 30th Hampton Jazz Festival, a few streaks of lightning flashed through the leaden sky - perhaps a reminder that jazz was once considered the devil's music.

But in that case, the lightning was slightly misplaced.

The jazz festival, which started in June 1968, has taken a detour from its original course.

An event that once boasted classic-jazz artists, from band leader Count Basie to guitarist Wes Montgomery, lately has recruited more R&B and gospel performers, such as Gladys Knight and Kirk Franklin.

Joining Knight onstage Thursday were Peabo Bryson, Regina Belle, Will Downing and Pieces of a Dream. Franklin's performance is scheduled for Sunday. Few mind the festival's evolution. Most prefer it.

Irene McKay, 65, of Hampton has bought tickets for every night of the four-day festival since it began. McKay said she prefers R&B acts to traditional jazz anyway.

``A lot of the time with R&B artists, they're brought in because they're more of a crowd pleaser and more conducive to larger crowds,'' she said.

It sure brings her back, she added.

It's also been a reason three-year festival veterans George and Christine Warren of Lexington, Va., have returned.

``There's diversity, which is good,'' said George Warren, 65, a retired high school vice principal. ``Rather than just jazz, jazz, jazz, jazz. Diversity is good for the soul, anyway.''

Not necessarily agreeing, but attending regardless, were Tom Mallison and his wife, Frances, who had driven into town from Greenville, N.C.

A festival-goer since 1976, Tom Mallison, a spokesman for DuPont, said he prefers more-traditional jazz but is resigned to the R&B takeover at the festival.

He said paying $35 a day for five or six hours of entertainment was what drew him. Was he disappointed with the lineup?

``I am, but I'm here,'' he said. ``I support it.''

Among those who have relished the festival's evolution is Maude Oguibe, a Newport News homemaker in her 50s who has attended every year since the festival began. She says she appreciates the musical mish-mash.

``It's a good thing, because they try to satisfy everyone,'' said Oguibe, who was wearing a blue-and-white polka-dot dress.

Standing beside her, and matching, was her companion, Ralph Floyd, who sported white spats, white pants, a white Panama hat and a blue-and-white striped shirt.

Floyd, a 67-year-old school custodian supervisor, said the music was ancillary to his main purpose: seeing Gladys Knight.

Otherwise, he joked, he'd rather be fishing. MEMO: A review of this concert will appear in Saturday's Daily Break. ILLUSTRATION: Photos

LAWRENCE JACKSON photos/The Virginian-Pilot

Bassist Cedric Napolean helps his band, Pieces of a Dream, open the

30th Annual Hampton Jazz Festival.

Ralph Floyd and Maude Oguibe have listened to the Hampton Jazz

Festival evolve every year since the event began in 1968.

Graphic

THE FESTIVAL

What: The Hampton Jazz Festival

Where: Hampton Coliseum

Tickets: $35 per day, plus service charge; order at 671-8100